Our Scans · (LF.15) Life on Land · Weekly Summary

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In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss,

• [New] Ratified in 2022, Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework mandates that countries must bring 30% of their degraded lands and waters under effective restoration by 2030. Sustainable Investor
• [New] Alongside NDCs, leaders will grapple with mobilising climate finance, including for the Brazil-led important Tropical Forests Forever Facility, finalising the rules of Article 6 on carbon markets, advancing adaptation amid worsening climate impacts and driving a just global energy transition. NewClimate Institute
• [New] In Europe, measures for IAS management are mainly established through the European Union Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which aims to halve the number of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at risk from IAS by 2030. IUCN
• [New] Fertile land, expanding urban centers, and growing innovation ecosystems point to a future in which Africa could become one of the world's most competitive industrial regions. IT News Africa | Business Technology, Telecoms and Star
• [New] Home to some of the world's most biodiverse and resilient reefs, the Solomon Islands rely on reef ecosystems for food security, coastal protection and economic opportunity. UNEP - UN Environment Programme
• [New] 90% of disasters in the last decade were water-related, and with increasing disruption of the hydrological cycle by both climate change and human activity, floods, storms and droughts are increasingly affecting water management, economic development and natural ecosystems. Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre
• [New] Scientists from Duke University have developed a model that can predict the amount of mercury being released into a local ecosystem by deforestation and small-scale gold mining. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• [New] Collaboration will help accelerate progress for nature in Nigeria by connecting private sector leadership with national biodiversity and climate priorities turning global goals into national action. Peoples Daily Newspaper
• [New] Europe's drying trend will have far-reaching impacts, hitting food security, farming and water-dependent ecosystems, especially groundwater-fed habitats. The Guardian
• [New] India's biotech ecosystem has been gaining momentum as investors look beyond pure software plays; combining CRISPR platforms with AI-based assay design and result interpretation could create defensible IP moats and recurring revenue from test panels. Tech Startups - Tech News, Tech Trends & Startup Fundin
• [New] Environmental groups and some vessel operators have criticized the Executive Order, warning it could cause irreversible harm to marine ecosystems and undermine international efforts to regulate DSM responsibly. Passle
• [New] On Tangier Island, where land subsidence and erosion pose significant threats to the community, drone delivery may also be transformative. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] US President Donald Trump has warned that land strikes on Venezuela could be next, even as he hints about possible talks. Insurance Journal
• [New] Marine parks such as Gorgona contribute to the 30 x30 global agreement to conserve 30% of land, water and ocean by 2030, as outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Guardian
• [New] Ensuring microbial indicators are incorporated alongside plants and animals in IUCN and UN biodiversity targets by 2030. ScienceDaily
• [New] Today, the agrifood sector faces an unprecedented escalation of risks, from multi-year droughts in the Horn of Africa to catastrophic floods in Pakistan, from hurricanes disrupting fisheries, to pests and wildfires devastating millions of hectares of forests. FAODirectorGeneral
• [New] Farmland restoration is central to the Rio Conventions and the UN 2030 Agenda, notably SDG 15.3, which aims to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality by 2030. CNS Media
• [New] The private sector could contribute US$ 90 billion annually to on-farm nature-based solutions - including but not limited to restoration of degraded land. CNS Media
• [New] Total is building the vast East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline across Uganda and Tanzania, which would worsen the climate emergency, endanger vulnerable communities and cause significant harm to ecosystems. Join the Dots Together
• [New] As Zho has stated, Without proactive [U.S.] efforts to rebuild internal economic structure-both material (capital, factories, supply chains) and immaterial (skills, institutional memory, R&D ecosystems) - the relative power dynamic will continue to tilt toward China. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation | ITIF
• [New] Restoring insect abundance and biodiversity is no easy task, especially in the face of an all-encompassing threat like global climate change. Live Science

Last updated: 01 December 2025