The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can strengthen the momentum for combatting these pressing challenges. The third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3) aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. This global assessment report aims to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by highlighting the nexus between SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 15: Life on Land, as well as relevant links to other SDGs.

A total of 44 scientists and experts contributed to this assessment, with a core Expert Panel of 16 scientists with diverse expertise, including forestry, ecology, landscape design, psychology, medicine, epidemiology, and public health.

The report was launched on the International Day of Forests 2023. You can watch the video of the event on our IUFRO YouTube channel.

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The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030 recognizes the critical need to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of the world’s ecosystems. Effective restoration of degraded ecosystems is of paramount importance for recovering biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, ecosystem goods and services, climate-change mitigation, and human health and well-being.

UN Decade partners, through a consultative process, offered ten principles for ecosystem restoration to create a shared vision and increase the likelihood of achieving the highest level of recovery possible.

To facilitate the application of these principles to restoration projects, the Standards of Practice to guide ecosystem restoration provide key recommendations for the entire restoration process, which can be applicable across all sectors of society, land or sea uses, ecosystems, and regions, and to the broad array of ecosystem restoration activities under the UN Decade. The goal of this document is to provide an overview of the Standards of practice.

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Media seminar: Working away at climate change 

In preparation for COP27, and in a time in which fact-based reporting must serve as a cornerstone of climate action, the Global Landscapes Forum and Pulitzer Center have prepared a two-day free online seminar Working away at climate change for English-speaking journalists to better examine climate change through the lenses of the rights and labor of the most vulnerable populations.

Watch leading reporters, editors and researchers from around the world discuss about the regional and global impacts of climate change on health, migration, productivity and more. Hear of the latest advancement for Indigenous Peoples’ land rights as well as the rising concept that puts people at the center of novel economic frameworks.

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More than 60% of the world’s food supply depends on just three crops – wheat, maize, and rice – all of which are vulnerable to biodiversity loss, climate crisis, and conflict. 

Amid deeply challenging times at local, national, and global levels, our reliance on such a narrow food supply is exposing the critical need to diversify our food system – for ourselves and for future generations – and identify actionable solutions to address these challenges. 

Climate change is making it harder for farmers to grow enough food to feed not only their families but also the rest of the world. Without adaptation, our global food system will be unable to cope. 

Crop diversity – the variety of plants used in agriculture – is a prerequisite for future food and nutrition security. Only by safeguarding crop diversity in perpetuity, and making it available for use by researchers, plant breeders, and farmers, can we adapt agriculture to the climate crisis, improve livelihoods and feed everyone adequately.

New options for farmers

Potatoes are grown all around the world, and almost everywhere they are grown they are threatened by late blight, a wind-borne disease that can destroy a field of plants in a matter of weeks. Though this disease is widely controlled with agrochemicals, millions of farmers cannot afford or apply them as often as needed, resulting in about USD 14 billion in crop losses annually, primarily in developing countries.

Farmers in Peru have a new option for dealing with this devastating disease. A new potato variety called CIP-Matilde, developed by the International Potato Center (CIP) with support from the Crop Trust is the product of a breeding effort that crossed wild potatoes with cultivated ones to produce commercially viable potatoes that can withstand late blight.

Grasspea is very nutritious and can withstand environmental extremes like droughts and floods that cause other crops to fail. Rich in iron, zinc, and protein, this annual legume is used as livestock feed, a grain crop for humans, and fertilizer for farming systems. It is a low-cost crop that can be simply thrown into a field and will still grow well – it does not require any fertilizer or much irrigation. 

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About GLF Africa 2022

GLF Africa 2022: How to build an equitable, resilient food future brought together over 8,500 participants from 122 countries and featured 182 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth and government leaders, and 68 incredible partners to explore African solutions to the global food crisis caused by climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. 

Across 31 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, virtual tours, dialogues, performances, and a job fair, the digital conference explored ways to transform the future of food through healthy landscapes, equitable access to land, and shorter, greener value chains. Messages on social media rallied 26 million people around concrete ways for Africa to regain its food sovereignty.

GLFx Cape Town on innovative food systems that positively impact the environment and people

Earlier this year, the GLFx Cape Town Speaker Stage at Greenpop’s Reforest Fest carried out a series of talks that discussed how we could implement innovative food systems that positively impact the environment while also benefiting local communities.

Nicola Rule, Professional Officer at Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) Africa presents extracts from this series and discusses the complex dynamics of food and equity and the potential for shaping the future of food systems in South Africa. Five speakers with innovative enterprises deliver their message on sustainable food systems:

1. Mercy Nqandeka works for Viva con Agua in Bulungula to facilitate clean water access and sanitation in schools. The degraded soils in the area make it difficult for even those who want to grow food to do so successfully.  The solution is to plant trees as they cover the soil and allow life to regenerate. But the tricky aspect of this context is that Rural South African villages maintain deeply ingrained cultural beliefs, habits, and superstitions around trees and land use, and these beliefs must be taken into consideration if these projects are to thrive.  Watch the full speech.
2. Kaspar Paur is a Swiss environmentalist and founder of the Muizenberg-based initiative Oceaneers, a growing community of sea aficionados looking to spread knowledge and positively impact the oceans around them.  Watch the full speech.
3. Tasneem Karodia, COO and co-founder of Mzansi Meat, is a long-standing advocate for plant-based diets in response to the severe negative effects of large-scale animal agriculture, and her involvement with Mzansi Meat came from a fortuitous Webinar, which saw her later joining forces with her co-founder and CEO Brett Thompson. Now they’re spearheading the change with the first cultivated beef in Africa.  Watch the full speech.
4. Gray Maguire is a member of the Climate Neutral Group and works with farmers to reduce the carbon footprint of production and ensure no one is deprived of access to resources. Watch the full speech
5. Rosanna ‘Rosie’ McLean recites her poem Find me in nature. Watch the full video.

Download From landscape to table, food systems in perspective White Paper  

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Earlier this year, the GLFx Cape Town speaker stage at Greenpop’s Reforest Fest invited a series of speakers to discuss landscapes and food systems. GLFx Cape Town presents extracts from this series, discussing the complex dynamics of food and equity, and the potential to shape the future of food systems in South Africa.

Follow the journey of 5 innovations that are promoting food system equity:

• Mercy Nqandeka of Viva con Agua, discusses the importance of equity in restoring rural landscapes and communities in South Africa;
• Kaspar Paur from Oceaneers addresses the importance of food choices and their links to ocean health;
• Tasneem Karodia, tells us more about cultivated meat and the role of Mzansi Meat in developing ways to consume sustainably in the future;
• Gray Maguire from the Climate Neutral Group. shares information about their role in promoting regenerative farming in Southern Africa; and
• Rosanna ‘Rosie’ McLean shares her original poetry called You can find me in nature.

Watch GLFx Cape Town speaker’s series

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From 5–7 November 2021, on the sidelines of the 26th session of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26), GLF Climate: Forests, Food, Finance – Frontiers of Change sparked a global discussion on exactly this question.

The message is clear: the health of people and the planet requires collective actions, individual behavioral changes, and enabling and enforcing government policies and investments that put nature and people first.

The GLF Climate has racked up a record over 1 million views—and counting—from over 140 countries, reached more than 42 million people on social media, and provided a crucial platform for 400 speakers – of which 50 percent were women.

A compilation of insight from all those involved, this Outcome Statement summarizes the conference’s key messages and contains quotes from across the 67 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches and climate talks that took place in English, Spanish and French.

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The hybrid event provided a critical opportunity for leading thinkers and actors to meet, both virtually and in-person, and lay down landscape-based pathways for meeting climate commitments focusing on creating positive tipping points in forests, food, and climate.

The GLF Climate has racked up a record over 1 million views—and counting—from over 140 countries, reached more than 42 million people on social media, and provided a crucial platform for 400 speakers – of which 50 percent were women.

This report provides key statistics on the conference’s reach, participants and achievements and spotlights the donors and partners who made it happen.

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The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) held its digital conference GLF Amazonia: The Tipping Point – Solutions From the Inside Out on 21–23 September 2021, to canvas the views of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs); Afro-descendant Peoples (ADPs); farmers’, conservation, development and other civil society organizations; community leaders; researchers; policymakers; financial investors and private sector representatives; youth groups; women’s groups; activists; and other local and global actors.

Their overarching message was clear: the protection of the Amazon is crucial for mitigating the global climate crisis and the survival of local, traditional and Indigenous communities in the Amazon.

The event reached over 27 million people on social media and provided a crucial platform for 278 speakers – of which 137 were women.

A compilation of insight from all those involved, this Outcome Statement summarizes the conference’s key messages and contains quotes from across the 51 sessions and plenaries that took place in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

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The world has experienced severe land degradation due to deforestation, climate change, drought, desertification and unsustainable land uses. Consequently, the productivity and health of farmlands, grazing lands and forests is damaged, which in turn harms the individuals and communities who depend on these resources for their food supply, health and income. As a result, many rural populations in the developing world suffer from malnutrition, loss of opportunity, increased climate vulnerability and poverty.

Migration increases as workers move away to earn a living, which can also lead to family fragmentation and increased potential for conflict. This is not a safe or sustainable future for rural communities. Nor does it help the growth of nations reliant on primary industries, such as agriculture. But this is changing. Communities across the world are transforming their lives and reshaping their lands through a low-cost, simple and sustainable land regeneration practice called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Through FMNR and their own efforts, communities can restore degraded lands to productivity relatively quickly and efficiently. FMNR has proven its potential in mobilizing and empowering local communities to restore their natural environment and consequently building resilience – of people, their lands and their livelihoods.

Join Tony Rinaudo (World Vision Senior Climate Action Advisor, pioneer of FMNR and Right Livelihood Award Laureate, 2018) and Irene Ojuok (Right Livelihood College PhD student at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Global Evergreening Ambassador) as they discuss the FMNR approach from a global and Kenyan perspective.

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