The UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI) -Exploring the sustainable land management nexus among the Rio Conventions

SAFRIEL, URIEL; AKHTAR-SCHUSTER, MARIAM; ABRAHAM, ELENA; COWIE, ANNETTE ; DARADUR , MIHAIL ; DE VENTE, JORIS; KUST, GERMAN ; METTERNICHT, GRACIELA ; ORR, BARRON; PIETRAGALLA, VANINA

Viena

Simposio; European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015,; 2015

European Geosciences Union

Evidence for the contribution of sustainable land use and management to climate change adaptation/mitigation, and to safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services.Desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD), climate change, and loss of biodiversity are highly related and interacting processes threatening many natural resources (soil, water, biodiversity), essential ecosystem services (e.g. provision of drinking and irrigation water, soil erosion regulation, carbon sequestration), and human well-being globally.It is increasingly recognized that sustainable land use and land management strategies can reduce the risks associated with climate change, DLDD and biodiversity loss. Yet, the design of sustainable adaptation and mitigation strategies requires knowledge of their multiple impacts on ecosystem services across scales, under present and future climate conditions, and strategies are only viable if local environmental and socio-economic conditions are taken into account.Furthermore, there is scope to enhance synergies in jointly implementing the three Rio Conventions dealing with these issues (UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC), for example by integrated assessments, and by using common indicators relevant to the three conventions. Besides, to develop concrete outputs on land-based adaptation, there is need for knowledge on how land degradation neutrality can be measured and achieved. There is therefore urgent need to quantify and highlight the importance of sustainable land use and land management practices for advancing the internationally agreed goals of these three different conventions. This session aims to bring together specialists from multi- and inter-disciplinary backgrounds, with interest in the multiple-impacts of sustainable land use and management strategies on processes of DLDD, biodiversity loss and climate change at different scales. In this session we will explore the science that underpins or should be behind these best practices, so that policy makers can devise land-based solutions addressing shortcomings in the areas of climate change, biodiversity loss and DLDD, based on robust science. This session will therefore focus on the identification of existing knowledge required to support these claims, as well as knowledge gaps that need to be overcome through new targeted research. We kindly invite contributions describing the role of sustainable land use and management to climate change adaptation/mitigation and to safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services and possible tradeoffs. Examples of local, regional or global assessments are welcomed, as well as studies on common indicators to describe status and trends in DLDD, biodiversity and climate change.Organization of this session is an initiative of the recently installed Science-Policy Interface (SPI) of the UNCCD. Goal of the SPI is to provide scientific evidence on DLDD issues to the UNCCD Committee on Science and Technology (for details see: http://www.unccd.int). As a large international gathering of renowned scientists, the EGU conference brings high expectations within the SPI that it will receive substantial scientific input from its session. SPI is output-oriented and this session will thus be supporting the development of concrete outputs to be used by the SPI to prepare recommendations to the UNCCD?s Conference of the Parties in 2015. The session is open to all interested scientists.