Increase in desertification/land degradation affected areas, reduction in fertile lands and resultant migration of people and cattle, as well as poverty, are issues of global concern. Space technology can be effectively utilised not only for rapid inventory and monitoring but also for action plan preparation to combat land degradation.

The protection and revival of degraded and deforested land is the need of the hour. In order to tackle the issues that arise as a consequence of degradation and deforestation, principles of forest landscape restoration are being globally promoted.

Soil biodiversity and soil organic carbon are vital to the way ecosystems function and they largely determine the role of land in producing food, storing water, and mitigating climate change. This report highlights how soil organic carbon and soil biodiversity provide the foundation for terrestrial ecosystem services.

A new assessment sets out the best-available evidence for policymakers to make better-informed decisions to combat land degradation, drawing on more than 3,000 scientific, government, indigenous and local knowledge sources.

First came the forest, followed by the people, and then the government. Does this chronology allow the newest entrant in the scheme to determine the relationship between the two older entities?