The world's population is on track to reaching 10 billion by 2050, just as the planetary systems that sustain life on Earth are being pushed to their limits ' and with them, our ability to provide food and water and to prevent large-scale displacements, rippling economic shocks and conflict. The evidence is clear. Up to 40% of land worldwide is degraded. This means land is losing its ability to support life, crops and natural ecosystems, and struggling to cycle water and act as the planet's second-largest carbon stock after the ocean. The last decade was the hottest on record. An estimated three in four people globally will be affected by drought by 2050. Pollinators, on which a third of the world's crops rely, are declining at an alarming rate. The existential risks facing humanity can, and must, be jointly addressed, recognizing that climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation are different expressions of one planetary crisis ' a crisis underpinned by the challenges of...
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