Land Degradation Neutrality in Small Island Developing States

Land degradation exacerbates the unique vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to environmental challenges, such as climate change, flash floods, soil erosion, lagoon siltation, coastal erosion and sea level rise, undermining their economic potential. Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in SIDS, preserving biodiversity and increasing resilience to climate change. Land degradation has a strong negative impact on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, water resources management and coastal zone management. SIDS face a potentially greater strain on these sectors due to their high susceptibility to natural disasters, which often reverses their economic and social improvements. Land-based solutions contribute significantly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as on the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway. By setting voluntary LDN targets, SIDS have demonstrated strong political leadership. SIDS are strongly committed to the transformative nature of land-based solutions, with a focus on the sustainable management of forests, agriculture and land use planning. The national LDN working groups, established by each country to guide the LDN target setting process, played a central role in the formulation of the sciencebased LDN targets based on the LDN response hierarchy (Avoid > Reduce> Reverse land degradation). Nearly 83% of the SIDS set LDN commitments to minimize land degradation from ridge to reef, and to manage artificial areas, by applying LDN-specific land use planning policies and urban design guidelines (such as the ratio of tree cover and/or green area to built-up environment/infrastructure, plot coverage, etc.) as part of the national development strategy. The SIDS effectively underscored the need for innovative land use planning principles (for instance, through a possible amendment of existing acts on activities of physical planning and development authority; improved land use planning based on best practices; strict enforcement of existing land management legislations; and an update of the formulation of land use, policy and inter-agency cooperation). Investment in land will be important for SIDS to drive transformational change. National mainstreaming of the LDN targets, including mid-term frameworks and budgets, is critical to ensure positive synergies across all sectors. The right policy framework and enabling environment will be important for private sector partnerships to reach their full potential.