For Extension Officers

During the past 40 years, the world has lost a third of its arable land, about 430 million hectares. Conservation Agriculture is a farming system that can prevent such losses while regenerating degraded lands. It promotes minimum mechanical soil disturbance (no/zero tillage), maintenance of a permanent soil cover and diversification of plant species. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production.

The United Nations defines sustainable land management (SLM) as “the use of land resources, including soils, water, animals and plants, for the production of goods to meet changing human needs, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term productive potential of these resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions”.

SLM includes practices to: - Prevent land conversion and protect vulnerable lands; - Prevent and mitigate land degradation and restore degraded soils; - Control soil erosion; - Improve soil-water storage; - Manage soil organic matter for soil carbon sequestration; - Manage and enhance soil fertility; promote integrated soil–crop–water management and integrated agroforestry and agrosilvopastoral systems; - Rehabilitate and sustainably manage dryland environments (e.g. managing grazing and livestock; rainwater harvesting; sand-dune reclamation; oasis management; drought management; and precision agriculture); and Improve crop–water productivity and manage soil salinity in irrigated dryland agriculture.

This article explains how land degradation is scientifically measured under SDG 15.3.1, using three key indicators—land cover change, land productivity, and soil carbon stocks. It outlines the “one-out, all-out” method used to classify land as degraded and describes the data sources, analysis steps, and interpretation limits. Based on the UNCCD/FAO methodology (SEPAL documentation), it offers a clear and accessible summary of the global approach to tracking progress toward Land Degradation Neutrality.