15. Life on land
Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface and in addition to providing food security and shelter, forests are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population. Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year while the persistent degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.
Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight against poverty. Efforts are being made to manage forests and combat desertification.
Read our stories to learn more about SDG Goal 15: Life on land
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Carbon & Climate
The future of conservation in a warming world
Conservationists are rethinking strategies to build climate resilience in nature as rising temperatures threaten species and ecosystems worldwide.
Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation from exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) – twice the size of Belgium – highly at risk.
Policy & Finance
Ways to improve Malaysia’s ecological fiscal transfers
Increasing allocations and giving states more freedom on how they can spend EFT funds could make this mechanism more effective, say conservationists. Malaysia's environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi also agrees there is a good basis to make the scheme more permanent, but in-depth discussions must be held with the states, he told Eco-Business.
Sustainable tourism discourages illegal mangrove cutting and fishing in the Philippines' largest contiguous mangrove forest.
Carbon & Climate
How do mangroves protect coastal communities from extreme weather?
Opinion
Policy & Finance
Philanthropy in an era of declining development aid
Some want philanthropy to fill the gap, and others have shamed governments for stepping back. The former is unrealistic, while the latter ineffective. But even with constrained budgets, governments can provide assistance to scale up proven solutions.
Policy & Finance
Shake it up, don’t shoot it down: the case for reforming US aid
Targeted and cost-effective foreign aid reforms can amplify America’s global influence and safeguard national interests, says non-profit chief.
Transport
Can the shipping industry decarbonise?
As the UN’s shipping regulator explores ways to decarbonise global shipping, biofuels aren’t the green alternatives they are portrayed to be.
In India, current frameworks for defining urban areas relies on the subjectivity of bureaucracy and archaic metrics such as the distribution of the male workforce. A more accurate definition will enable better targeting of resources.
Carbon & Climate
Nature needs its own ID
Carbon & Climate
Meltdown at the top of the world
Carbon & Climate
How Indigenous communities in Malaysia stopped the chop
Food & Agriculture
Reconciling Indonesia’s food sufficiency ambitions with climate commitments
Videos
The Green Mortician is the city-state's first water cremation service, which has a small carbon footprint compared to traditional funeral options.
Carbon & Climate
Lending forests a voice with primatologist Andie Ang
Amid competing concerns such as urban development and tackling climate change, keeping biodiversity conservation in people's minds can be a challenge. Eco-Business asks primatologist Andie Ang how that can be tackled.
Carbon & Climate
Climate spiral: what 141 years of global warming looks like
As planetary temperatures reach an all-time high, a climate scientist has designed a new way to show how global temperatures have changed every month since the start of the industrial revolution and 2021.
Food & Agriculture
Pandemics and the exploitation of wildlife — what’s the connection?
The origin of Covid-19 is believed to be a market selling live wild animals. Eco-Business asked Anbarasi Boopal of Singapore-based animal welfare charity Acres about the link between the exploitation of animals and pandemics, and what can be done to curb the illegal wildlife trade.
Podcasts
The chief executive of World Resources Institute also told the Eco-Business Podcast that the gutting of USAID is less of a concern than how to unlock private capital for climate and nature in developing countries.
Carbon & Climate
The challenges of the environment beat: A conversation with journalists in Southeast Asia
The Eco-Business Podcast speaks to reporters Nadiah Rosli, Adelia Dinda Sani, Gerald Flynn and Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez about funding limits, data access, and reporting against the odds in one of the world's most climate-vulnerable regions.
Corporate Responsibility
To fight ESG scepticism, build alliances: Singtel’s Andrew Buay on the survival secrets of a chief sustainability officer
Andrew Buay, vice president for group corporate sustainability at Singtel, tells the EB Podcast that CSOs should not be precious about losing part of their job as the function evolves.
EB Studio
CapitaLand sustainability chiefs Vinamra Srivastava and Giovanni Cossu tell the Eco-Business Podcast that there is a viable path to net zero for the world's fastest growing cities.
