On 27 March 2014, the Clingendael Institute organises and expert seminar discussing some diverse but interlinked aspects of land degradation, exploring possibilities for fostering policy debate on the issue.

Land degradation is increasingly recognised as global challenge and is even pushed for as candidate for a (post-2015) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). In Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in other regions, the ‘quality of soil’ has been linked to the emergence of conflict, inter alia since it aggravates local food and water scarcity.

This expert seminar will discuss the findings of the Clingendael Report “Terra Incognita: land degradation as underestimated threat amplifier”. This report finds, amongst others, that accurate assessments on land degradation, and efforts to restore lands are lacking to date. On the basis of a literature review and 4 small case studies, the study concludes that it is nevertheless likely that land degradation can operate as threat amplifier, particularly when it is combined with rapid population growth, poverty, little opportunity to migrate and bad governance. From this perspective, efforts to get a more accurate insight into the actual scope of the land degradation problem and its implications for human security are long overdue.

Based on these findings, the main themes for discussion at the expert seminar include:

• the likely implications of land degradation for food and water scarcity, and human security and conflict;
• why we currently still lack accurate assessments on land degradation and efforts to restore lands;
• whether we need these data to underpin sound policy efforts in this field.

At the seminar the insights on land degradation will be linked to policy debates on the nexus food, water and energy and the debate on the SDGs.

Organisation and participation

This seminar is organised with the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants will include experts from research institutes, international organisations and national governments. For the seminar programme, please see below.

Participation in the seminar is upon invitation only.