Various institutions refer to Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) as both a target and a mechanism to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world and to protect ecosystems. Despite its potential to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, land restoration without a human rights perspective may jeopardize the achievement of certain sustainability objectives and exacerbate poverty among forest-dependent communities.

The findings of a pilot research implemented by TMG Research in Benin and Kenya to support the implementation of UNCCD COP 14 Decision 26 on tenure rights stress the need to account for communities’ legitimate tenure rights, and especially their rights to forest land and resources within processes of LDN implementation and forest restoration. Moreover, the studies show how a failure to prioritize tenure issues in the implementation of policy mechanisms may inadvertently produce outcomes that undermine the achievement of larger objectives.

Read the full report here.