Brazil has announced its first national Land Degradation Neutrality targets, pledging to restore more than 163,000 square kilometres of degraded land by 2030, TV BRICS reported.

The targets were presented at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The conference is coming almost a decade after the international LDN framework was established.

Brazil’s restoration plans include recovering native vegetation, expanding agroforestry systems and implementing measures in protected areas, indigenous territories, permanent preservation areas and river basins.

LDN is based on the principle that countries should maintain or increase the amount of healthy and productive land within their territories.

Under the voluntary framework, Brazil is using 2020 as its baseline year, after 55.7 million hectares were identified as showing a degradation trend.

To meet its 2030 commitment, Brazil aims to ensure that the area affected by degradation does not exceed this baseline.

Alongside restoration, the country plans to introduce prevention, conservation and sustainable land-management measures across a further 3.51 million square kilometres.

Taken together, the restoration and conservation measures cover approximately 3.67 million square kilometres, representing the full scope of Brazil’s LDN targets.

The new targets place land restoration, conservation and sustainable management at the centre of Brazil’s efforts to address degradation and drought.

It also links environmental recovery with agricultural productivity and the resilience of communities dependent on healthy land.

(NAN)