21 September 2011: The European Commission, the German Government and the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have launched the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) initiative.

The ELD initiative will be a comprehensive assessment of land degradation that looks both at the costs of failing to prevent further land degradation and at the economic benefits of addressing it through sustainable land management policies, taking into account land degradation impacts on food security, climate change and biodiversity loss.

The global study is expected to: raise awareness of this issue and help policy makers in affected countries to implement effective strategies to address the problem; help the private sector to set out clearly incentives for investment in sustainable land management policies; and build on experience with similar reports on the costs of climate change and the economic value of biodiversity. The initiative was announced during the 20 September High Level Event on Desertification, held at the opening of the UN General Assembly [EU Press Release] [Climate Change Policy & Practice post on High Level Event on Desertification]