Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

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Bauer, Steffen / Karen Meijer
Mitarbeiter sonstige

in: Loewe, Markus / Nicole Rippin (eds.), Translating an ambitious vision into global transformation: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), (Discussion Paper 7/2015), 89-94

ISBN: 978-3-88985-671-5

The final draft of the 2030 Agenda underscores the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services for sustainable global development, notably reflected in two distinct goals on marine ecosystems (Goal 14) and terrestrial ecosystems (Goal 15). Goal 15 especially highlights the relevance of forests and land resources and the corresponding need to avoid deforestation, land degradation and desertification as well as related biodiversity loss. The goal contains twelve specific targets, including three on means of implementation, many of which relate to pertinent multilateral agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Including these issues under the 2030 Agenda is a strong political signal and a major step forward compared to the MDGs, even though interdependencies and interlinkages with other goals should be far more explicit. This could have helped to raise the level of ambition across goals by highlighting co-benefits, e.g. regarding water storage, carbon sinks or production and consumption as drivers of land use change.

About the authors

Bauer, Steffen

Political scientist

Meijer, Karen

Social Scientist