Land Restoration: The Overlooked Engine of Global Economic Resilience

Land restoration is emerging as the most overlooked lever for economic resilience as droughts and wildfires ravage continents. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification convenes in Ulaanbaatar, offering a chance to pivot policy from reactionary disaster spending to proactive soil investment.

Why land restoration matters for the global economy

Annual drought‑related losses top ↓ $307 billion, yet the UN estimates that channeling finance into healthy land could unlock ↑ $1.8 trillion in yearly economic gains and create 65 million jobs by 2030. Roughly half of global GDP depends on natural capital, making degraded terrain a systemic risk.

“Ignoring soil health is tantamount to neglecting a critical piece of infrastructure,” said a senior UNCCD official.

Businesses are already responding: the COP Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes reports a four‑fold rise in private capital between 2023 and 2025, but fragmented policies blunt further inflows. The COVID‑19 shock exposed supply‑chain fragility; today, deteriorating land threatens the same networks.

Developing economies face the steepest cliff. A drought‑driven dip in agricultural output can swell food‑import bills, erode rural incomes, and strain foreign‑exchange reserves. Reuters notes that 75 % of the world’s poorest are already living in regions vulnerable to desertification.

Financing gaps persist. While governments allocate billions to firefighting and flood relief, investment in preventative land stewardship remains a sliver of budgets. The UNCCD cites a combined annual cost of ↓ $878 billion from land degradation, drought, and desertification.

The Riyadh Action Agenda, launched at COP16, has mobilised over $2.9 billion for land‑related projects and set a target of $130 billion for 2026‑2030. At COP17, the agenda will unveil “Land & Soil Breakthroughs” – a suite of time‑bound milestones and a digital platform tracking progress toward restoring 1.5 billion hectares by 2030.

Every dollar poured into restoration can generate between $7 and $30 for local communities, according to the World Bank. As public finance tightens, leveraging concessional funding to de‑risk projects will be essential to draw private investors.

In short, treating land as economic infrastructure is no longer optional. The next round of negotiations will decide whether the world can afford to ignore it.