and yachting, fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture and human health (established but incomplete). The damage to fishing gear in Europe alone is estimated at more than US$72 million per annum and the cost of cleaning beaches is estimated at US$735 million per annum, a figure which is increasing (established but incomplete). {7.4.4}


Improving waste management, including recycling and end- of-life management, is the most urgent short-term solution to reducing input of litter to the ocean (well established). Longer-term solutions include improved governance at all levels, and behavioural and systemic changes that reduce plastic pollution from the production and use of plastic, and increase recycling and reuse. A holistic and evidence-based approach, taking into account the full life-cycle approach to waste management should be applied. Cleaning up coasts and beaches can provide environmental, social and economic benefits, and trapping surface litter in the ocean may be effective in small areas, but such efforts should not distract from action to stop litter entering the ocean. While many relevant international agreements exist, there is no global agreement that addresses the issue of marine litter and microplastics in a comprehensive and integrated manner. Coordination and cooperation between international bodies could be enhanced to progress international agreement. {14.2.2}


Policy-sensitive indicators used to track progress in addressing key pressures and drivers may not fully capture the multiple dimensions of pressures and drivers (well established). Area- based indicators, such as Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 on the coverage of marine protected areas under national jurisdiction, do not alone establish that such areas are effectively managed; nor can they guard against the impact of climate change or pollution (well established). Efforts to develop methods to evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas and their contribution to overall ocean health are therefore critical. The lack of standardization and compatibility between the methods used and the results obtained in various bottom-up projects makes an overall assessment of the status of marine litter across large geographic areas difficult (well established). {14.3, 14.3.1, 14.3.2, 14.3.3}


2.2.4 Land and soil


Food production is the largest anthropogenic use of land, using 50 per cent of habitable land (well established). Livestock production uses 77 per cent of agricultural land for feed production, pasture and grazing (well established) (see figure SPM.4). Furthermore, traditional livestock provides livelihoods for many indigenous and local communities. Sustainable land management can address food security while preventing the loss of the contribution made by nature and promoting gender and social equality (established but incomplete). Adequately feeding 10 billion people by 2050 will require an increase of 50 per cent in food production (well established), while some 33 per cent of global edible food is lost or wasted, of which approximately 56 per cent occurs in developed countries (well established). Increasing productivity has slowed down the expansion of agricultural land, but inefficient or unsustainable farming systems are often associated with environmental and soil degradation and biodiversity loss (unresolved), and an increase in crop specialization and distribution can raise the risk of poor harvests. {8.5.1, 8.5.3, 8.4.1}


Securing land rights for local communities can help to turn land assets into development opportunities and secure more sustainable use of land. For most people, land is their most important asset (well established). Women represent 43 per cent of those active in agriculture, yet they hold the title to less than 20 per cent of agricultural land. Insecure access to land resources hinders sustainable land management (well established). Indigenous and other forms of community-managed land could generate billions of US dollars’ worth of ecosystem benefits through, among other things, carbon sequestration, reduced pollution, clean water and erosion control (established but incomplete). Those benefits could justify securing land tenure and the right to inheritance for women and indigenous and local communities. Decreasing the gender gap in access to information and technology, and access to and control over production inputs and land, could increase agricultural productivity and reduce hunger and poverty (established but incomplete). Policies


Figure SPM.4. Global surface area allocation for food production


The breakdown of the surface of the Earth by functional and allocated uses, down to agricultural land allocation for livestock and food crop production, measured in millions of square kilometres. The area for livestock farming includes land for animals, and arable land used for animal feed production.


Area


Surface of the Earth


Land surface Habitable land Agricultural land


50% agriculture 51 million km²


71% habitable land 104 million km²


71% ocean 361 million km² glaciers 10%


15 million km²


37% forests 39 million km²


11% shrub 12 million km²


19% barren land 28 million km²


29% land 149 million km²


1% urban 1.5 million km2


77% livestock 40 million km²


23% crops minus feed


11 million km²


1% freshwater 1.5 million km2


Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2017). What is happening to our environment and how have we responded? 11


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