Global Scans · Life on Land · Weekly Summary

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
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,

• [New] The Great Green Wall initiative, launched by the African Union, aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon and create 10 million green jobs by 2030 in the Sahel. UNCCD
• [New] Globally, up to 40% of the Earth's land is degraded, affecting nearly half of humanity and threatening food security, biodiversity and economic development. UNCCD
• [New] 6-4 The Scottish Government Scottish Biodiversity Strategy commits to protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030. NatureScot
• [New] Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 which sets targets for halting biodiversity loss by 2030 and restoring Scotland's biodiversity. NatureScot
• [New] Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Plan which sets out how Scottish Government will move to a net-zero, climate-resilient economy by 2045, whilst ensuring fair process and creating green jobs, particularly in high-emission sectors. NatureScot
• [New] Canada's forests are being sold for firewood Imagine for a moment that you would burn wood to make energy. Unpublished
• [New] Strengthening taxonomic research, digital documentation, and ecosystem protection will be crucial for preserving India's rich natural heritage and achieving long-term environmental sustainability. National Defence Institute
• [New] Since operations began in mid-2018, Project Masam has cleared 572,332 explosive threats and made more than 82.3 million square metres of land safe, supporting safer returns, livelihoods and humanitarian access across Yemen. Project Masam
• [New] The Antelope Reef, the site of Beijing's latest land reclamation activities, could become the largest military outpost in Paracels and could accommodate a 2.7-kilometer runway alongside expanded port facilities capable of supporting CCG, maritime militia, and possibly naval vessels. Acled
• [New] Countries could seek to align their policies on land swaps, Israeli settlements, and borders. The Washington Institute
• [New] The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is funding civil society organizations to improve the conservation status of Madagascar's threatened tree species. Impact Funding
• [New] Systemic Ecosystem Shifts: Weakening major ocean circulation systems could alter global weather patterns, shifting parts of the Amazon rainforest into dry, savanna-like conditions. Insights IAS
• [New] More broadly, the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026 (S. 3597) reinforces federal investment and strategic direction, and the Support for Quantum Supply Chain Act (H.R. 3788) focuses on securing the ecosystem that will support quantum and post-quantum technologies. R Street Institute
• [New] The hybrid geostatistical approach combines Ordinary Kriging and land-use regression methods to predict PM2.5 concentrations across Germany at a horizontal grid resolution of 100×100m. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Under Closing the Gap Targets 15 A and 15 B, Australia aims for a 15% increase in land and sea areas subject to First Nations legal rights by 2030. AIHW Indigenous HPF
• [New] New Forests launched a $750 million Global Landscape Opportunities strategy to meet growing institutional demand for natural capital investments. Agroforestry
• [New] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently called on AI firms to disclose the full carbon, water, and land footprint of their data centers, warning that communities should not be left bearing hidden costs they never agreed to. FTI Strategic Communications
• [New] The world land area harvested with wheat in 2023/24 is expected to rise +1.4% yr/yr to 223.0 million hectares (1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters or 2.471 acres). Barchart.com
• [New] Sub-Saharan Africa's working-age population will grow by more than 600 million over the next quarter century, more than three-quarters of the net labor-force increase across all developing economies, though only 24% of new workers today land wage-paying jobs. Slasify
• [New] Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Intelligent Transportation Society Singapore implemented the Smart Mobility 2030 plan, integrating AI and IoT to optimize traffic flow. Persistence Market Research
• [New] More than 20 countries will sign a joint statement outlining the need for trusted partners to create an AI ecosystem, and opined that Pax Silica would shape a US alternative to initiatives such as the UN's Global Digital Compact, which emphasises digital sovereignty. FTI Strategic Communications
• [New] The United Nations has launched an AI Environmental Transparency Initiative calling on AI companies to disclose the carbon, water, and land-use impacts of their data centers and transition to renewable energy by 2030. MarketingProfs
• [New] In the EU, alien invasives are estimated to have an annual economic cost of €12 billion, and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 recognises their spread as a major threat to Red List species. Environment

Last updated: 12 July 2026