SDG 15 – Life on Land

SDG 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’ calls for protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems.

In the updated NDC submissions, 10% of activities addressed Goal 15 compared with 12% in the first NDC submissions. In the first NDCs, countries were prioritising targets '15.2 Promote sustainable forest management and expansion and halt deforestation' (51%) and '15.3 Restore degraded land and combat desertification' (19%), linking these to 'Deforestation prevention' (14%), 'Conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems' (13%) and 'Afforestation' (13%) as key strategies for climate action. In the updated NDCs, countries are prioritising targets '15.2 Promote sustainable forest management and expansion and halt deforestation' (45%) and '15.5 Halt loss of habitat and biodiversity, and prevent species extinction' (15%), linking these to 'Forest management' (23%) 'Conservation, restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems' (16%) and 'Biodiversity protection' (8%) as key strategies for climate action.

Regarding first NDC submissions, activities related to this Goal are prioritising adaptation with 49% of the activities, while 35% focus on mitigation. Meanwhile, for updated NDC submissions 43% prioritise adaptation and 37% mitigation. The share of quantified activities has increased from 19% in the first NDCs to 29% in the updated NDC submissions.