Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss

Life on Land


Goal 15 is about conserving life on land. It is to protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and stop biodiversity loss.

Earth’s ecosystems are vital for sustaining human life, they contribute to over half of global GDP and encompass diverse cultural, spiritual, and economic values.

However, the world is facing a triple crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Between 2015 and 2019, at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land were degraded every year, impacting the lives of 1.3 billion people.

Agricultural expansion is the direct driver of almost 90 per cent of deforestation. This is in direct relation to our food systems, and oil palm harvesting accounted for 7 per cent of global deforestation from 2000 to 2018.

Global and regional efforts to sustain forest ecosystems as well as their social, economic and environmental functions are essential, in particular for developing countries and the tropics.

We need to shift humanity’s relationship with nature to achieve Goal 15, and realise that nature is the root of our life of earth. The recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provides renewed impetus for Goal 15, outlining four outcome- oriented goals to be achieved by 2050 and 23 targets to be achieved by 2030.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

Resilient40

2019 Kampala Uganda F

RESOLVE

1977 Washington DC USA G

Restauradores Sin Fronteras

A-RSF 1999 San Sebastian de los Reyes Spain F

Restoration Industry Association

RIA 1946 Washington DC USA N t

Restored

2010 Teddington UK G y

RET International

2000 Geneva Switzerland F

Rettet den Regenwald

RdR 1986 Hamburg Germany G

REV Ocean

2017 Lysaker Norway G

Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

2017 T g

Rewilding Europe

2011 F

Ribbon International

1982 Huntington NY USA G

Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains

RWC 1994 F

Right Livelihood Foundation

1980 Enskede Sweden F f

Rights and Resources Initiative

RRI 2005 Washington DC USA F y

Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation

Mexico City Mexico G f

Rinoceros

2002 Paris France G

Ripple Effect

1988 Bath UK G

River Cleanup

2019 Antwerp Belgium G

RiverWatch

2011 Vienna Austria G

Rodale Institute

RI 1985 Kutztown PA USA G j

Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies

1979 New York NY USA G j

Rotary International

RI 1905 Evanston IL USA F

Round Table on Responsible Soy Association

RTRS 2006 Zurich Switzerland C

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

RICS 1881 London UK C j

Rural Investment Support for Europe Foundation

RISE Foundation 2006 Brussels Belgium F f

Rurality - Environment - Development

RED 1980 Attert Belgium F

SAARC Forestry Centre, Bhutan

J gp

Sacred Earth Network

SEN 1985 Petersham MA USA G

Sacred Earth Trust

2009 G

SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre

SPGRC 1988 Lusaka Zambia E g

Safe Food Advocacy Europe

SAFE 2015 Brussels Belgium D

Safeguard for Agricultural Varieties in Europe

SAVE Foundation 1993 St Gallen Switzerland F f

Safina Center

2003 Setauket NY USA G

Sahara Conservation

SC 2004 Saint-Maur-des-Fossés France F f

SAHARA for Life Trust

Lahore Pakistan G

Sahara Resource Network

2001 Port Elizabeth South Africa G

Saharan Studies Association

SSA 1992 Stanford CA USA G

Sail For Ethics

S4E 1996 Court-Saint-Etienne Belgium G

SALEM International

1957 Stadtsteinach Germany G

SamNordisk Skogsforskning

SNS 1972 Lomma Sweden E g

Saneamiento Ecológico en Latinoamérica y el Caribe

ECOSANLAC Quito Ecuador G

Save Pangolins

J

Save the Orangutan

Copenhagen Denmark D

Save the Rhino International

SRI 1992 London UK F v

Save the Tiger Fund

STF 1995 Washington DC USA G f

SaveNature.Org

1988 San Francisco CA USA G

Scandinavian Association of Pollination Ecology

SCAPE Aarhus Denmark D

Scandinavian Green Infrastructure Association

SGIA 2001 Malmö Sweden D

Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics

SSFE 1958 Frederiksberg Denmark D

Scandinavian Turfgrass and Environment Research Foundation

STERF 2001 Stockholm Sweden F f

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