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Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations have issued 17 ambitious goals to try and build a better, fairer, and more sustainable future for the world.

Sustainable Development Goal 15 aims to promote protection of life on land in all its forms and the environments that support it.

The UN state the aim of this goal is to "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss"

From forests and plants, to animals and insects, life on land is essential to human survival. When the enviroments that support life are in danger, urgent action is needed.

Forests cover 31 per cent of the Earth's land. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, help prevent global heating and provide people with food, timber and other resources.

Although the rate of deforestation is falling, between 2015 and 2020, around ten million hectares of forest were destroyed each year, more than one and a quarter times the total area of Scotland. (Source: )

Across the world, one fifth of the land is degraded. This threatens the food security of billions of people, as well as the survival of plant and animal species.

Protecting life on land includes people. Without the nature around us, humans would not be able to survive.

World life on land facts

• Species extinction risk has worsened by about 10% over the last three decades
• The area of forest fell from 31.9 per cent of total land area in 2000 to 31.2 per cent in 2020
• 74 per cent of the poor are directly affected by land degradation

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