Towards a Sustainable Society | Page 21

Sustainable Development Goals Goal 15:Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss Facts: Forests • Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood. This includes some 70 million indigenous people • Forests are home to more than 80 per cent of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects Desertification • 2.6 billion people depend directly on agriculture, but 52 per cent of the land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation • As of 2008, land degradation affected 1.5 billion people globally • Arable land loss is estimated at 30 to 35 times the historical rate • Due to drought and desertification each year 12 million hectares are lost (23 hectares per minute), where 20 million tons of grain could have been grown • 74 per cent of the poor are directly affected by land degradation globally Ref: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity Demo Version, http://www.verydoc.com and http://www.verypdf.com