Geneva, Switzerland · 8 August 2019 — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) on 8 August 2019, providing the most comprehensive scientific assessment to date of the relationship between climate change and land-based ecosystems. The report, approved by 195 member governments after a five-day plenary session in Geneva, concluded that land is under growing human pressure, that climate change is exacerbating land degradation and threatening food security, and that sustainable land management is both a mitigation and adaptation imperative. It was the first IPCC report in which a majority of the contributing authors — 107 experts from 52 countries — were from developing countries.
A Landmark Assessment
The SRCCL was unprecedented in its scope. Its full title — Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems — reflected the breadth of its mandate. The report was developed jointly by all three IPCC Working Groups (I on physical science, II on impacts and adaptation, III on mitigation) along with the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, making it one of the most cross-cutting assessments the IPCC had ever produced.
The report spanned over 1,300 pages and was organised into seven chapters covering land-climate interactions, desertification, land degradation, food security, the interlinkages between these issues, and risk management for sustainable development. Its Summary for Policymakers (SPM), negotiated line-by-line by government delegates in Geneva, distilled the findings into policy-relevant conclusions.
Land as Both Source and Sink
One of the report's central findings was the dual role of land in the climate system. The Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector contributes approximately 23% of net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide from deforestation and land conversion, methane from livestock and rice cultivation, and nitrous oxide from fertiliser application.
At the same time, land-based ecosystems — particularly forests and soils — are major carbon sinks, absorbing approximately 29% of total CO₂ emissions. This means that land is simultaneously one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases and one of the most important natural mechanisms for removing them from the atmosphere.
The report warned that this balance was under threat. Land degradation reduces the capacity of soils and vegetation to sequester carbon, creating a feedback loop: as land degrades, it releases more carbon and absorbs less, accelerating the warming that caused the degradation in the first place.
Climate Change and Land Degradation
The report documented how climate change is already exacerbating land degradation through multiple mechanisms:
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Desertification: Warming over land is occurring at a faster rate than the global average — approximately 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels compared to 1.1°C globally. This accelerated warming increases evapotranspiration, dries soils, and expands the geographic range of arid conditions. The report found that desertification has already affected approximately 9% of the global population, particularly in dryland regions of Africa and Asia.
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Soil erosion: Increased frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events — a well-documented consequence of warming — accelerate soil erosion, washing away fertile topsoil that has taken centuries to form. The report estimated that soil erosion rates on croplands are 10 to 100 times higher than natural soil formation rates.
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Wildfires: Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of wildfires in many regions, releasing stored carbon and degrading land cover. The report noted that the area burned by wildfires had increased in some regions, including parts of Africa, Australia, and North America.
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Permafrost thaw: In high-latitude regions, warming is causing permafrost to thaw, releasing methane and CO₂ that have been locked in frozen soils for millennia.
| Finding | Scale |
|---|---|
| Land altered by human use | ~75% of ice-free land surface |
| Land already degraded | ~25% |
| AFOLU share of net emissions | ~23% |
| Land-based carbon sink | ~29% of total CO₂ emissions absorbed |
| Population affected by desertification | ~9% globally |
Food Security at Risk
The report's chapter on food security was among its most closely scrutinised sections. It concluded that climate change is already affecting food security through multiple pathways, and that the risks will increase significantly with further warming.
Key findings included:
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Crop yields: While some high-latitude regions may see short-term benefits from warming and CO₂ fertilisation, yields of major cereals (wheat, maize, rice) are projected to decline in tropical and subtropical regions, where most developing countries are located. The report noted that yield declines had already been observed in some African countries.
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Food nutrition: Elevated CO₂ levels have been shown to reduce the concentration of protein, zinc, and iron in staple grains, potentially exacerbating micronutrient deficiencies in populations dependent on these crops.
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Food loss and waste: The report highlighted that approximately 25–30% of total food produced is lost or wasted, contributing to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and land use. Reducing food loss and waste was identified as one of the most effective response options, with benefits across mitigation, adaptation, and food security.
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Limits to adaptation: The report warned that there are limits to how much agricultural systems can adapt. In some regions, particularly in the tropics and drylands, desertification and land degradation may become irreversible if warming exceeds certain thresholds. This finding was particularly significant for Africa, where large populations depend on rain-fed agriculture in marginal environments.
Response Options
The report assessed a wide range of response options, organised into five categories:
1. Land Management
Sustainable land management (SLM) practices — including conservation agriculture, agroforestry, improved grazing management, and restoration of degraded lands — can simultaneously reduce emissions, enhance carbon sequestration, improve soil health, and increase agricultural productivity. The report identified SLM as a "no-regrets" option with benefits regardless of the trajectory of climate change.
2. Value-Chain Efficiency
Reducing food loss and waste, improving supply chain efficiency, and shifting dietary patterns toward lower-emission options were identified as high-potential mitigation and adaptation strategies. The report noted that if food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States.
3. Risk Management
Early warning systems, drought preparedness, crop insurance, and social protection programmes can reduce the vulnerability of agricultural communities to climate shocks. The report emphasised that these measures are particularly important for smallholder farmers in developing countries, who are most exposed to climate variability and have the least capacity to cope.
4. Enabling Conditions
Land tenure security, access to finance, extension services, and inclusive governance were identified as essential enabling conditions for effective land-based responses. The report noted that insecure land rights — a reality for millions of rural people, particularly women — undermine incentives for long-term land stewardship.
5. Mitigation Through Bioenergy
The report assessed bioenergy and BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) as land-based mitigation options, but cautioned that large-scale deployment could compete with food production and biodiversity conservation, particularly if not carefully governed.
The African Dimension
While the SRCCL was a global assessment, its findings had particular resonance for Africa. The continent contains a significant proportion of the world's drylands, which are especially vulnerable to desertification and land degradation. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest concentration of people dependent on rain-fed agriculture, a sector that is highly sensitive to climate variability. And the continent's rapid population growth — projected to double by 2050 — will intensify pressure on land resources.
The report's finding that desertification can become irreversible in some regions if warming continues unchecked was a direct warning for the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and parts of Southern Africa, where land degradation is already advanced. The IPCC noted that sustainable land management practices — many of which are rooted in traditional and indigenous knowledge — offer pathways to reverse degradation, but require investment, institutional support, and secure land rights to be implemented at scale.
Policy Reception
The SRCCL was released against a backdrop of growing global concern about the intersection of climate change and food systems. Its findings fed directly into the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 and the COP25 climate negotiations in Madrid in December 2019. The report also informed the work of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
However, the policy response was mixed. While the scientific findings were widely accepted, the translation into concrete action on land use, food systems, and dietary change proved politically contentious. Proposals to reduce meat consumption, reform agricultural subsidies, and strengthen land tenure faced resistance from powerful agricultural and industrial interests.
The report's most enduring legacy may be its establishment of the scientific basis for treating land not as a sectoral concern of agriculture and environment ministries, but as a cross-cutting resource whose management is central to achieving the Paris Agreement goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the broader agenda of human security. It made clear that the climate crisis and the food crisis are not separate problems — they are two faces of the same challenge, and they demand integrated solutions.
Sources:
- IPCC, Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (8 August 2019)
- IPCC, Summary for Policymakers: SRCCL (2019)
- IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development), Coverage of IPCC SRCCL Release (2019)
- CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), Analysis of IPCC Land Report (2019)
- UNCCD, Response to IPCC SRCCL (2019)
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