About ELD

Our Mission and Vision

The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative is a global initiative established in 2011 that works at the interface of science, policy, and practice. The Initiative recently entered its second decade of activities. More than ever, this decade needs to bring "Transformative Action for Land".

Our Vision

The ELD Initiative aspires to a world in which land is managed in a sustainable manner that preserves and restores natural capital including healthy soils, enhances ecosystem services, ensures resilient landscapes and food systems, provides livelihoods, and secures the well-being of people. In this world, land degradation is at least net neutral and preferably significantly reversed.

Our Mission

The ELD Initiative makes the values of land count to inform, promote, and scale land solutions for transformative change. ELD is a global initiative that builds bridges between science, policy, and practice.

The ELD Initiative i) provides data and tools on the value of land and ecosystem services that inform land solutions, ii) promotes the use of transformative land solutions with knowledge, evidence, and stakeholder engagements, and iii) scales its approaches developed and applied under i) and ii) with partnerships, capacity-building, and communication. Our ultimate objective is to boost action and investment for sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration.


 

What we have achieved over the last decade

   


 

Our story

The ELD Initiative was established in 2011 by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the European Commission. The initiative is coordinated and supported by the ELD Secretariat, which is hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Read through our history: