SDG 15 - Life on Land

GENERAL STATEMENT

Human life depends on the earth as much as the ocean for our sustenance and livelihoods. Plant life provides 80 percent of the human diet, and we rely on agriculture as an important economic resources. Forests cover 30 percent of the Earth’s surface, provide vital habitats for millions of species, and important sources for clean air and water, as well as being crucial for combating climate change.
Every year, 13 million hectares of forests are lost, while the persistent degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares, disproportionately affecting poor communities.
While 15 percent of land is protected, biodiversity is still at risk. Nearly 7,000 species of animals and plants have been illegally traded.
Urgent action must be taken to reduce the loss of natural habitats and biodiversity which are part of our common heritage and support global food and water security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and peace and security.

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MAIN STAKEHOLDERS

Universities and research centres, tech communities

Government and public sector

The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, Italian: Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali or MiPAAF, is an Italian government department.

Private sector

Agriculture

Livestock

Construction

Hospitaly and Tourism

Transport

Farmers

Confagricoltura

Coldiretti

Unione coltivatori italiani

Indigenous/local people

Local committees for the defense of the territory

Local authorities

NGOs

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of the wilderness preservation, and the reduction of human impact on the environment. (Wikipedia)

GREENPEACE is a non-governmental[3] environmental organization with offices in over 39 countries and an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Wikipedia)

LEGAMBIENTE is an Italian environmentalist association with roots in the anti-nuclear movement that developed in Italy and throughout the Western world in the second half of the '70s. (Wikipedia)

ENPA, the national board for the animal protection, is the main and the oldest protective association in Italy. (Wikipedia)

The Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) is the National Trust of Italy. The organisation was established in 1975 on the model of the National Trust of England, Wales, & Northern Ireland. It is a private non-profit organisation and has 60,000 members as of early 2005. Its purpose is to protect elements of Italy's physical heritage which might otherwise be lost. (Wikipedia)

GLOBALLY

15. Life on land. In recent years, the protection of forests has increased, and the rate of forest disappearance has fallen 25% compared to 2000-2005. Nevertheless, approximately one fifth of the land
area covered by vegetation is experiencing a marked decline in productivity, threatening the livelihoods
of more than one billion people. Deforestation is one of the main causes of the increase in the number
of endangered species - as reported by the Red List Index - an alarming sign that mammals, birds, amphibians, corals and other species are declining. (THE UN REPORT FOR THE HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM 2018)

CHALLENGES

Hydrogeological risk

According to a recent study (2015) by the Italian Ministry of the Environment, 9.8% of the land in Italy is classified as being at high risk of hydrogeological problems.

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Consumption of Soil

Desertification

1/5 of the Italian territory is already subject to a high risk of desertification. (data 2019)

Desertification in Europe

Biodiversity Loss

Climate Change

Water and Land Pollution

Trafficking of wildlife

The ASviS 2018 Report shows a worsening of the Italian performances linked to the Goal 15 "Life on Earth" due above all to the high consumption of land and the fragmentation of the territory. In order to try to stem this trend, the approval procedure for the Law on Land Consumption was started in the last year (see XVII Legislature As No. 2383), which however has not been concluded. The attempt of this law was to introduce the principle that the consumption of soil is allowed only in cases where there are no substantial alternatives in the re-use of the already urbanized areas and in the regeneration of the same and favoured, in its direct effects, the arrest of the loss of biodiversity.

ITALY

STATUS OF ART IN EUROPE

Goal 15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss). The synthetic indicator is clearly worsening, with a decline of more than eight points. This trend reflects the significant increase in the share of land covered by manmade works, compared with slight improvements in the share covered by forests and areas of land classified as "sufficient" according to the Habitats Directive. In this case, all member states report a worsening of the situation, with Slovenia having the best ranking and Belgium the worst. (November 2017, Eurostat presented a report on
the SDGs in Europe entitled “Sustainable Development in the European Union: Overview of progress
towards the SDGs in an EU context”)