Integrated planning and management of land resources is the
subject of
chapter 10 of Agenda 21, which deals with the cross-sectoral
aspects of decision-making for the sustainable use and
development of natural resources, including the soils, minerals,
water and biota that land comprises. This broad integrative view
of land resources, which are essential for life-support systems
and the productive capacity of the environment, is the basis of
Agenda 21's and the Commission on Sustainable Development's
consideration of land issues.
Expanding human requirements and economic activities are placing
ever increasing pressures on land resources, creating
competition and conflicts and resulting in suboptimal use of
resources. By examining all uses of land in an integrated
manner, it makes it possible to minimize conflicts, to make the
most efficient trade-offs and to link social and economic
development with environmental protection and enhancement, thus
helping to achieve the objectives of sustainable development.
(Agenda 21, para 10.1) The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) is the task manager for chapter 10 of
Agenda 21.
Land is included as one of the thematic areas along with
agriculture, rural development, drought, desertification and
Africa in the third implementation cycle
CSD 16/17.
The sectoral cluster of land, desertification, forests and
biodiversity, as well as mountains (chapters 10-13 and 15 of
Agenda 21) were considered by
CSD-3
in 1995 and again at the five-year review in1997. In accordance
with its multi-year programme of work,
CSD-8
in 2000 reviewed integrated planning and management of land
resources as its sectoral theme. Many of the issues addressed
are also linked to the focus at CSD-8 on agriculture as an
economic sector, and the documentation prepared for the session
for agriculture is also relevant to the land item.In its
decision 8/3 on integrated planning and management of land
resources, the Commission on Sustainable Development noted the
importance of addressing sustainable development through a
holistic approach, such as ecosystem management, in order to
meet the priority challenges of desertification and drought,
sustainable mountain development, prevention and mitigation of
land degradation, coastal zones, deforestation, climate change,
rural and urban land use, urban growth and conservation of
biological diversity. Such an approach should take into
consideration the livelihood opportunities of people living in
poverty in rural areas.
The Commission identified six priorities for future work,
including:
- prevention and/or mitigation of land degradation;
- access to land and security of tenure;
- critical sectors and issues (such as biodiversity,
drylands, rehabilitation of mining areas, wetlands and
coastal zones, coral reefs, natural disasters, and
rural-urban and land management interactions);
- access to information and stakeholder participation;
- international cooperation, including that for
capacity-building, information-sharing, and technology
transfer; and
- minerals, metals and rehabilitation of land degraded by
mining in the context of sustainable development.
Governments were urged to support the implementation of a
number of important international agreements, including the
UN Convention to Combat
Desertification (CCD), the
UN Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), the
UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol, and the
Habitat Agenda adopted by the
UN Conference on Human
Settlements in 1996.
See also website information under
Agriculture
Rural Development, "Desertification
and Drought" and "Freshwater".
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