Eight Working Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), 30 April - 4 May 2018

1. 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
Miguel A. Taboada
Lead author IPCC SR CC LAND Chapter 6

2. • At its 43rd Session (Nairobi, Kenya, 11 – 13 April 2016),
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
decided to prepare a Special Report on climate change,
desertification, land degradation, sustainable land
management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in
terrestrial ecosystems.
• A Scoping Meeting for the Special Report was held in
Dublin, Ireland, from 13 to 16 February 2017. The
resulting report outline was approved by the IPCC Panel at
its 45th Session (Guadalajara, Mexico, 28 – 31 March
2017).

3. • First Lead Author Meeting (Norway) 16 – 20 October
2017
• Second Lead Author Meeting (New Zealand) 26 – 30
March 2018
• First Order Draft Expert Review 4 June – 22 July 2018
• Third Lead Author Meeting (Ireland) 3 - 7 September
2018
• Second Order Draft Expert and Government Review 29
October - 23 December 2018
• Fourth Lead Author Meeting (?) 4 – 7 March 2019
• Final Government Review of Summary for Policymakers
(SPM) 22 April – 16 June 2019
• IPCC acceptance/adoption/approval 2 - 8 September
2019
Report Schedulle

5. Chapter 1: Framing and Context (~15 pages)
Socio-economic, biogeochemical, and biophysical
interactions between climate change and desertification,
land degradation, food security and GHG fluxes
The contribution of this report in relation to reports by
IPCC and other relevant institutions (for instance IPBES,
UNCCD, FAO, etc.)

6. Chapter 2: Land–Climate interactions (~50 pages)
Terrestrial GHG fluxes in natural and managed
ecosystems (e.g. soils, forests and
other land cover types) and related stocks: methods,
status, trends, projections, and drivers
Chapter 3: Desertification (~35-40 pages)
The specific nature of desertification
Desertification feedbacks to climate, including sand
and dust storms.

7. Chapter 4: Land Degradation (~40 pages)
Processes that lead to degradation and their biophysical, socio-
economic, and cultural drivers across multiple temporal and
spatial scales
Linkages and feedbacks between land degradation and climate
change, including extremes (e.g. floods and droughts), erosion,
and their effects on ecosystems and livelihoods
Observed and projected impacts of land degradation on
natural and human systems in a changing climate. This could
include impacts on ecosystem services (e.g. water, soil and soil
carbon, biodiversity) and impacts on socio-ecological systems (for
example, impacts on vulnerable communities, poverty, food
security, livelihoods, and migration).

8. Chapter 6: Interlinkages between desertification, land
degradation, food security and GHG fluxes: synergies, trade-offs
and integrated response options (~40 pages)
Combined and interactive effects between desertification, land degradation,
food security and GHG fluxes, and scenarios
Economic and social dimensions of response options including sustainable land
management: synergies/trade-offs/side-effects/co-benefits
Impacts of land-based mitigation options on land degradation, desertification,
food security, and ecosystems and their services (e.g. soil, fresh water,
biodiversity)
Impacts of land-based adaptation options on land degradation, desertification,
food security, ecosystems and their services and limits to adaptation
Land-based negative emissions (including the role of forests, soils and the use
of biomass) and their role in balancing anthropogenic sources and sinks
Adaptation-mitigation interactions and co-benefits Competition for land
Case-studies

9. Some advances of the SPM
1. What are the problems?
• How might climate change impact on the multiple dimensions
of degradation and desertification ?
• How does this relate to/compare with other socio-economic
drivers including food security and degradation ?
• How might climate change impact greenhouse gas fluxes from
terrestrial ecosystems?
• What are the non-GHG consequences on the climate from
ongoing trends in degradation and desertification and what
are measures to respond to these that reduce the challenge of
adaptation and mitigation ?

10. Some advances of the SPM
2. What are the potential solutions?
• Options have interlinked implications across the
challenges in the land sector; options to solve one
problem may exacerbate other problems.
• There is a list of positive approaches, and other of
approaches with potential negative-side effects.

11. Some advances of the SPM
3. What needs to be done?
• If SLM is considered as the panacea, the inhibiting
factors preventing the full transition to SLM have to
be identified to understand the low policy uptake, and
identify pathways to overcome transitional
boundaries
• Managing emerging, interconnected, and cascading
risks is critical for SLM.

12. Erosion management/reversion
Large cobenefits with adaptation, land degradation and
desertification.
Moderate cobenefit with food security
Small cobenefits with mitigation
Adverse side effects: biophysical, technological, and
educational barriers present.
Context specific institutional barriers

13. Agriculture diversification
Large cobenefits with adaptation, land degradaton,
desertification and food security.
Small cobenefits with mitigation
Adverse side effects: biophysical, technological, educational
and cultural/behavioral barriers present.
Context specific institutional barriers

14. Some advances of the SPM
4. How can we start?/advance further?
• Taking action now! (cost-effective no regret options)
• Creating an enable environment (governance, supply-
oriented solutions)
• Learning from existing risks (e.g. extremes)
• Involving stakeholders

15. IPCC SRCC Land: Chapter 6 Team