General issues of the LDN concept and its development
Due to strong national traditions in LD assessment, the LDN concept was initially critically met in Russia. Therefore, a significant number of publications (mainly conference reports) were devoted to conceptual issues. It was important to hand the LDN basic principles over to the scientific community and agree on terminology. These issues were discussed at several international fora in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, which resulted in applying the LDN concept to a number of scientific problems at national and international level, both in the field of LD and related problems of biodiversity conservation and adaptation to climate change. In Russia it was reflected in (National report 2018, 2019, 2021) published as comprehensive national reviews on the issues of land degradation, desertification, and drought.
Fierce debates took place around the term LDN, which as part of the SDG 15.3 was translated in Russian as “a world without land degradation”, and this did not completely reflect a neutrality mechanism. Therefore, in the Russian-language scientific literature, due to the peculiarities of the translation of the term neutrality , LDN was proposed to translate as a neutral balance of land degradation (Zonn, Kust, and Andreeva 2017)) to underline a phenomenon of net zero concept. The results of scientific discussions on new LDN-related terms were reflected in the (Zonn et al. 2018, Kust et al. 2018c) which, together with national reports, quickly became scientific bestsellers. To a certain extent, these works served as the basis for some changes in Russian regulations: new definition for LD have been proposed (GOST, 2020), the LDN terminology has become firmly established in Russian-language scientific literature. In addition, assessments were carried out on the possible integration of the LDN concept with conventional approaches to LD monitoring.
(Zonn, Kust, and Andreeva 2017) highlighted that the LDN concept has opened a new stage of the desertification paradigm’s development, land degradation is now recognized as a global threat and requires global actions by both developing and developed countries regardless their climatic zones. LDN also poses new challenges: the application LDN framework needs taking into account national circumstances; land-based adaptation to climate change has not been clearly disclosed in domestic science, as well as evidence-based information on how desertification and droughts affect ecosystem services and ecological functions; information on social consequences of desertification is still scarce. These issues were recognized at scientific fora, and more than 15 relevant programs and projects were adopted in the Academy of sciences and in universities.
For Russia as a “northern” country it is important, that one of the main results of these efforts and studies in 2014-2021 is that the LDN concept has provided an approach for LD assessment beyond drylands scope limited by the UNCCD “mandate”. Also, the traditional concept of ”rational and/or effective land use and land management” got a new emphasis related to ideas of sustainability, neutrality and keeping the balance between natural and economic potential of land.