15. Life on land
Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface and in addition to providing food security and shelter, forests are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population. Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year while the persistent degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.
Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight against poverty. Efforts are being made to manage forests and combat desertification.
Read our stories to learn more about SDG Goal 15: Life on land
To adopt SDG 15 Life on land, in support of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, please contact us at partners@eco-business.com
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Carbon & Climate
Can a new fund give tropical forests a future?
Brazil is set to launch the TFFF at COP30, a new approach to unlock conservation funding.
An ongoing citizen-led petition calling for the protection of one of the state's last accessible shores for biodiversity-related activities has attracted over 1,300 signatures. It also questions the use of non-disclosure agreements in the EIA process.
The Global Wetland Outlook 2025 reveals alarming wetland losses since 1970 and outlines key actions needed to protect and restore these critical ecosystems before mid-century.
Policy & Finance
Q&A: Making a case for Vanuatu’s survival in the highest court
Historical emitters should face legal consequences, argues the country's attorney general Arnold Kiel Loughman.
Policy & Finance
China steps up for marine science in Nice
Opinion
Policy & Finance
Nature risk is financial risk
With investors already confronting the consequences of environmental instability, there can no longer be any doubt that nature risk is financial risk. Asset owners, central banks and institutions like the International Monetary Fund have a responsibility to integrate this awareness into all their activities.
Policy & Finance
Rethinking ocean finance
Despite the obvious importance of ocean processes and systems to planetary health and the global economy, humanity is not investing nearly enough in ocean sustainability. To ensure that we do, public- and private-sector leaders will need to collaborate on widening the appeal of critical projects.
Policy & Finance
Ahead of COP30, environmentalists risk freedom to defend nature
COP30 in Brazil is an opportunity to spotlight the risks facing environmentalists and to ramp up measures to better protect them.
Thailand’s Climate Change Act is timely and responsive to public concern, but the current version is a frail gesture addressing a complex problem.
Policy & Finance
The ethics of carbon pricing
Policy & Finance
Green crime goes global
Policy & Finance
Indigenous knowledge is a living science, stop stealing it
Videos
The Green Mortician is the city-state's first water cremation service, which has a small carbon footprint compared to traditional funeral options.
Carbon & Climate
Lending forests a voice with primatologist Andie Ang
Amid competing concerns such as urban development and tackling climate change, keeping biodiversity conservation in people's minds can be a challenge. Eco-Business asks primatologist Andie Ang how that can be tackled.
Carbon & Climate
Climate spiral: what 141 years of global warming looks like
As planetary temperatures reach an all-time high, a climate scientist has designed a new way to show how global temperatures have changed every month since the start of the industrial revolution and 2021.
Food & Agriculture
Pandemics and the exploitation of wildlife — what’s the connection?
The origin of Covid-19 is believed to be a market selling live wild animals. Eco-Business asked Anbarasi Boopal of Singapore-based animal welfare charity Acres about the link between the exploitation of animals and pandemics, and what can be done to curb the illegal wildlife trade.
Podcasts
A new report predicts Hong Kong could lose one quarter of its wildlife to new developments. WWF Hong Kong conservation head Dr Bosco Chan and Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden's Dr Stephan Gale tell the EB Podcast that developers must build in ways that protect nature and bolster climate resilience.
Carbon & Climate
America’s attack on climate science could affect adaptation capacity in Asia: climate scientist Ben Horton
The sea-level rise expert has moved to Hong Kong – now seen as a gateway to more collaboration with China on climate science. But he tells the EB Podcast that data from US agencies is still critical for calculating climate defences in Asia.
The chief executive of World Resources Institute also told the Eco-Business Podcast that the gutting of USAID is less of a concern than how to unlock private capital for climate and nature in developing countries.
Carbon & Climate
The challenges of the environment beat: A conversation with journalists in Southeast Asia
The Eco-Business Podcast speaks to reporters Nadiah Rosli, Adelia Dinda Sani, Gerald Flynn and Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez about funding limits, data access, and reporting against the odds in one of the world's most climate-vulnerable regions.
