Land Restoration: The Solution to Food Prices and Farmer Livelihoods
Summary
What This Article Is About
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, addresses the global crisis of soaring food prices by identifying land degradation and drought as the gravest threats to agriculture worldwide—more significant than geopolitical tensions or pandemic disruptions. She reveals that these environmental crises harm 3.2 billion people across East Africa, India, the Amazon, the United States, and beyond, with projections showing land degradation could reduce food productivity by 12 percent and raise prices by nearly one-third within 25 years while average family incomes drop 20 percent due to climate impacts.
Andersen proposes ecosystem restoration as the solution, presenting compelling economics: the cost of action is six times lower than inaction, with every dollar invested generating up to $30 in economic benefits. She highlights successful initiatives transforming degraded farmlands, forests, and grasslands into productive areas creating hundreds of thousands of jobs—from the Mediterranean to Africa to Small Island states like Vanuatu, where formerly aid-dependent regions achieved self-sufficiency. The article culminates with a call to action tied to World Environment Day and the 2019 UN General Assembly’s unanimous dedication of this decade to ecosystem restoration, noting that governments have pledged to restore 1 billion hectares of land (larger than China) alongside 300,000 kilometers of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands, emphasizing these efforts must accompany fossil fuel phase-out to address climate-driven degradation.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Global Degradation Crisis
Land degradation and drought harm 3.2 billion people worldwide across continents, threatening to reduce food productivity 12 percent and raise prices nearly one-third within 25 years.
Vicious Cycle of Decline
Climate change degrades soils, making farming harder and less profitable, forcing increased chemical use on less-fertile land that delivers less-nutritious food while exacerbating the triple planetary crisis.
Extraordinary Economic Returns
Restoration costs six times less than inaction, with every dollar invested generating up to $30 in economic benefits—half the world’s GDP depends on nature according to UNEP reports.
Proven Success Stories
Restoration initiatives across the Mediterranean, Africa, South and East Asia transformed degraded lands into productive areas creating hundreds of thousands of jobs while achieving self-sufficiency in formerly aid-dependent regions.
Massive Global Commitments
Governments pledged to restore 1 billion hectares of land (larger than China), 300,000 kilometers of rivers, and 350 million hectares of wetlands following the 2019 UN General Assembly’s unanimous ecosystem restoration dedication.
Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Essential
Restoration efforts must be backed by strong greenhouse gas emission reductions including ending the fossil fuel era, as climate change is a major driver of land degradation, desertification, and drought.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Economic Case for Ecosystem Restoration
Andersen reframes environmental degradation as an economic crisis where soil decline forces chemical dependence while delivering diminished returns. Restoration offers extraordinary ROI—every dollar generates $30 in benefits—addressing 3.2 billion affected people and projected 12 percent productivity decline threatening global food security.
Purpose
Policy Advocacy Through Crisis Framing
Writing on World Environment Day, Andersen mobilizes action by linking soaring food prices to environmental solutions. She combines crisis communication (3.2 billion affected) with solution promotion (1 billion hectare pledge) and actionable steps, transforming global problems into accessible individual responsibility while fulfilling her UN mandate.
Structure
Crisis → Diagnosis → Solution → Evidence → Action
Opens with familiar problem (soaring food prices), identifies deeper cause (land degradation affecting 3.2 billion), explains vicious cycle mechanism, presents solution (nature regeneration), validates with evidence (6:1 cost-benefit, regional success stories), contextualizes within policy framework (2019 UN commitment), concludes with individual empowerment maximizing persuasive impact.
Tone
Urgent, Authoritative, Pragmatically Optimistic
Andersen maintains institutional authority while conveying urgency without apocalypticism. Data-heavy passages (3.2 billion affected, 12 percent productivity decline) ground arguments in quantifiable reality, while “phenomenal results” and economic language (“$30 in benefits”) shift strategically optimistic. Concluding imperatives (“we must act”) position readers as capable agents.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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To restore or renew something to a better, healthier, or more functional state; to enable natural systems to recover their vitality and productive capacity after degradation.
“We can stop this vicious cycle by helping nature to regenerate.”
Extraordinary, remarkable, or exceptionally impressive; describes outcomes or achievements that surpass normal expectations by a significant margin.
“The results already in are phenomenal.”
To strengthen, support, or reinforce something; to provide additional resources, evidence, or backing that makes a position, system, or structure more secure or effective.
“Such efforts not only restore nature, bolster food security and improve livelihoods.”
Agreed upon by everyone involved without any dissenting votes or opinions; describes decisions reached with complete consensus among all participants.
“UN member states recognised the power of restoring land and other ecosystems in a unanimous vote at the 2019 UN General Assembly.”
Wetland ecosystems characterized by accumulation of peat (partially decayed organic matter); important carbon stores that regulate water flow and support biodiversity when healthy.
“Multiple initiatives to build back degraded farmlands, forests, savannas, grasslands, peatlands and cities are making vast areas arable again.”
To include or integrate something as part of a whole; to combine elements into a unified system or strategy so they function together cohesively.
“Incorporate nature goals into your business.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to Andersen, land degradation could reduce food productivity by 12 percent and raise food prices by almost one-third within the next 25 years.
2What economic justification does Andersen provide for prioritizing land restoration over inaction?
3Which sentence best explains the “vicious cycle” that Andersen describes regarding climate change and agricultural degradation?
4Evaluate these statements about international commitments to ecosystem restoration mentioned in the article:
The 2019 UN General Assembly unanimously voted to dedicate this decade to ecosystem restoration.
Governments worldwide have pledged to restore a total of 1 billion hectares of land, an area larger than China.
Saudi Arabia’s 2024 hosting of World Environment Day represents the first UN conference ever focused on land restoration and drought resilience.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5Based on Andersen’s statement that restoration efforts “need to be backed by strong efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including by ending the era of fossil fuels,” what can be inferred about her view of restoration as a climate solution?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The triple planetary crisis refers to three interconnected environmental challenges: climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. Andersen argues these crises reinforce each other—degraded soils require chemical-intensive farming that increases pollution while reducing carbon storage capacity, which accelerates climate change that further degrades ecosystems. Land restoration addresses all three simultaneously by reducing chemical dependence, restoring carbon sinks, and rebuilding biodiversity while improving agricultural productivity.
According to UNEP reports Andersen cites, every dollar invested in restoration generates up to $30 in economic benefits through multiple channels: increased agricultural productivity from restored soil fertility, reduced need for expensive chemical inputs, new employment in restoration work, enhanced ecosystem services like water filtration and flood control, improved food security reducing healthcare costs, and climate mitigation avoiding future damage costs. The Central American corridor example demonstrates this transformation from aid-dependency to self-sufficiency through restoration investments.
Andersen notes that three-quarters of arable land in the Middle East already suffers from degradation, while global warming affects the region twice as fast as the global average, creating compounding vulnerabilities. Projections show the entire Middle Eastern population will face water scarcity by 2050, making land restoration urgent for regional stability. Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the 2024 World Environment Day and the largest-ever UN land and drought conference reflects recognition of these acute regional challenges requiring immediate restoration action.
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This is an Intermediate-level article requiring comfort with environmental policy concepts and ability to follow economic arguments across multiple evidence types. Readers should understand causal relationships between climate change and agricultural systems, interpret quantitative projections about productivity and prices, and synthesize information from global examples. The institutional context (UN leadership, international conferences, government pledges) assumes familiarity with multilateral environmental governance. While accessible language makes core arguments clear, full comprehension requires connecting economic incentives to ecological processes and understanding how restoration addresses multiple crisis dimensions simultaneously.
As Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Andersen has institutional access to global environmental data, coordinates international restoration initiatives, and directly influences policy at the highest governmental levels. Her position at UNEP means she synthesizes research from member states worldwide, oversees implementation of international environmental agreements, and works directly with governments on restoration commitments. The article references UNEP reports providing the economic analyses she cites, demonstrating how her authority stems from institutional knowledge production rather than individual expertise alone.
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