Land degradation neutrality concerns in Bangladesh

Abstract

Globally, land degradation has become a concerning issue for ensuring food and soil security. In 2012, the United Nations (UN) started their journey to achieve a land degradation neutral (LDN) planet, and Bangladesh showed her interest to be a part of LDN target setting program in 2015 and set six LDN targets to reverse land degradation by 2030. The aim of this study is to investigate the progress of Bangladesh towards achieving LDN targets. Our investigation reveals that only the soil carbon stock has improved compared to the previous years’. However, the rate of deforestation, landslides, soil erosion, riverbank erosion, and intrusion of salinity has increased. Weak soil governance and no inclusion of soil conservation legislation are the key reasons for deteriorating the soil health of Bangladesh. Moreover, the geopolitical refugees should also be held responsible as they are destroying the hill tracts and forest areas for settlements and agriculture. We suggest the researchers to conduct more research works together at national scale as there are few latest information available on land degradation. We also recommend the governing body to establish a strong soil governance and soil conservation act immediately to halt land degradation and for ensuring soil security in Bangladesh.