Land Degradation assesses how a company prevents, monitors and remediates the reduction of land’s productive capacity and ecological integrity - whether caused directly by its operations (agriculture, forestry, mining, infrastructure) or indirectly through its supply chain. It encompasses:

• biophysical processes such as soil erosion, compaction, salinisation, acidification, nutrient depletion, desertification and contamination (chemicals, heavy metals, tailings);
• conversion or fragmentation of natural habitats that diminishes biodiversity, carbon stocks and ecosystem services;
• over-extraction of biomass and poor grazing or cultivation practices that accelerate fertility loss;
• assessment of degradation hotspots via remote sensing, soil sampling and land-use change analysis, with baselines aligned to UNCCD Land Degradation Neutrality metrics;
• preventive measures (conservation agriculture, buffer zones, controlled traffic, vegetation cover), restoration strategies (revegetation, soil-carbon rebuild, erosion control) and long-term monitoring;
• targets and disclosures consistent with frameworks such as GRI 304/306, EU ESRS E4 & E2, and SDG 15.3.