Scientists: Land degradation threatens planet

Barring urgent action, land degradation that already has affected the lives of two-fifths of humanity will worsen, reducing crop yields and increasing social instability, nearly 100 scientists from 45 countries warned in a report released on Monday.

Worsening land degradation is driving the extinction of species and intensifying climate change in addition to ratcheting up mass human migration and increasing conflict, said the world's first comprehensive assessment of land health.

The three-year assessment was produced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a global scientific group founded in 2012 that has 129 members.