India aims to achieve land degradation neutrality by the year
- (a)2025
- (b)2030
- (c)2035
- (d)2040
Correct — B, 2030. Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is the core objective of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and its deadline is not set by any national policy of its own — it comes from Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3, which commits countries to 'by 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil... and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world'. India, as a party to the UNCCD and to the 2030 Agenda, has adopted that same 2030 horizon, and reaffirmed its commitment while hosting UNCCD COP-14 at Greater Noida from 2 to 13 September 2019 — barely three months before this paper was set, which is why the examiner picked it up. At that COP India also announced an enhanced ambition for restoring degraded land by 2030; press reports of the exact hectare figures vary, so the safe and examinable fact is the year, 2030.
- (a)2025 — No LDN or SDG land target runs to 2025. The year is attractive because several national mission timelines end in mid-decade, but the land-degradation-neutrality commitment is tied to the SDG framework, whose target year is 2030.
- (c)2035 — 2035 is not a milestone in the UNCCD or SDG architecture at all. It is a plausible-looking round year inserted to catch candidates who remember 'sometime in the 2030s' rather than the precise SDG deadline.
- (d)2040 — 2040 belongs to no Indian or UNCCD land-restoration commitment. Candidates who reach for a distant date are usually confusing land degradation neutrality with long-horizon climate pledges, which run on entirely different timelines.
Land Degradation Neutrality means that the amount and quality of land resources needed to support ecosystem functions stays stable or increases within a given period — in practice, any new degradation must be balanced by restoration elsewhere ('no net loss' applied to land). It is the flagship objective of the UNCCD, the third of the three Rio conventions (alongside the UNFCCC on climate and the CBD on biodiversity), and it is anchored in SDG 15.3 with a 2030 deadline. Countries set voluntary national LDN targets and report progress on three indicators: land cover, land productivity and soil organic carbon.
The reasoning shortcut is: LDN is an SDG target, and every SDG target is dated 2030. If you can place the commitment inside the 2030 Agenda rather than inside a domestic scheme, the answer is forced. The 2019 exam hook is that India hosted UNCCD COP-14 at Greater Noida in September 2019, which produced the 'New Delhi Declaration: Investing in Land and Unlocking Opportunities' — a classic current-affairs peg that examiners convert into a one-line date question. Keep 2030 (SDG/LDN) separate from India's net-zero target year of 2070, which was announced at COP-26 in November 2021, i.e. after this exam.
- Land Degradation Neutrality is set by SDG target 15.3 — the deadline is 2030.
- LDN is the central objective of the UNCCD, one of the three Rio conventions of 1992 (UNCCD, UNFCCC, CBD).
- India hosted UNCCD COP-14 at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, from 2 to 13 September 2019; it adopted the New Delhi Declaration.
- LDN progress is tracked through three indicators — land cover, land productivity and soil organic carbon stocks.
Answer (b): land degradation neutrality rides on the SDG clock, so its target year is 2030 — not a climate-pledge year.
- Mixing the 2030 SDG/LDN year with India's 2070 net-zero year or with 2022/2025 scheme deadlines.
- Attributing land degradation neutrality to the UNFCCC or the CBD — it belongs to the UNCCD.
- Quoting the widely circulated 'restore X million hectares' figures from COP-14 as if they were settled; the year 2030 is the reliable fact, the hectare numbers are reported inconsistently.
UPPSC asks it as a bare 'by which year' recall; UPSC prefers statement-based framing on what the UNCCD does, its approach, and how land degradation links to biodiversity and drylands.
What is/are the importance/importances of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification? 1. It aims to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships. 2. It has a special/particular focus on South Asia and North Africa regions, and its Secretariat facilitates the allocation of major portion of financial resources to these regions. 3. It is committed to bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating the desertification. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only
Same convention, one level deeper — UPSC tests what the UNCCD actually does (national action programmes, bottom-up participation), which is the machinery through which the 2030 land-degradation-neutrality target is pursued.
Consider the following international agreements: 1. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 2. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 3. The World Heritage Convention Which of the above has/have a bearing on the biodiversity?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3
Places the UNCCD inside the wider treaty map and makes the same point the LDN target rests on — arresting land degradation is simultaneously a biodiversity and a livelihoods instrument.
Which of the following is not a sustainable development goal targeted to be achieved by 2030?
- (a) Zero Hunger
- (b) Gender Equality
- (c) Good health and well being
- (d) Space Research
Answer(d) Space Research
Same underlying anchor — the 2030 SDG deadline. Land degradation neutrality is SDG target 15.3, so both questions are ultimately testing whether you have fixed 2030 as the SDG horizon.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'Land Degradation Neutrality' is the central objective of which of the following conventions?
- (a)United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- (b)Convention on Biological Diversity
- (c)United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
- (d)Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Answer(c) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification — LDN is the UNCCD's flagship objective, anchored in SDG target 15.3.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 14th Conference of the Parties (COP-14) to the UNCCD, held in India in September 2019, took place at
- (a)New Delhi
- (b)Greater Noida
- (c)Gandhinagar
- (d)Hyderabad
Answer(b) Greater Noida — the session ran from 2 to 13 September 2019 at Greater Noida, though its outcome document was titled the 'New Delhi Declaration', which is the trap in this question.