Protected and restored ecosystems and the biodiversity they support can help mitigate climate change and provide increased resilience in the face of increased human pressures and mounting disasters. Healthy ecosystems also produce multiple benefits for all communities: clean air, water, food, raw materials and medicines, to name a few. To date, progress in preserving and sustainably using terrestrial ecosystems and protecting biodiversity has been uneven. The pace of forest loss has slowed, and improvements continue to be made in managing forests sustainably and safeguarding areas important for biodiversity. That said, accelerating biodiversity loss, along with continued poaching and trafficking of wildlife, is alarming. Moreover, from 1998 to 2013, about one fifth of the Earth’s land surface covered by vegetation showed persistently declining trends in productivity. Soil and land degradation undermines the security and development of all countries.