Assessment of Land Degradation at the Local Level in Response to SDG 15.3: A Case Study of the Inner Mongolia Region from 2000 to 2020

SDG15.3 aims to achieve “Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)”, but its only indicator (SDG15.3.1) is designed for national-level assessment and monitoring, not suitable local-level applications. Thus, taking Inner Mongolia as the study area, this paper provides a localized reform of SDG15.3.1 based on local context, assesses progress in area (2000-2020) at multiple levels (indicator, specific, overall). The Moran’I Standard Deviation Ellipse (SDE) are also utilized analyze spatial–temporal change land degradation. results show that 2020, proportion degradation improvement areas total was 7.51% 9.42%, respectively. had generally met goal SDG15.3, level, water erosion still falls far below standard SDG15.3. Additionally, spatial 3 out 12 municipalities 71 103 counties achieved LDN, with pattern low LDN southeast high northwest county scale. This indicates extremely uneven both levels. it essential continue promote management entire across all aspects.