Recently, the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) has made significant progress in monitoring and reporting SDG 15.3, “Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).” They have produced the first 30-meter global Land Productivity Dynamics (LPD) dataset for the period 2013–2022. This study, titled "A 30-meter resolution global land productivity dynamics dataset from 2013 to 2022," has been published in Scientific Data, a comprehensive data journal under Nature. The research was led by Researcher Xiaosong Li’s team at the CBAS, in collaboration with multiple institutions, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Beijing Normal University, and others.

Land degradation is one of the most severe environmental challenges worldwide. In 2015, the United Nations established Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3 to achieve LDN, with land productivity as one of its key sub-indicators. However, the highest spatial resolution of currently available global LPD datasets are 250-meter, and they lack systematic validation, making them insufficient for refined monitoring. This limitation has severely hindered the in-depth reporting of SDG 15.3.

This study leveraged the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform and integrated Landsat-8 and MODIS imagery to construct a high-quality 30-meter NDVI dataset. Using the FAO-WOCAT algorithm, the research team generated the 30-meter global LPD product for the period 2013–2022. Validation results show that the dataset achieves an accuracy of over 80% in monitoring areas with declining LPD, significantly enhancing the identification of land degradation hotspots.

The release of this dataset fills the gap in 30-meter scale global LPD monitoring. The algorithm and product have been adopted and recommended in the Good Practice Guidance for SDG 15.3.1 reporting. Additionally, the LPD dataset for Small Island Developing States （SIDS） has been included as the default dataset in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) SDG 15.3.1 national reporting framework. In the future, this dataset will provide more refined data and methodological support for the global monitoring and reporting of SDG 15.3.