Statements

The COVID-19 situation is still dire in many regions of the world as COVID-19 mutates. As most of you already know, we lost Mr. Philbert Brown, our National Focal Point in Jamaica. He was an ardent supporter of the Convention and one of our savviest negotiators and consensus builders. Allow me to extend heartfelt sympathies and condolences, on behalf of my staff and I, to members of the UNCCD family and community who have suffered loss of (a) family member(s), colleague or friend. UNCCD staff are holding up well, going beyond the call of duty to serve and support our stakeholder community and following prescribed government procedures of work and for vaccination. We will get through this challenge together. We are also doing our best to use this moment to inform the public, with empathy, first, about the pandemic as one of the unintended consequences of ecosystem degradation. And second, to explain the UNCCD’s contribution in building forward better post COVID-19. UNCCD COP15 postponed to 2022 At COP 14, parties decided that COP15 will be held in Bonn, Germany, in autumn 2021, or at another venue arranged by the secretariat in consultation with the Bureau if no Party made an offer to host that session. The COP Bureau met on 8 April to discuss on COP15 considering the COVID-19 pandemic. It decided to postpone COP15 to 2022. It requested the Secretariat to plan to hold the Conference between May and October 2022 in line with the terms set out for COP15 in the COP14 decision. Presidency of the General Assembly and G-7 leadership in land restoration On Monday, 14 June 2021, the Presidency of the General Assembly is holding the high-level dialogue to assess progress during the decade on desertification in combating desertification, land degradation and drought. Heads of state and government, ministers and other dignitaries have confirmed their participation. Our collaborative efforts to reach the highest levels of government with the message that securing the land has multiple benefits is starting to pay off. During last month’s G-7 meeting hosted by Italy, the leaders discussed the target of achieving land degradation at length. This month, the Biden-Harris administration proposed the intention to carry out conservation and restoration measures to protect up to 30 per cent of the land and waters in the United States. This growing interest by the world’s largest economies to achieve land degradation neutrality signals a political will to invest in the transformative programmes that combine green jobs and good land stewardship. Plans for Desertification and Drought Day (DDD) Costa Rica, host country for this year’s DDD global observance, is planning to organize a high-level event to build on the momentum from these events to raise the ambition for land stewardship globally. Together with the host country, the secretariat will mark the celebration through a 6-hour online webcast. A lot of assets are provided on our website for your use to promote the day locally, and the global online event. The programme includes events addressing every segment of society, policymakers, children, youth, women, the private sector, land users and scientists. Show and share your events by posting them on the UNCCD portal. In this regard, let me draw your attention to this article prepared by Luc Descroix, Senior Researcher at the French institute for research and development, IRD, about what scientists are observing in the Sahel. The regreening of the Sahel has been confirmed year after year since the 1990 with the emergence of dense and perennial agrosystems. He reports on this phenomenon and its impacts in the region in this publication. CRIC19 outcomes I thank our Parties for the successful conclusion of CRIC-19, and the sacrifice most you made to participate or enable others to participate. The Report of the Meeting is available on our website on this link. Parties to the UNFCCC and CBD are organizing virtual negotiating intersessional events in May and June. Their experiences can inform how we approach and plan our future activities. Things to look forward to UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: We are actively engaged and supporting FAO and UNEP in promoting the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which will be launched on World Environment Day on 5 June. One of the sessions, organized with WOCAT, will feature sustainable land management techniques. Participation is free via this link: https://unccd-int.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JO7cO0eeTyarP5V1rSgZwQ?_x_zm_rtaid=AzAkPXTyTZy7c7DolDwLMg.1620735432301.744dd309f743257530db3f8ef187cfaa&_x_zm_rhtaid=166. SLM specialists from around the world with expertise in mountain, coastal, grassland, forest, cropland, urban and other ecosystems will speak Food Systems Summit: We are actively engaged in the Food Systems Summit taking place in July-August. In May, we have issued this briefing paper (Restored Land, Healthy People, Green Recovery) to shape the discussion. I encourage you to attend the event, and to invite stakeholders and target groups who are influential in this space and/or would benefit from the event Rio Conventions campaigns: The Joint Liaison Group of the Rio Conventions (CBD, UNCCD, UNFCCC) and the Global Environment Facility are developing a joint communications campaign. We aim to promote greater collaboration among actors for a holistic and joined-up approach at the national level among practitioners, advocacy organizations and activists active in the issues our Conventions are working on UNCCD website: We expect to launch an overhauled UNCCD Website in the last quarter of this year. Allow me to thank everyone who responded to the survey. Your contributions have been invaluable in guiding the developers we are working with to design a portal that is attractive, user-friendly, resourceful and demand oriented.

Message by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: The pandemic has reminded us how much we depend on each other. How much we depend on nature. How much our fate depends on our relationships with nature. How much we need a good political will, combined with collective action, and sustained investment. When these come together, we can make a difference. So, despite the major setbacks we suffered this year, there is hope. Hope that we can build back better from COVID-19. Hope that this year, we can act together on climate change. Hope that this will be a year for decisive action to reverse biodiversity losses. Today is International Day for Biological Diversity, with its theme of “We’re part of the solution”. On behalf of the UNCCD, I want to remind you: sustainable land management is a huge part of the solution. The greatest problems facing humanity – including land degradation, biodiversity loss, and global warming – are closely linked. In studies across the world, land restoration programmes have repeatedly been shown to increase biodiversity by up to half. It’s not just biodiversity that benefits. Better food and water security, reduced carbon emissions, and healthy air quality can all be delivered by land restoration. This is how we build a greener, healthier, and more sustainable future. We already have the tools – like responsible land governance, and investments that protect and restore nature. Let’s use them. Together, we can all be a part of the solution in 2021.

Statement by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw The Biden-Harris Administration last week outlined its vision of how the United States can conserve and restore 30 per cent of its land and waters by 2030. The report titled, Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful, identifies six priority areas of action. It calls for the establishment of a tool that shows better the voluntary contributions farmers, ranchers, tribal leaders, forest and private landowners make in this process.  I welcome this remarkable step taken by the Biden-Harris Administration within the first six months of being in office.   The vision outlined by the Administration is commendable in many ways.  The announcement came two weeks ahead of the high-level dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought convened on 20 May 2021 by the President of the United Nations General Assembly. The purpose is to mobilize political will to restore degrading lands as part of the post-COVID19 pandemic recovery process.   Leading by example will inspire action among leaders who have yet to make commitments to join the global effort to restore as much land as possible by 2030. The benefits are immense. We can slow climate change, halt biodiversity loss, increase food production and create green jobs without clearing new forests or put the Earth at greater risk. Halting and reversing current trends could generate up to USD 1.4 trillion per year of economic benefits.  More than two billion hectares of land is degraded globally. So far, countries have earmarked about one billion hectares for restoration by 2030. The voluntary national target to restore conserve and restore 30 percent of US land and waters will motivate other countries and raise the ambition to restore all two billion hectares.   The G-20 Initiative set up last December will contribute to support for this restoration. But a lot more is needed. The private sector, foundations, governments not yet engaged and individuals, all need to join in.  So far, 127 countries have committed to set up voluntary national targets to avoid, reduce and restore degrading land. Of these, 104 have already set targets to restore land in an area that is now well over 400 million hectares –a size larger than India.   The Biden-Harris Vision was developed through a consultative process. The administration consulted tribal leaders, governors, members of congress and their staff, scientists, elected county and state officials, environmental advocacy organizations, representatives of fishing, farming, hunting, trade and industry.   Consultation is tedious but getting everyone’s buy-in is the key to success. The Administration has signaled that it is focused on long-term change and believes that acting together in this area is consistent with America’s values and interests.  We have run out of time. It is my hope that the vision outlined by the Biden-Harris Administration will be realized quickly and successfully. I am encouraged by the actions countries have taken since the pandemic started in 2020 to prioritize good land stewardship in charting the path to a sustainable future. I urge all UN member states to raise the ambition for 2030 to the restoration of all two billion hectares of land. 

Message to Parties and Observers from the UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw I would like to inform Parties and observers to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, that, at its intersessional meeting held on 08 April 2021, the Bureau of the fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP14 Bureau), addressed under its agenda item II, matters related to the “Date and venue of COP15”. On that occasion the COP14 Bureau decided the following: In due consideration to the ongoing challenges posed by the evolution of the COVID19 pandemic worldwide, the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) due to be held in autumn 2021 (decision 33/COP.14) will be postponed and rescheduled between May and October 2022, at a venue to be confirmed in due course. An extraordinary session of the COP will be organized in a virtual format in 2021 to adopt an interim budget. The modalities, timing, and procedure for such a session will be further clarified by the Bureau in a subsequent meeting and accordingly shared with Parties. The secretariat will continue to ensure that Parties are fully updated on these important matters on a regular basis.

A message from the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: Earth Day 2021 has a starkly simple message: we must make 2021 a pivotal year in efforts to Restore our Earth and build back better from COVID-19. Building a climate resilient and net-zero world must go hand in hand with recovering from the economic effects of a global pandemic. The urgency is clear. This year already, we have passed a significant and sobering landmark: humanity has now caused the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere to rise 50 per cent higher than before the Industrial Revolution. Research published last week suggests that just three per cent of the world’s land remains ecologically intact, and many scientists warn we are in the midst of the planet’s sixth great extinction. Yet there are reasons to hope. The G-20 launched the Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation. The delayed UNFCCC COP 26 happens in November. President Biden fulfilled his pledge to immediately re-join the Paris agreement on taking office, and today he hosts a Leaders Summit on Climate to further galvanize global efforts. Restoring our planet requires decisive action and ambition on many interlocking issues: addressing climate change, dialling back on consumption, and restoring our land and ecosystems to health. That’s why the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will be launched in June, on World Environment Day. At the UNCCD, we believe scaling up land degradation neutrality and sustainable land management efforts will be fundamental to building a better world. Healthy land and soil, coupled with secure tenure of land for the most vulnerable, can alleviate food insecurity, reduce migration, and help reverse biodiversity losses. Restoring land can close 90 per cent of the agricultural yield gap, leading to an extra USD 1.4 trillion in agricultural production. These land based solutions are gaining momentum as low-tech, cheap and readily implemented solutions. They harness indigenous and local knowledge to implement restoration approaches like regenerative agriculture to deliver stable local communities with meaningful and sustainable lives – based on healthy soil and ecosystems. We can restore land and restore hope, in tandem. Africa’s Great Green Wall is transforming the lives of an entire region. It aims to slow and reverse desertification, reduce the impact, frequency, and intensity of droughts, and boost national and regional economies in the Sahel. By creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes, it provides stability, livelihoods and a path out of poverty. The GGW is creating new green jobs, harnessing the Sahel’s abundant solar energy to power a future for those most at risk. This Earth Day, let us reaffirm our will to act on land restoration -at scale, to help humanity recover better, become more resilient, and to safeguard all our futures.

Keynote speech by UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw: Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Dear friends and colleagues, I would like to thank FAO and Director-General Qu Dongyu for the kind invitation and for our cooperation as we kickstart the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Dear friends, I asked a colleague what he suggests I talk about at the opening of this Global Symposium. He went on to ask me when was the last time I had an opportunity to speak about : Bacteria! Fungi! Protozoa! Arthropods! and even Worms! Not to mention, he said, the Other Soil Invertebrates and Vertebrates …and of course, the Plants that provide them all food in the form of organic matter. It reminded me of late Dr. Charles E. Kellogg who once said: “There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together.” It is no wonder that scientists like Dr. Kellog have always considered soils the “factory of life”. These factories represent as much as a quarter of the world’s biodiversity. One quarter of the variation in life on Earth, from genes to organisms to communities. Under our feet is an extraordinary community of organisms working in a remarkable coordinated effort to bring the fertility to our soils that all food, fodder, and fiber depend on. These organisms bring structure to our soils, helping sequester carbon, contributing to climate regulation They store and purify water, helping mitigate drought They control pest outbreaks, and even provide life-saving medicines These organisms, in their extraordinary abundance and variety, are at the core of all ecosystem services – to all of nature’s contributions to people. And yet, over 33% of the Earth's soils are already degraded and 90% could become degraded by 2050. That is three short decades away. Three short decades, when soil formation is a process of centuries! If you allow me an analogy: this means that the workforce of the factory of life is also down 33%, and at risk of layoffs hitting 90%! When we consider what the COVID-19 pandemic has done – and is continuing to do – to the global workforce and the global economy, you can understand why this issue is crucial. Dear friends, Though not easy, this problem can -and must- be solved. And the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification are adamant about the fact that land is part of the solution. First, land has the power to accelerate all the Sustainable Development Goals. If we can keep land in balance, we can keep food, water, energy, carbon, and nature in balance as well. Ensuring soil biodiversity means carbon in the soil rather than the atmosphere, and where there is organic carbon, there is life. Second, prevention is better than the cure. Which is why soil conservation and sustainable land management are equally very important. Dear friends, All of our best efforts at prevention are still not be enough. This is why we join FAO and UNEP and all other partners in scaling up the impact of individual and collective action trough the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The Decade is also a call of action, at scale, to steer the recovery towards a safer, more sustainable, and inclusive path to build back better from the COVID19 pandemic. It is because restoring land is a fast-acting solution. Restoring land can close up to 90 per cent of the agricultural yield gap, leading to an extra USD 1.4 trillion in agricultural production. The Decade aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. This is the response hierarchy of Land Degradation Neutrality which is integral to SDG Target 15.3. Addressing all levels of response is also the basis of the new G20 Initiative on Land Degradation. It is fully compatible with the climate change and biodiversity plans. Dear friends, Protecting the biodiversity of soils means ensuring the factory of life is running at full capacity, creating new jobs. This will require leadership from the highest levels of government, the continued well-coordinated efforts of scientists and the land managers who must put the science and policy to work. You who are this week – as I understand it, 4000 strong – you know how important soil biodiversity is. And I can sense your sleeves are already rolled up for the work ahead. I wish you success in your deliberations and look forward to helping countries put your outcomes into practice. Thank you.

Madam President, Dear Bureau members, It is, as ever, a pleasure to speak to you and work with you, regardless of the distance the pandemic has forced upon us. I hope that everyone is holding up during what has been a long and wearying period for us all. I commend your continued commitment to our Convention. Your dedication remains essential, as UNCCD is growing ever more and as land is part of the solution in these times of great turmoil. If we fulfill our mandate to protect, manage, and restore the land, the benefits will be immense towards building a resilient and inclusive post-pandemic world. We will accelerate recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. Reduce the risk of future pandemics. Slow climate change and protect biodiversity. Free millions of people from poverty and hunger. Help to create a world of peace, prosperity, and equity. Madam President, More than ever before, we need solidarity, hope but also tough political choices and innovative policy action to see this crisis through together.  Allow me to give a brief update of our activities so far before addressing today’s agenda. Regarding the Secretariat and Global Mechanism, I am pleased to report that our staff and families are doing well overall. In unison with the rest of the UN in Bonn, I have continued to take all precautionary measures that are intended to protect the safety, health, and well-being of UNCCD staff with regard to COVID19. This has been a top priority for me and the management team. I have been inspired by how our work has continued uninterrupted, enabling the Convention to continue to play an active global role. I am thankful to my staff for their enduring dedication. Our work in 2020 and 2021 is not, in any form, on hold.  We now have a strong Management Team which I am very proud of, with more women into leadership positions. I am proud that we achieved gender parity in just one year, with 54% women as senior leaders. Overall, women now represent 57% of the UNCCD labor force. Together with the management team, we have created a consensus around simplification, decentralization, and flexibility to be more nimble, efficient, and effective by adopting for the first time in the Secretariat’s history a Delegation of Authority policy. At global level, never has the need for land restoration been more crucial. In the midst of the pandemic, a window of hope and opportunity has opened for our Parties: a chance to recover better. The UNCCD Secretariat has focused its attention on key strategic partnerships. At our last Bureau meeting, I informed you about the G20 Global Initiative on Land. We are in advanced discussions with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the funding agreement and we will soon set up the Initiative Coordination Office. Italy which holds the G20 Presidency this year, is also very much interested in Sustainable Land Management. I would like to use this opportunity to thank G20 countries who are also members of the Bureau for their instrumental support. On January 11, at the One Planet Summit organized in Paris, the Africa’s Great Green Wall received a major boost from donors and partners. For the first time ever, there was a clear recognition that land restoration can have multiple positive impacts. To the ecology, to society, to the economy. Close to USD 17 billion have now been pledged. The UNCCD has been requested to provide technical support to provide enabling conditions for an accelerated implementation on the ground. Madam President, Covid-19 has not postponed the need for Parties to accelerate work towards fulfilling commitments they have already made. We understand the Indian Government is completing the process for the implementation of Prime Minister Modi’s vision shared at COP14 in New Delhi, to restore 26M ha of land by 2030. Furthermore, you may have noted the recent announcement by Prince Mohamed Ben Salman of Saudi Arabia about a national and a regional initiative to restore 240 M ha of degraded land across the Kingdom and the Middle East region. We are in contact with Saudi Arabia to better understand their plans and provide as much support as we can. The implementation of the Land Degradation Neutrality is ongoing in 104 out of the 127 countries that submitted their national commitments.  The Global Mechanism is developing a new business model to cope with the growing and complex demands from Parties. Madam President, Land restoration is clearly gaining momentum. Itis low-tech and a cheap solution to climate from the perspective of carbon sequestration. We will need to continue to make the case, and convince major players, notably from the private sector for a more sustainable production. Of particular importance are the producers of food, feed, and fiber. We also need to see major improvements on the consumption side. One imminent opportunity we have is the High-Level Dialogue at the UN General Assembly on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought which is scheduled to take place on 20 May. The President of the UN General Assembly is fully committed to working with all Members States, at the highest level, in order to make this event a success, with a lasting legacy. We need your full support to make this Dialogue a successful one. On 17 June, the world will celebrate the Desertification and Drought Day, with Costa Rica as the global host. The theme focuses on the contribution of Land Restoration to the Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery. I am very pleased with the positive response we have received so far both from the public and the private sectors. At our next Bureau meeting, I intend to inform you about great progress being made in improving the reporting tools, including through the establishment of a geo-spatial platform. There are also important development shaping up in other sectors, such as the Science Policy Interface as well as Capacity Building and Innovation. Our staff have been very busy and creative, despite the lockdown. But in the interest of time, I will have to come back to these on another occasion. Madame President, Covid-19 has revealed the world’s vulnerabilities, many of which intersect with the land crisis. At the same time, it has highlighted the importance of expertise and science, cooperation, information and solidarity. And it has also, in many cases, demonstrated that land is part of the solution and can help steer the recovery towards a safer, more sustainable, and inclusive path. We stand ready to continue supporting Parties, now and beyond COVID-19. This brings me to today’s agenda. We will discuss the date and place of COP15, a key decision for the Convention. You will also hear a report by the Chair of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC). I would like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome Mr. Andrew Bishop. Mr. Bishop is not new to the UNCCD process as he served as Guyana’s national focal point in the past. Finally, you will hear a report by the Chair of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST). Madame President, Parties had requested us to organize COP15 in Bonn, or another venue, in autumn of this year. Considering the ongoing, worldwide effects of COVID-19, holding an ambitious, inclusive COP15 in 2021 may no longer possible. The pandemic has disrupted our plans. You have in front of view, under agenda item II, a note on the status of preparations for COP15 to inform your decision on the best course of action for a successful COP, moving forward. The note includes options for rescheduling COP15. Rescheduling will ensure all Parties can focus on the issues to be discussed at this key conference and allow more time for the necessary preparations to take place, taking into account safety and security. We will continue to work with all of you and hope to be able to get your views and guidance on: The postponement of COP15 to 2022 The organization of an online process for Parties to decide on an interim budget for 2022 Your decision today will help us engage further our host country with regard the rescheduling of COP15 in 2022. This, of course, does not exclude the possibility of a third party expressing interest to preside or host COP15, regardless of your decision on the date of the COP. We know that many countries are already in the process of developing their Post-Pandemic recovery plans. It would be strategic for our Conference of the Parties to be held on time, to actively contribute to policy making and guide pro-land investments and policies. The Second Edition of the Global Land Outlook is designed to serve as a good reference in that respect. On CRIC19, while I will leave the details to our able Chair, let me just say how pleased I was with the outcomes. The meeting confirmed that the work we do under this Convention is essential to protecting, managing, and restoring healthy land. And that we can only fulfill the land’s full potential if we do it together. Thanks again to all of you, a total of 138 Parties, 9 UN agencies, 15 Intergovernmental Organizations, and 63 civil society organizations took part in the debates, over a course of five days. Regarding the report by the CST Chair, there are a lot of important activities and updates that the Chair will be presenting. It is always heartening to see collaboration, both internal and external. And this struck me as a key positive note of the report. As I said earlier, we must all seek to reach beyond the confines of our Convention to engage every ministry, business, investor, UN agency and process that impacts on the land. So, the CST coordination with the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is most welcome and much appreciated. Madame President, The Secretariat is very much looking forward to a successful and productive meeting. Thank you.

A statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: After a year in which COVID-19 has swept the world, killing almost three million people – so far – and devastating the global economy, today’s World Health Day is a moment to reflect. This year’s theme of "Building a fairer, healthier world for everyone" seeks to build a better world for us all. The UNCCD believes land based solutions can offset the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 to foster healthy ecosystems and support healthy people. There’s an urgent need – right now – to restore damaged ecosystems to help us build back better. That’s why the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will be launched in two months, on World Environment Day. Yet as populations continue to grow, so does demand on land. Up to 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases and most recent epidemics originate from animals, crossing over when land use change modifies natural habitats, increasing close interactions between wildlife and humans. Every year, around one billion people become ill as a result of zoonoses, and millions die, mostly the vulnerable in low-income countries. Already this century, zoonotic diseases have caused global economic losses of over 100 billion USD. Zoonotic diseases are not the only health crisis we face. In a warming world, extreme events like sand and dust storms are more common, more intense, and more prolonged. Last month the worst dust storms in decades hit Mongolia and northern China – reducing air quality and causing long term impacts on human health. Driven by climate change and land degradation, air pollution is a "hidden pandemic," killing almost nine million people a year – three times the COVID-19 toll. Land degradation neutrality is crucial to help reduce the likelihood, impact and extent of future pandemics, and to pave the way to the recovery of lost resilience in our global systems. Protecting, restoring and buffering natural ecosystems is vital to building back better and to reducing the risks of novel infectious diseases emerging again. In the Sahel, the Great Green Wall Initiative is an ambitious African programme with the aim to bring back to health 100 millions of hectares of degraded land across 11 countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, delivering nature-based solutions to multiple challenges at epic scale to provide jobs and economic opportunities for millions and transform an entire region. Guided by our goal of healthy land, the UNCCD strives for a fairer, healthier world for everyone. Our motto “healthy land; healthy people” is truer today than ever. Read more: Role of land in COVID-19 response

Remarks by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: Your Excellency Chairperson Ambassador Ammo Aziza Baroud, Excellencies Permanent Representatives, Ambassador Fatima Mohamed, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is indeed a real pleasure to address you today in my capacity as the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, a Convention that Africa pushed for at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and which bears a special focus on Africa. My brief today will be focused on the impact of LAND DEGRADATION in Africa’s economic and social development. A continent whose economic growth over the last 25 years has been remarkably steady, though the impact of such growth has been somehow muted by a series of factors. Among them, the loss of productive land while the number of people to feed kept growing fast. It’s a complex equation: (i) the demand on Africa’s natural resources keeps growing, exacerbated by a steady demographic growth and by externalities such as trade and illicit activities. (ii) ecosystems and the services they provide are shrinking, due to desertification (land degradation), climate change and drought According to UNEP, the African continent has already lost more than 60% of its agricultural land since 1950. If we know that the population has been grown by more than 440% between 1950 and 2020, we have at least partial response to the equation. Here is the next parameter: according to the Economics of Land Degradation, the costs of land degradation are estimated at USD 127 B per year (almost twice as much as total ODA that flowed to Africa in 2019). Some countries in Africa have seen up to 95% of their land affected by desertification (Eswatini); 66% for Angola; 64% for Gabon…This is not specific to one sub-region, though the Sahel is arguably one of the most vulnerable region in the world where desertification is already having tragic consequences. Whether its Egypt or Algeria, Libya or Mauritania, no country is spared in the North Africa sub-region. The vulnerability comes from the fact that up to 94% of agriculture is dependent on few millimeters of rainfall, and few centimeters of topsoil. This explains why Africa’s economy is very dependent of droughts. Actually, no country in Africa is immune to drought. No country is well prepared. Years of droughts generally correspond to years of economic downturn. Years of sorrow and loss. Years of despair. Some experts estimate that two thirds of Africa’s arable land may be lost by 2025, if this trend continues. If I had more time, I would have spoken at length about the multiple consequences of Sand and Dust Storms, which affect our health and our economy. Sand Dust Storms affect the productivity of our land, the security of our navigation systems (hamper our air and marine traffic). And now, the pandemic. And the rate of extreme poverty and hunger has increased for the first time in 30 years. When you lose your only resource, your only source of income, what else is there to do? Indeed, when the productive land is degraded, jobs are lost; when cities are pushing people back to rural areas, when families have no other source of revenue, land and nature are the only safe heaven there is. Nature is the GDP of the poor.  As your Governments engage onto rebuilding affected economies, I see the COVID-19 crisis as a wake-up call and the recovery from the pandemic as an opportunity. This brings me to my main message: Land restoration needs to be at the center of all our post-COVID recovery efforts. For Africa perhaps more than in other regions of the world, land restoration and sustainable land management are among the best long-term responses to the pandemic. Let me come to the good news: land restoration provides multiple solutions: Land degradation is reversible. And it can be as cheap as a couple of hundred dollars per ha Transforming degraded land and turning it back to production Land restoration creates green jobs. It is a labor-intensive activity Targeting rural women and youth: reduce vulnerabilities and forced migration, creating economic opportunities Land restoration: combatting climate change and reducing biodiversity loss When asked: since Africa only contributes to 7.1% of the total emissions, what could be its best contribution to the Paris Agreement? Say Land restoration. By turning one stone through land restoration, you achieve both mitigation and adaptation. Land restoration puts carbon back in the soil where it belongs: the land-use sector, through a combination of conservation, sustainable management, and restoration, has great potential to reduce emissions and sequester carbon.  Land represents our largest sink for carbon. When asked what could be the best contribution of Africa to the Biodiversity Loss? Say Sustainable Land Management. When asked how best can Africa mitigate the impact of Drought? Say Landscape Approach. Resilience building; or perhaps early warning and management. Science tells us that investing in large-scale land restoration to combat desertification, soil erosion and loss of agricultural production is a win-win solution. It is a win for the environment. It is a win for the economy, and for the livelihoods of local communities. In this respect, I have good news for you.  The current total of all restoration commitments by countries is close to 1 billion hectares, half of which are in Africa. This is a huge commitment from a continent that has always played its role in multilateral processes. On the other hand, Africa is choking to an unbearable  debt. In our opinion, options to manage this economic crisis should include debt swaps. Debt for Large-scale Land Restoration would be an elegant win-win option. A relief to national economies and a response to global challenges including climate, desertification and biodiversity. Excellencies, Let me appraise you of some recent developments happening in the life of this Convention with a strong support never seen before, documenting, again, the momentum on land restoration. First, at the G20 recent summit, under the Saudi Presidency, a milestone decision was taken. At that Summit, G20 leaders launched “the Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats” to prevent, halt, and reverse land degradation.  Building on existing initiatives, leaders share the ambition to achieve a 50 percent reduction in degraded land by 2040. In their communiqué, the G20 Ministers of Environment underscored that land restoration and the avoidance of habitat loss are often cost-effective solutions to addressing the biodiversity crisis and other key environmental challenges.  Consultations with Italy, current Chair of the G20, are ongoing to maintain this crucial momentum on land restoration. Second, at the One Planet Summit held in Paris on 11 January 2021, the Great Green Wall of the Sahel received a major boost. President Macron of France played a key role, which we truly appreciate. The Great Green Wall received major financial support, with close to USD 17 billion committed by financial institutions, global funds, and donors. Third: just this past weekend, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced major restoration initiatives: one national and one covering the GCC countries. A new commitment covering 240 million hectares, to be restored to slow down desertification, biodiversity loss and climate change. We feel that time for large-scale restoration has come. Land Restoration is a low-tech and cheap technology. A solution to multiple crisis the world is faced with. We are aware and support the ongoing initiative in the SADC region. We hope that other sub-regions will mobilize their political leaders and experts to develop their own regional or national initiatives. Allow me to finish with the UNGA High Level Dialogue due for May 20. You may have received the invitation from the PGA for a HLD on DLDD. I know many African Missions to New York are members of the GoF on DLDD. A Group that is actually co-chaired by the proud African Nation of Namibia. I would urge your respective governments to: Make the African voices heard at the upcoming High-level dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought that the President of the General Assembly will convene on 20 May 2021. Encourage the participation of African Heads of State and Heads of Governments by pre-recorded videos to be played in the Plenary Hall during the High-level debate; Support the prospect of establishing a like-minded group which could be called “Coalition on the Stewardship of Land”, a sort of political platform that aims to mobilize political leaders, corporations, and other non-state actors in support of land restoration. Thank you.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw has welcomed the Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives that were made public this week. The Initiatives aim, among other things, to restore roughly 240 million hectares of degraded land in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East