News & stories

Statement by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: Excellency Mr. President of the General Assembly, Excellency Mr. Prime Minister of India, COP. 14 President, Excellency Mr. President of the Economic and Social Council, Excellency Ms. Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,  Ms. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Coordinator of the Association of Fulani Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad. Ambassadors, Permanent Representatives, Ladies and gentlemen,  Let me first thank the President of the UN General Assembly for convening this historic meeting, a milestone in the life of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.  This is the second time the UN General Assembly has dedicated a full day to the issue of desertification, land degradation and drought, a phenomenon that is affecting more than 3 billion people in the world.  In the insightful remarks of our previous speakers, you heard why it is so important to increase global ambition to protect, manage and restore the land. You heard that pandemic recovery packages and this year’s planned climate and biodiversity summit are powerful tools to promote healthy land. You have heard that the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is another major opportunity. I will not re-tread the same ground. Instead, let me give you some insights from recent UNCCD research on how we can use these opportunities to build better forward with land-centred solutions. Put simply, a land-centred approach to COVID-19 recovery can change the world. For around USD 2.7 trillion per year, within the scope of recovery spending, we could transform the world’s economies. Through restoring natural ecosystems. Through rewarding agriculture that keeps soils healthy. Through incentivizing business models that prioritize renewable, recyclable or biodegradable products and services. Within a decade, the global economy could create close to 400 million new green jobs, generating over USD 10 trillion in annual business value.  All of this, while delivering the benefits to nature, the climate and human health that my esteemed UN colleagues covered. To do this, we need coherence, alignment and cooperation in three areas of policy response. The first area is jobs. Taking advantage of quick-start initiatives and shovel-ready projects will create jobs that will help jumpstart recovery efforts.  Creating permanent work in protected areas management, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, green infrastructure and ecosystem restoration would create many more stable, decent jobs – especially for youth and women. These are the kind of jobs that will take us forwards, not backwards. The second area is finance. To spend in the right places, we need coherent policies. We can repurpose subsidies, investments and other financial mechanisms to reward communities for protecting and regenerating natural capital. Governments can make land restoration attractive to private investors through regulations and incentives.  Green business solutions include public-private partnerships and innovative finance mechanisms such as private equity, bankable nature solutions, debt swaps and blended finance. The third area is governance and cooperation. Strengthening land tenure and rights would quickly create new green jobs through value addition, economies of scale and greater market access. Meanwhile, research has shown that areas managed by indigenous peoples and local communities have encountered less environmental damage. We must empower them. At the same time, we must strengthen international governance and cooperation. We need to integrate land degradation neutrality initiatives and drought plans into international processes such as the Paris Agreement and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. We need global partnerships that allow us to share best practices, cutting-edge technologies and innovative business models. We need a new social contract that engages all sections of society to mobilize collective action on the land. Excellencies, the land cannot solve all of humanity’s problems. We still need to fully decarbonize our economies, rethink how we produce and consume resources and so much more.  But if we protect, manage and restore the land, the benefits will be immense. 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. You hold the power to make these benefits a reality. I urge you to begin using it, starting today. Thank you.  

Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and Minister of the Environment and Energy Andrea Meza Murillo will lead an international event to rally up a global high ambition to restore degrading land to hasten the post-COVID-19 recovery

Desertification and Drought Day is celebrated every 17 June in every United Nations Member to keep the public informed about the state of the land, nationally and globally. Media are invited to cover the celebrations

Countries assess the progress made in the fight against DLDD and map the way forward

The UNCCD participated the Structured Expert Dialogue of the UNFCCC second Periodic Review to help identify gaps and opportunities in the efforts to keep global warming in check below 1.5 degrees. Together with representatives of CBD and WHO they outlined the linkages between the work of their agencies and climate change, illustrating the major challenges and potential solutions, while a representative of the GEF described their approach to supporting countries in addressing many of these challenges. The UNCCD described the potential for Land Degradation Neutrality to deliver multiple benefits while ensuring no further land degradation in net terms. The secretariat experts also outlined pathways to boost nature-positive production systems and catalyze global efforts to turn restoration commitments in to action on the ground. The UNCCD team introduced the ongoing work of PBL in developing a restoration scenario which will be published as part of the 2nd Edition of the Global Land Outlook. Watch the full recording here...

Remarks by the Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw on UNCCD Commitment on drylands in Africa and the Sahel: To speak about land is to speak about life in all its complexity.  Whether wet, dry, or severely degraded, the land is humanity’s common treasure that we must protect. So, allow me to debunk five myths about drylands: Drylands are not productive lands: Untrue! Drylands specifically provide us with unique products and produces: cereals, animal feed; non-timber products. Almost 3 billion people live in drylands, including hundreds of millions of pastoralists. Half of the world rangelands are found in drylands, including the largest terrestrial mammals and the tourism economy they generate. The fashion industry would not survive without cotton from drylands. The world is just about to discover the nutritional and health values of fonio, shea butter, cosmetic products and other great varieties produced in drylands. Drylands are not rich in biodiversity and have little to offer to resolve the climate crisis: from the largest terrestrial herbivores found in the magnificent savannahs of Africa, to the tiniest micro-organisms found in the large diversity of drylands habitats (ponds; savannah, oases; rivers; wetlands). The large open spaces of drylands are major carbon sinks. Their management and restoration provide unique mitigation and adaptation opportunities. Drylands do not contribute much to the economy. In most drylands, people have land as their only asset. In Africa, up to 70% of the population depend on the primary sector, including in drylands that represent up to 45% of the land mass. Agriculture, livestock, inland fisheries, tourism revenues. Think about the Okavango, the Masai Mara, Kruger, Zakouma, Waza, Comoe, to name just a few? Be it in Namibia, in Malawi or in Mali, millions of people depend on drylands. Who can explain why the mighty rivers of the Nile, the Niger, the Zambezi, or the Senegal have to flow through arid lands? As you know, the vast Sahara desert is sitting atop of the largest aquifers of Africa. Paradoxically, the drylands of Africa are granaries for hundreds of millions. Without its drylands, Africa would not be Africa. Africa is blessed with its drylands. Drylands are waste lands; they are not worth investing in. Today, drylands harbour major extractive companies: from oil production in the Middle East, to mineral extraction in dry Africa and Australia. The world is amazed by the clean energy potential found in drylands. Expect the shift from fossil fuel to hydrogen and other types of clean energy to be spearheaded in dry regions. Furthermore, with the progressive change of diet in the world, drylands are sources of healthy products on high demand. Expect the food industry to increase its investment in healthy food from dry areas. Drylands are major tourist destinations, thanks to their unique landscapes, spectacular wildlife, and great diversity of people. Again, expect major investments in the sector. In drylands, people deliberately destroy their environment. Drylands' ecosystems are fragile and are more vulnerable to human interactions than other habitats. However, people living in dry areas are generally water-efficient and use relatively little biomass. Either they scarcely use the environment, or they are forced to migrate for there are no resources to sustain them. Take the example of the Sahel: 11 countries came together, across the width of Africa, from Senegal-Mauritania to the West to Djibouti-Eritrea to the East. With a giant ambition. A bold vision. To invest substantial human and financial resources to heal their degraded ecosystems, support their rural communities and contribute to climate. They will, with their partners, build a new, green world wonder. Commitments will now have to move to a scalable action. Change is home made. Not imported. Dear friends, It is time to change our narrative on drylands. On Africa. It is time to reset. It is time to rethink Africa’s development. It is time to turn challenges into opportunities. The African population is certainly young and dynamic: Not a dynamite. African drylands are certainly fragile. Not volatile. « When a lion jumps in the finish line of a race, those who were in the back suddenly take the lead ». This African wisdom is perhaps the closest equivalent I found to the English concept of « piggybacking ». Dear friends, When land degradation happens in the world’s drylands, this is known as desertification – meaning the loss of biological and productivity of the land. Desertification reduces agricultural output, contributes to droughts, and increases human vulnerability to climate change. In Africa – we all know it too well – about 45% of its land, this precious resource- is being degraded, with dramatic impacts for its people, as 70% of them depend on the land to live and survive. I therefore feel obliged to repeat this message: Land is a finite resource. We are depleting our capital. Our food systems are not sustainable. Our production systems are land hungry. And water hungry. Our consumption patterns are not viable either. The good news is that dryland degradation can be reversed, recreating more resilient and productive landscapes that will fix more carbon especially in the soil, restore ecosystem services, promote new viable enterprises, and create employment, while reducing conflicts and migration. And together, these will increase the opportunities to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the targets of the Rio Conventions on desertification, climate change and biodiversity. In the context of post COVID-19 recovery efforts, investing in land restoration makes the most economic sense: just as an example, through investment in sustainable land management interventions, Africa could generate about 71.8 billion USD/year if all countries act against soil erosion. The question is how we protect and restore the land. There are plenty of ways, but I would like to emphasize on three transformations that will allow us to restore Africa’s drylands efficiently and effectively. First, we need to work towards sustainable and efficient land management techniques that grow more food with less land and water. Second, we need to invest in regenerative practices such as organic agriculture and agroforestry. And third, we need to adopt a landscape approach for restoration – instead of shortsighted, spot-focused views. Naturally, these transformations can only be successful if we act together: through coherence of policies and practices, through international cooperation and solidarity, and through the involvement of all those concerned, including farmers and landowners. The UNCCD process, its institutions, constituted bodies and mechanisms, including its Global Mechanism, are here to support Africa in restoration efforts. At the onset of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and as we imagine a better world for all after the pandemic, we can unlock the opportunity of land restoration and its multiple benefits for the people of Africa.