UNGA79 High-level event "Road to Riyadh": Remarks by Ibrahim Thiaw

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor to be with you today. I would like to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for organizing this event and for hosting the 16th session of the UNCCD Conference of the Parties. This event today will pave the way for the biggest and most significant UNCCD Conference of the Parties we have ever had over the past 30 years.

COP16 in Riyadh will be the largest UN land and drought conference to date, and the first UNCCD COP held in the Middle East and North Africa region, which knows first-hand the impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought, and now floods.

Riyadh 2024 is expected to be a turning point, a game-changer for the global drought resilience agenda.

For long, people thought that land degradation and drought are local issues, to be left to those governments that are directly affected and need to address themselves. 

For long, desertification has been perceived as an issue for one region or two to address. 

Today, we know, thanks to science, that our world is totally interconnected. 

Scarcity of fertile land and water threaten our global security, affect our economy, our food security and amplify forced migration. Land use is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and land degradation leads to further loss of biodiversity and livelihoods for the poor whose only asset sometimes is land. 

Each year, sand and dust storms lift up to two billion tons of aerosols to the atmosphere, causing serious air pollution, leading to diseases and economic loss. 

So, land degradation and drought may happen locally, but they are not local issues. The food we eat, the coffee or the tea we enjoyed this morning, the clothes we wear and part of the air we breathe are all coming from the land. Often, from thousands of miles from where we live.

Drought and land degradation stand therefore as a major global challenge impacting food security, ecosystems, production, human health, jobs, and access to water, often leading to famine, conflicts and mass migration. I like to say that land is the only GDP of the poor. 

Let us make it clear: land degradation is a serious issue but there is a silver lining. The good news is that we can halt and reverse land loss. Indeed, land restoration provides us with multiple solutions: solutions to climate, biodiversity, security and economic stability. 

Large-scale land restoration is perfectly achievable. 

Bringing degraded land back to health is not only feasible, but it is economically and socially viable. 

So, in Riyadh, economists will meet with business people, agronomists with investors, civil society organizations with government leaders, youth with women’s group, scientists with policy makers. 

In Riyadh, Parties are expected to agree on how to tackle the critical issue of drought. After many years of discussions and negotiations, it is time to close the loop and move on to implementation. The most vulnerable communities expect concrete results and bold decisions on drought. 

In Riyadh, Parties are also expected to move from pledges to concrete implementation on land restoration. It does not suffice to express intentions, or to make big announcements. Our youth, our farmers, our women’s groups all expect to see more concrete action on land restoration. 

Finally, COP16 will help us understand that land loss and water scarcity have a human face. Together, we will tackle these most complex issues. Together, we will win the battle. Together, we will sail to a safer destination.