United on the path to common goals: Joint Town Hall at UNBonn

21 August 2019
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Bonn, Germany – UN organizations based in the city that proudly calls itself the Global Sustainability Hub came together on 20 August to welcome the new Head of UN Environment Ms. Inger Andersen and discuss priorities for 2019-2020. Addressing the gathering, heads of UNCCD, UN Volunteers, UNFCCC and UN Environment were unanimous in their conviction that building a safe and equitable future for all will require collective and connected efforts from all agencies that work on issues of climate, biodiversity, land and human well-being.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw presented the agenda of the upcoming UNCCD COP14 that will look closely at land-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity conservation. Describing the three Rio Conventions as interconnected pieces of the same puzzle, Mr. Thiaw reminded the audience that land degradation is both influenced and contributes to climate change, while decline of land resources negatively affects biodiversity, which itself is essential to land health. Mr. Thiaw spoke of the need for all three conventions to focus on large-scale ecosystem restoration to maximize returns and the need to promote a positive narrative that brings new investment to restore land and create sustainable enterprises.

The future is today and not tomorrow, Mr. Thiaw said. In the world where the population is rapidly growing along with increasing demand for food, water and energy, the issues of climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and land degradation know no borders, as they affect all living things and spread across country divides. To make sure that our planet is livable for generations to come, we need to set forth a transformative change in how we produce energy, feed populations, build cities and develop economies along with dramatic shift in consumption and production patterns that minimize loss and waste. We only can do it as a team, and collaboration is key to the success of our efforts.