The Riyadh COP: the clock of hope. Presentation by Ibrahim Thiaw

My task today is:

1. Share some facts about Land degradation and drought and how the loss of this natural capital is affecting everything we do.
2. Propose some solutions and options that we can consider in our development plans
3. Share views about the UNCCD COP16, a unique opportunity for the world to turn the tide and tackle the scourge of land loss and drought.  

Land degradation and its consequences:

As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the UNCCD, the only universally binding treaty on land management and drought mitigation, we are breaking new world records:

• Never have so many people been affected by land degradation and the effects of drought never has fertile land been so degraded (in the time it takes to breathe in and out, the equivalent of 4 football pitches is sliding inexorably towards loss). This loss is mainly due to our extractions: food, cotton, mining and overgrazing
• Never before has one person in four, as is now the case across the world, been severely affected by drought. More than just a lack of rainwater, drought is synonymous with food and energy insecurity, the disintegration of thousands of family units and a drastic drop in economic growth
• Finally, never before has the combination of drought and the loss of productive land led to so much forced migration. Millions of young women and men have had no choice but to venture onto increasingly dangerous roads, or to get caught up in illegal trafficking, or even to fall easy prey to violent groups. 

More than 40% of the world's land is now degraded, at a time when there has never been a greater need to produce food, cotton for an explosive fashion industry, and minerals - including rare metals - for an energy transition driven by the response to climate change.

In fact, to respond to the needs of the 10 billion people, including 3 billion people in the middle class, experts estimate that two-thirds of the cities in developing countries have not yet been built and that 50% more food needs to be produced by 2050. 

Food: let's take a look at our menu for tonight. Not just to check our allergies and dietary restrictions.

The equation is simple: up to 99 per cent of our calories come from land. Land feeds us; it quenches our thirst; it clothes us and provides us with some of the oxygen we breathe. Therefore, our wellbeing is largely dependent on the health of our land.

Contrary to certain beliefs, we did not inherit this land from our ancestors. In truth, we are borrowing it from our children. Seen from this angle, any excessive exploitation could be considered a serious abuse of future generations. This begs the question of whether or not we are robing food from the table of the yet-unborn.  

So what can we do about it? Land restauration and drought resilience:

The good news is that we can have a descent life on earth without sawing off the branch on which we are sitting. In other words, we can make human well-being compatible with achieving planetary equilibrium. Technically, it can be done. What we need is the collective resolve to reset our relationship with nature. 

Firstly, as citizens of the earth, if we halve food waste, we will have the most positive impact on land, water and energy. 

Furthermore, by giving farmers and pastoralists access to clean energy (ON or OFF-GRID), we will considerably reduce post-harvest losses. Reducing food loss and food waste increases our income while at the same time reducing loss of land and water. Food wastage is first and foremost land and water loss. It's also good for the climate, the economy and human well-being. 

By reducing the cost of money (i.e. interest rates) in poor countries and facilitating the development of value chains, we can create a local economy and generate income for all.

In doing so, we will have a positive impact on the land, as farmers will be better able to reinvest in their natural capital to ensure the sustainability of production, rather than continuing to raze the soil to the ground to extract the last productive sap. 

The other good news is that we have a billion and a half hectares of land that we will be able to restore to a productive state and circuit by 2030, thanks to the many techniques and technologies for restoring land. 

I'm talking about farmland, rangelands, conservation areas, quarries and mining sites, public and private spaces, large and small agricultural areas, and even urban and peri-urban spaces. 

Land restoration is socially viable, creating millions of green jobs. Restoration is economically profitable: each dollar invested could generate up to 30 dollars in economic income. 

We are witnessing the birth of a new land restoration industry throughout the world. This opens the way for PPPs and other win-win agreements with communities and other landowners. 

As for drought, enormous scientific and analytical progress has been made. They all converge to the same conclusion: we need to change our approach, and move towards a proactive one rather than continue to get bogged down in reactive responses, which are ten times more expensive and just as ineffective.

In other words, every dollar invested in drought resilience can generate up to 10 dollars in economic development.

Droughts (often followed by floods) are amongst the most disruptive of all natural hazards.

• Droughts are silent killers: they kill animals or even people.
• Droughts disrupt energy generation, from hydro-power to nuclear power
• Droughts disrupt our social fabric, amplifying forced migration and even provoking surges of suicides…
• Less known to the general public is how droughts are affecting supply chains, as is the case in the Panama Canal this year.

Some leaders and decision makers often ask me whether we can do something against drought. It is true that we can little to stop them from happening. But we can do much better in terms of preparadeness and response.

Five areas need to be considered simultaneously:  

• Risk assessment, early warning and national planning
• Water supply, agricultural practices and nature-based solutions;
• Economic resilience and business response;
• Drought finance and insurance
• Emergency and humanitarian response

The overall objective is to progressively build more resilient societies and economies, and progressively reduce humanitarian aid.

Riyadh, December 2024: the moonshot moment. 

Although Riyadh is the sixteenth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the UNCCD, it is more than just a traditional UN conference.

The conference will mark a turning point in our perception of land and soils, a natural capital that we have always taken for granted, infinite and inexhaustible. In the words of UN SG Antonio Gutteres: « we depend on land for our survival, yet we treat it like dirt ».

Realising that Riyadh is a rendez-vous with history, the Leaders' Summit to be held on 2 and 3 December should reaffirm the absolute necessity of managing our common heritage, that which the human species (a terrestrial species par excellence) has in common. 

The leaders of the private sector, who will also be invited, should unequivocally align themselves with the only viable path for business and for a decent life on earth, the path, as I said, of sustainable land and water management. 

Among the expectations of Riyadh COP16, two items stand out:

• To adopt an historic decision on managing the impacts of the recurrent and increasingly intense droughts that are affecting the world
• Adopting a clear stance and a clear decision to restore degraded land on a large scale, in order to maintain the natural balances that are essential to life on earth

Beyond drought and land, COP will cover :

• Sand and dust storms
• Gender
• Youth engagement

The gender gap one land ownership is incredible. While aggregate figures show that only 1 ha of land in 4 in the world is owned by women, the percentage can be as low as 4% of female land ownership in some regions.

In Riyadh, COP16 is also expected to discuss youth engagement. Up to 1 billion young people in the world are ready to engage into land restauration, creating green jobs and boosting the economy.

Saudi Arabia, as the host country, will provide the tens of thousands of participants expected to attend with the best possible facilities, with a tailor-made site.

The UNCCD Secretariat and the host country wish to set up a COP-Legacy: the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership. This unprecedented Partnership targets the 80 least well-off countries (WB ranking) and aims to build the resilience (ecological, economic and social) of the target countries, in order to consign to history the terrible images of distress, destruction and death that our screens vomit out,  year-in year-out, as a result of droughts.

As I said before, droughts are natural hazards and cannot be stopped. But we can mitigate its impact and turn off our screens those images of starving children, corpses and bones. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Riyadh COP will be the moment of truth, first and foremost for the countries of the MENA region, which are hosting this Conference for the first time. This region has every right to exercise its leadership and soft power on such a crucial yet non-controversial issue. The timing couldn't be better. It's up to us to grasp it.