In this triple COP year, leaders must align efforts to ensure planetary health

Op-Ed by Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and Ibrahim Thiaw, UN Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). This Op-Ed was originally published on 23 September 2024 on the website of the World Economic Forum, which is partnering with the three incoming COP presidencies to advance international negotiations and collaboration across the three COPs’ interlinked agendas on climate, biodiversity and land.

The world’s population is on track to reaching 10 billion by 2050, just as the planetary systems that sustain life on Earth are being pushed to their limits — and with them, our ability to provide food and water and to prevent large-scale displacements, rippling economic shocks and conflict.

The evidence is clear. Up to 40% of land worldwide is degraded. This means land is losing its ability to support life, crops and natural ecosystems, and struggling to cycle water and act as the planet’s second-largest carbon stock after the ocean. The last decade was the hottest on record. An estimated three in four people globally will be affected by drought by 2050. Pollinators, on which a third of the world’s crops rely, are declining at an alarming rate.

The existential risks facing humanity can, and must, be jointly addressed, recognizing that climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation are different expressions of one planetary crisis — a crisis underpinned by the challenges of poverty on the one hand and overconsumption, including the unsustainable exploitation of nature, on the other.

2024: A year of COPs

This year, the UN summits on Biodiversity, Climate and Land will take place in quick succession between October and December in Colombia, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, respectively. They will convey the urgency, and the opportunity, of raising the coordinated ambition, investments and action to protect our planet and respond to the growing demand for food, water and resources.

The current ways of doing things are simply not working. We cannot tackle these issues in isolation. Climate change is not just about carbon emissions. Land degradation is not just about soil. Biodiversity loss is not just about endangered species. These issues are part of a much larger, more complex puzzle. And if we are going to solve it, we need to work together, break down silos and approach these problems in an integrated way.

The secretariats of the three global treaties that emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit — Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) — collaborate on a regular basis. For instance, by exchanging knowledge on overlapping issues like drought resilience and food security, coordinating the efforts of scientists working on key reports, facilitating the meaningful engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and joining forces to support government negotiators across the three Conventions.

Ecosystem restoration, agrifood systems and renewable energies present vital opportunities to advance all three Rio Conventions and make societies and economies more resilient.

For example, restoring degraded ecosystems such as forests can bring back biodiversity (including pollinators), while improving soil fertility, supporting the production of clean water, storing carbon and protecting communities from devastating droughts and floods. The well-planned deployment of renewable energies is crucial to preserving native vegetation, together with its biodiversity, climate and livelihood benefits.

Food systems as an opportunity

Agrifood systems are the single biggest driver of deforestation, biodiversity loss and water use, accounting for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Vast tracts of land are cleared annually on an industrial scale to satisfy the ever-growing demand for commodities from international markets.

The bottom line is that the ways we are producing food today are undermining the ability to feed humanity tomorrow and to solve the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Transforming food systems through sustainable land and water management, regenerative agriculture and a modern bioeconomy is another way to achieve multiple goals at once. Drip irrigation can save up to 50% of the water used in agriculture, for example, while practices like agroforestry enhance soil health, bringing benefits in terms of food and water security and biodiversity. We must also invest in future-proofing our food supplies, shifting to less thirsty and more drought-resilient crops.

Policy and funding coherence

Leveraging the convergence between the Rio conventions urgently requires policy and funding coherence at the national and subnational levels, starting with land and sea use planning and the allocation of budgets and incentives. Too often, a lack of coordination leads to contradictory policies and market signals resulting in zero net progress from an environmental and sustainable development perspective.

Trillions in wasteful and harmful subsidies for fossil fuels, agriculture and fishing must be redirected to support climate action and natural systems if we are serious about helping the planet support a growing human population in the medium and long-term.

Also, the world’s major development banks must consider the synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity, land and climate, supporting initiatives that advance multiple goals. To this day, a project that improves agricultural practices and soil health is unlikely to access funding earmarked for ‘biodiversity’ or ‘climate’, although it contributes to both directly.

3 COPs in one year: An opportunity for ambition and action

Progress is being made, showing it is possible to make peace with nature to sustain present and future generations. However, there is no time for complacency.

By 2030, we must cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 43% compared to 2019 levels to keep global warming to 1.5 C above preindustrial levels, while boosting climate resilience. We must conserve 30% of land, waters and seas and restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030.

2024 must be the year when we scale up ambition and action and commit to this in national plans. Everywhere, for everyone, and all at once — for people and for nature.