CBD COP16 high-level segment: Statement by Ibrahim Thiaw

Making peace with nature means signing an amnesty with ourselves. It means reducing our footprint on the planet, our emissions and our pollution. 

It means producing twice as much food by 2050 to meet the needs of a growing population, while respecting the ambitions of the 30 by 30. 

Producing more food in quantity and quality, while extracting less fresh water, and reducing the expansion of agricultural land. 

This means destroying less grazing land, controlling deforestation and restoring billions of hectares of degraded land. 

Making peace with nature means anticipating natural disasters more effectively, being better prepared to deal with them and building our resilience to drought. 

There's no doubt that this is a challenge. But not an impossible task. To succeed, we need to revisit our relationships with nature, and stop taking it for granted. 

Nature has always given us everything we need: from the food we eat to the water we drink, to the air we breathe. 

Whether it's raining, snowing or windy, nature provides us with the right clothing. 

Have we ever stopped to thank her for all the services it has always provided to humanity? s stewards of our land, have we ever done a proper audit and tried to reconcile our direct debits with our balances? 

By extracting so many resources from the entrails of the earth, we are leaving a sick planet to our children. 

Never before have we had so many victims of natural disasters; 

never before have we had so many displaced populations; 

never before have we had so much vulnerability and precariousness. 

For many people, in too many countries, the only progress they see is in growing inequalities, destruction and despair. 

Consider this: Rich or poor, we depend on the capacity of our soil to meet our basic needs. 

We depend on nature's ability to withstand droughts and generate the water resources essential to our lives. 

This is why Cali is such an important milestone. 

But allow me to remind you all that our last stop for this year will be Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

COP16 to the UNCCD is also crucial as 197 Parties are expected to adopt landmark decisions on drought and land restauration and anything that affects livelihoods of those who have no other assets than their land including women, youth and indigenous people. 

Looking forward to welcoming you from 2-13 December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.