A major UN conference on fighting desertification agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving “land degradation neutrality” (LDN), a national target for action.
The Governments which are party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), met in the Indian capital of New Delhi over ten days for COP14, adopting a series of breakthrough measures in the accord, known as the Delhi Declaration.
Besides the LDN agreement – whereby countries have pledged to halt the degradation of land to the point where ecosystems and land use can no longer be supported – there was a landmark decision to boost global efforts to mitigate and manage the risks of crippling drought.
Countries will also now be expected to address insecurity of land tenure, including gender inequality; promote land restoration to reduce land-related carbon emissions, and mobilize innovative sources of finance from public and private sources to support the implementation of these decisions at a national level.
“We have woken up to the fact that we will see more frequent and severe droughts, a phenomenon that will be exacerbated by climate change”, said Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.
Mr. Thiaw also drew attention to the contribution of COP 14 to the upcoming Climate Action Summit in New York, stressing that land restoration, at scale, is one of the cheapest solutions to address the global crises of climate and biodiversity loss.
The UN desertification chief also drew attention to the role that the private sector can play in land restoration going forward. He said it was important for businesses to be incentivized to help conserve land for sustainable use, through national regulations that support sustainable land management, and reward conservation, restoration and innovation.
The Conference drew the interest of nearly 9,000 participants. Delegates, including ministers, heads of United Nations and intergovernmental bodies, youth, local governments, business leaders and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
Original source: UN News
Published on 13 September 2019
