The United Nations says that 1.5 billion hectares of land must be restored by the end of the decade and that at least US$2.6 trillion in global investment is needed.
Photo by Bogomil Mihaylov on Unsplash
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Crunch time for drought and desertification talks in Saudi Arabia
Landmark negotiations on desertification are due to conclude in Saudi Arabia this week amid doubts that pledged funds will make a significant difference in the fight against the growing scourge.
The 12-day meeting between parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, has already seen announcements that billions of dollars will be made available to combat drought and restore damaged land.
However, there have also been stark warnings about how the land is becoming drier and less productive, with many vulnerable countries lacking the means to reverse the trend.
Ahead of the talks in Riyadh, which began on December 2, the UNCCD said that 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) of land must be restored by the end of the decade and that at least $2.6 trillion in global investment is needed.
“Where is the money? That's where the challenge lies,” Marcos Neto, director of the UN Development Program's policy and program support bureau, told AFP.
“The transition to a green economy has a cost, right? In the trillions of dollars. So if you want to create a transition, we need funding.”
He added that when it comes to land restoration, some money “is already flowing,” and “we need to prioritize the process and use the resources that exist.”
In the first week of negotiations held in Saudi Arabia, there were pledges of more than US$12 billion from bodies such as the Arab Coordination Group, a set of national and regional institutions, and the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, which aims to mobilize public and private money to help countries at risk.
On Wednesday, the UNCCD released smaller pledges of 11 million euros from Italy and 3.6 million euros from Austria to support the implementation of the Great Green Wall initiative stretching across Africa.
At the same time, the UNDP published a new report showing that continued land degradation will cost war-torn Yemen $90 billion in lost economic output and lead to 2.6 million more people suffering from “malnutrition.”
Ahead of Friday's conclusion, a “big sticking point” among negotiators was whether the talks should produce a binding agreement on how to respond to the drought, Neto said.
“There are some countries here that want the creation of a binding protocol on drought. Other countries don't want it to be binding,” he said.
The UNCCD brings together 196 countries and the European Union.
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