The 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in which about 200 countries expressed commitment to prioritize land restoration and drought resilience. For the first time, the UNCCD COP was held in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Key Outcomes of UNCCD COP16
- Global Drought Framework: It highlighted the efforts of nations towards the Global Drought Framework and set a target to complete them by COP17 to be held in Mongolia in the year 2026.
- Financial Pledges: More than US $ 12 billion was pledged to combat desertification, land degradation and drought.
- Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership: Committed US$12.15 billion to support 80 vulnerable countries, including US$10 billion from the Arab Coordination Group.
- Great Green Wall (GGW) Initiative: The Africa-led GGW initiative highlights the receipt of 11 million Euros from Italy to restore Sahel landscapes and 3.6 million Euros from Austria to enhance coordination among 22 African countries.
- Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS): Nearly US$70 million was announced for the VACS initiative. VACS aims to develop adaptive food systems with diverse, nutritious and climate-resilient crops in healthy soils.
- Local People and Local Communities: A caucus for local people and local communities was formed to ensure that their perspectives and challenges are represented. The Sacred Land Declaration, presented at the Indigenous Peoples Forum, focuses on greater participation in global land and drought management.
- Business4Land Initiative: This initiative focuses on highlighting the role of sustainable finance, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies, in addressing the challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). The private sector currently accounts for only 6% of financing for land restoration and drought mitigation.
- UNCCD’s Science-Policy Interface (SPI): All parties agreed to continue UNCCD’s SPI (established at COP11 (Windhoek, Namibia) in 2013) to use scientific findings as recommendations for decision makers.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
- UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions, along with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biodiversity.
- Objective and Significance: UNCCD was established in 1994 to protect and restore land, with the aim of building a sustainable future.
- It discusses the consequences of land degradation and drought, including crop loss, migration and conflict.
- Objective: Its main goal is to reduce land degradation and protect land to ensure access to food, water, shelter and economic opportunities for all people.
- Legally binding framework: It is the only legally binding international agreement to combat desertification and drought.
- Membership: The convention has 197 parties, including 196 countries and the European Union.
- Principles: It works on the principles of participation, partnership and decentralization.
International Drought Resilience Observatory
- The International Drought Resilience Observatory (IRDO) is the first global AI-powered platform that helps countries assess and enhance their capacity to cope with severe droughts.
- This innovative tool is an initiative of the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA).
- IDRA is a global coalition that helps mobilize political, technical and financial capital to increase the capacity of countries, cities and communities to cope with drought.
- It was launched by Spain and Senegal at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the UNFCCC in Sharm el-Sheikh.
What is desertification and its current status
- Desertification: Desertification is a type of land degradation in which an already relatively dry land area becomes even drier, thereby depleting productive soils and destroying water bodies, biodiversity and vegetation cover.
- It is driven by a combination of factors including climate change, deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable agricultural practices.
Current status
- Expanse of drylands: According to the UNCCD report ‘The Global Threat of Drying Lands’, 77.6% of the Earth’s land surface has been experiencing dryness since the 1990s. 40.6% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface (excluding Antarctica) is dryland, indicating a rapid loss of productive land.
- Major regions affected: Europe (95.9% of its land), parts of Brazil, western United States, Asia and central Africa are experiencing significant dry trends. Ecosystem degradation and desertification are occurring in parts of Africa and Asia, threatening biodiversity.
- Projected future impact: Projections suggest that, in a worst-case scenario, 5 billion people could be living on dry lands by the end of the century and face challenges such as soil degradation, water scarcity and ecosystem collapse.