World countries unite to stop land degradation by 2030

 World governments have agreed to fight against land degradation and restore degraded land by 2030, a senior official of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has said.

"By 2030, countries, after they set a target, will make sure that they will be recuperating the land that they will have used for, for example urbanization, and infrastructure. All that land which is lost will be clearly recuperated,” said Monique Barbut -- the convention’s executive secretary -- as she addressed the 12th session of the convention’s Conference of Parties in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday.

Noting that one of the most important decisions taken at the conference was the adoption of the land degradation neutrality target -- as a “real” follow-up of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September in New York -- Barbut said that the parties to the conference have taken important steps in terms of fighting land degradation.

This concept, which is the point 15.3 of the sustainable development agenda in 2030, aims to neutralize the eroded land degradation in the world, and to ensure food security for future generations.

Barbut said that the parties agreed to give the financial means necessary to make sure that every country will be assisted financially to set this target, with the initial support to be provided by the Ankara Initiative valued at $5million, and an estimated $3 million to be sourced from the Global Environment Facility. 

This initiative will be overseen by the government of Turkey, which has the presidency of the Convention until 2017, and the UNCCD.

Barbut said these funds would also be increased with the contributions of the private sector, and donors, as an estimated $2 billion will be required every year to support the restoration activities.

Mr. Lutfi Akca, Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, said that the convention was significant in terms of setting the first concrete and global target regarding the fight against desertification, land degradation and drought.

“The parties not only agreed to implement a holistic approach in meeting the targets of fighting against desertification, climate change and maintaining biodiversity, but they also agreed on setting common indicators to monitor these targets,” he said.

The results of the conference -- which takes place every two years -- will be brought to the 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change to be held in Paris in December, to be included in the agenda.

More than 6,000 delegates attended the twelfth session in Ankara, which was held from October 12 to October 23.

Anadolu Agency was the global communication partner of the event, which ran at the Ankara Congresium international convention and exhibition center.

According to the UN, more than 250 million people around the world are affected by desertification and a further 1.2 billion in 110 countries are threatened.