There is a strong link between land degradation and conflict, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday said in a message sent to the United Nations desertification conference taking place in Ankara, Turkey.
“Just as there is an intrinsic connection between hunger and unproductive land, there is also a link between degraded, desertified land and ongoing conflicts and political instability,” UN Under-Secretary General Gyan Chandra Acharya said, reading out the secretary general’s statement to the conference on his behalf.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the inaugural speech yesterday at the high-level session of the 12th Conference of Parties (COP12) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), chaired by conference president Veysel Eroglu.
“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders last month, is a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world. It is an agenda to end poverty, leave no one behind and make the essential connections between building peace, advancing development and securing a healthy planet. The landmark measures include the target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030,” Ban said in his statement.
“Without adaptation strategies and resilience-building to responsibly manage and restore our natural capital, land degradation, desertification and drought will continue to trigger forced migration and aggravate conflicts over limited resources,” the secretary general continued.
The UN chief said investments in land rehabilitation will help advance a number of sustainable development goals, including poverty eradication, food and water security, biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
He said sustainable land management practices create decent employment opportunities, raise productivity through greater efficiency of inputs and boost the income of the rural poor.
“As we look ahead to the climate change conference in Paris, let us carry the call for land degradation neutrality as a powerful tool for adaptation. This will help strengthen resilience to climate impacts, with a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable and shape a meaningful agreement for shared prosperity, peace and partnership,” Ban said.
Erdogan said global warming, climate change, land desertification and drought are the most important issues in the world at this time.
“This is not a regional problem but a global problem. There is not a single country exempt from this problem. We have to acknowledge reality. The main reason for this problem is humanity becoming alienated from normal living conditions. We are like foreigners on our planet. We are disregarding nature, the environment, soil and animals.”
The Turkish president said: “We perceive that the best way to live in the world is to dominate nature, dominate the forest … but the approach has to be different. We should not be alienated. We are living in a world under threat. This problem has to be solved. We have to give this land to the next generation.”
“I think the outcome of COP12 will be highlighted at the upcoming COP21 [climate conference in Paris]. I hope that we will achieve the SDG targets we have set in New York hand in hand. This conference will be very beneficial for the region and certainly for the world,” he said.
Monique Barbut, executive secretary of UNCCD, said driven by population growth and a growing consumer class, global demand for food will increase by 35% by 2030, water demand by 40% and energy demand by 50%.
By 2045, agriculture will require 19% more water and global demand for fresh water is likely to grow by 55%.
“All this is happening at a same time when at least 25% of the earth’s usable land is already degraded. And the rate of serious degradation continues to affect 10-12 million hectares a year … we are demanding more from the planet at a time when there will be less available. How do we become more efficient in the use of limited resources?” she asked.
Barbut said Land Degradation Neutrality is designed to help everybody make the shift from sustainable practices to the sustainable management of land resources. “It is the long-term political commitment to addressing land degradation and getting land use in balance. It is a combination of good management and planning and a massive scaling up of rehabilitation efforts.”
“We can change the way the world understands land and land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – they are one indivisible package,” she said.