Restoring the world’s degraded lands and curbing its deserts will require an investment of at least $2.6 trillion by the end of the decade, the U.N. executive overseeing global talks on the issue told Reuters, quantifying the cost for the first time. time.
The increased frequency and severity of droughts as a result of climate change, coupled with the food needs of a growing population, pose a greater risk of social unrest if action is not taken, Ibrahim Thiaw said ahead of the talks. this week in Riyadh.
The two-week meeting aims to strengthen global resilience to drought, including by tightening states’ legal obligations, setting out strategic next steps and securing funding.
According to Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), much of the $1 billion a day needed will have to come from the private sector.
“The bulk of investments in land restoration in the world come from public money. And that is not right. Because essentially the main driver of land degradation in the world is food production (…) which is in the hands of the private sector,” Thiaw said, adding that so far it only provides 6% of the money needed to rehabilitate damaged lands.
“How is it possible that one hand is degrading the land and the other is tasked with restoring and repairing it?” Thiaw said, while acknowledging the responsibility of governments to establish and enforce good policies and regulations on the use of the land.
With a growing population, the world needs to produce twice as much food on the same amount of land, so private sector investment would be essential, he said.
The Saudi talks follow similar ones held at the UN in October on biodiversity and in November on climate change and plastics, in which funding – or lack thereof – played a central role.
According to the UN, to reach 2.6 trillion dollars, a figure close to France’s annual economic production, the world needs to close an annual gap of 278 billion dollars, after only 66 billion dollars were invested in 2022.
long process
A UN-backed study released Sunday says land degradation is “undermining the Earth’s ability to sustain humanity” and if not reversed “will pose challenges for generations.”
According to the study, an area of 15 million square kilometers has already been degraded, larger than that of Antarctica, and it increases by one million square kilometers each year.
However, reaching an agreement on strengthening the legal obligations of States will be one of the most difficult agreements to reach, Thiaw said, adding that some countries were “not willing to have another legally binding instrument”, while others were willing to do so. they considered important.
Although countries have already committed to protecting some 900 million hectares of land, they must set a more ambitious goal of 1.5 billion hectares and accelerate the pace.
Failure to agree on measures to restore degraded lands will ultimately undermine parallel U.N.-led efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and protect biodiversity, Thiaw said, as agriculture is responsible for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of deforestation and 70% of freshwater use.
“The resources we are talking about are not charity,” Thiaw said, adding: “So it is important that we see this not as an investment for poor Africans, but as an investment that will keep the world balanced.”
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