Press
release
17 June 2021
For Immediate
Release
Arabic
Francais
Espagnol
Russian
Restore land to help deal with
global crises leaders urge
- World
leaders urge holistic approach action to land
degradation, the climate and biodiverisity
- Familial
Forestry from Rajasthan India wins the
prestigious UNCCD Land for Life award for its
innovative land restoration and conservation
method as Global Landscapes Forum gets the
Special Mention award of the UNCCD Executive
Secretary
- The
GAR Special Report on Drought is launched
highlighting future trends
Bonn, 17/06/2020 -
World leaders are rallying support for a
coordinated and coherent approach to reverse the
loss of healthy land in light of the role it can
play in the global efforts to recover from the
COVID-19 pandemic and to deal with the crises of
climate change and the loss of biological
diversity.
At a virtual High-level
Forum hosted Thursday, 17 June, by President
Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica,
high-ranking government and UN officials
reinforced the perspectives shared at the
High-Level Dialogue convened by the Presidency
of the UN General Assembly three days
earlier.
President Carlos Alvarado
Quesada of Costa Rica said desertification and
drought, the climate and biodiversity are all
part of the same equation and need to be acted
on this decade and in a decisive way. Among
other measures, he stressed the need to restore
ecosystems and to find and pursue new ways of
production that are
sustainable.
President Quesada said
there is a consensus from leaders to act and
several technology and nature-based solutions
exist. He stressed that what is needed are the
political will and finance to act, and
underlined that investment in land is not an
intangible investment but one that is tangible
for people everywhere, even in
cities.
The President organized the
High-level Forum in observance of
Desertification and Drought Day celebrated
worldwide on 17 June every year. Costa Rica is
hosting the global observance event this
year.
Leaders decried the declining
health of the land due to its impacts on people
and nature underlined that protecting and
restoring land can help drive a green recovery
while preventing future
pandemics.
“Humanity is waging a
relentless, self-destructive war on nature….We
must make peace with nature. The land can be our
greatest ally. But the land is suffering,” said
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in his
message to the Forum.
“Restoring
degraded land would remove carbon from the
atmosphere. It would help vulnerable communities
adapt to climate change. And it could generate
an extra $1.4 trillion dollars in agricultural
production each year. The best part is that land
restoration is simple, inexpensive and
accessible to all,” he
added.
“Investing in nature-based
solutions, specifically land restoration, will
allow us to build forward better, greener,
healthier, stronger and more sustainably…every
dollar spent on ecosystem restoration generates
seven to thirty dollars to the economy” in
addition to delivering the other many benefits
identified, Ibrahim Thiaw, the UN’s top adviser
on the sustainable management of the land and
Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD),
said at the Forum.
The pandemic had
given us an opportunity to rethink the future we
can create, he said, adding that we have the
tools to succeed, to deliver and increase
ambition, but only if we got the financing right
– starting with COVID-19 stimulus packages – and
applied the tools we have with determination,
vigor and strategic
vision.
President of the General
Assembly Volkan Bozir said land degradation “is
an issue that requires the international
communities urgent and focused attention. Our
ability to flourish depends on how we rebuild
our relationship with nature, including the
health of our land. I call on world leaders to
invest in land restoration as part of post
pandemic recovery strategies and to partner with
stakeholders at all levels.”
Bozir
thanked President Quesada for calling for a
high-level alliance to raise ambition around the
issue when the President spoke at the High-Level
Dialogue held Monday by the Presidency of the UN
General Assembly.
Ministers from
Algeria, Botswana, Iceland, Peru, Republic of
Korea, and Senegal also addressed the
Forum.
“Restoration.Land.Recovery,”
the theme of this year’s celebrations was chosen
to drive actions to protect and restore natural
ecosystems as we recover from COVID-19 by
demonstrating, with Costa Rica as the prime
example, that investing in healthy land as part
of a green recovery can create jobs, rebuild
livelihoods and insulate economies from future
crises caused by climate change and nature loss,
and accelerate progress on all 17 Sustainable
Development Goals.
Christiana
Figures, former Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change and
founder of Global Optimism, who moderated the
session, said humanity is at a turning point and
summarized the four actions needed to reset our
relationship with nature. “Reverse the losses we
have incurred. Restore degraded lands.
Regenerate soil, water and air. Recover
productivity.”
Meanwhile, as part
of the Desertification and Drought Day
celebrations, UNCCD announced the winners of its
prestigious Land for Life Award and, together
with the UN Disaster Risk Reduction, launched
the GAR Special Report on
Drought.
An 8-member
international jury declared Familial Forestry
from Rajasthan, India, winner of this year’s
Land for Life Award because of its innovative
land restoration and conservation method that
promotes the well-being of communities and
improves their relationship with
nature.
The jury was impressed by
Familial Forestry’s achievements and how they
relate a tree to the family, treating it as a
green member of the family.
The
award presentation will take place in August at
the 8th Kubuqi International Desert Forum in
China, and the winner invited to present and
highlight his work and accomplishment at the
UNCCD’s 15th Session of Conference of the
Parties in 2022.
Global Landscapes
Forum (GLF) received the Land for Life Special
Mention award of the UNCCD Executive Secretary,
Mr Ibrahim Thiaw, for its exceptional work as
the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on
sustainable and inclusive
landscapes.
At the launch of the
GAR Special Report on Drought,
Executive Secretary Thiaw said the findings show
that “we must act now to prevent future droughts
from destroying development gains,” stressing
that that no country is immune to drought and
“when over 1.7 billion people already face water
stress, this is a huge
problem.”
The Report states that
preventing drought has far lower human,
financial and environmental costs than reacting
and responding. A mechanism for drought
management at the international and national
levels could help address the complex and
cascading nature of drought
risk.
QUOTES
Land
for Life
Award:
Ibrahim
Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary: This
year, the theme of the Award is ‘Healthy Land,
Healthy Lives’. It reflects land as part of the
solution as the communities worldwide recover
from the COVID-19 pandemic and build back better
around a social contract for
nature.
ShyamSunder
Jyani, Associate Professor,
founder of Familial Forestry: Familial
forestry is my effort to reciprocate my love and
debt to my roots and to the mother
earth.
Robert Nasi,
Director General of the Center for International
Forestry Research: The Global
Landscapes Forum is honored by this recognition
from UNCCD. Land degradation and desertification
is a multi-faceted problem where single sectoral
approaches won’t work. By working together,
across sectors and regions we can restore the
balance between people, animals, and the
environment to sustain productivity in these
ecosystems, while supporting the aspirations of
the next generation. We look forward to
continuing our collaboration with UNCCD to
restore and protect the biodiversity and
livelihoods of the world’s
drylands.
About Land for
Life Award
Every two years, UNCCD
organizes the Land for Life Award. The Award
recognizes excellence and innovation in efforts
towards land in balance. The past editions shed
light on inspiring initiatives of recovery and
restoration of degraded landscapes worldwide.
They all made a significant contribution towards
achieving Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG)
15: "Life on Land", in particular Target
15.3 land degradation
neutrality (LDN).
Website: https://www.unccd.int/actionsland-life-programme/land-life-award-2021-healthy-land-healthy-lives
About
Familial Forestry
Familial Forestry
is a unique idea of Shyam Sunder Jyani,
Associate Professor for Sociology at in
Rajasthan. Familial Forestry relates the tree
with family, and thereby a tree is treated as a
green member of the family. Website: http://familialforestry.org/
About
the Global Landscapes Forum
The
Global Landscapes Forum is the world’s largest
knowledge-led platform on sustainable and
inclusive landscapes. It is dedicated to
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and
Paris Climate Agreement. Website: https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/about-us/
About
UNCCD
The United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is an
international agreement on good land
stewardship. Through partnerships, the
Convention’s 197 Parties set up robust systems
to manage land degradation and drought promptly
and effectively. Good land stewardship based on
a sound policy and science helps integrate and
accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals, builds resilience to climate
change and prevents biodiversity loss. Land also
plays a key role in the prevention,
preparedness, response, and recovery phases of
the COVID-19 pandemic, securing rural
livelihoods and creating green jobs, supporting
community resilience and maintaining the
sustainable delivery of ecosystem services.
Website: www.unccd.int |
