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Ministers Call
for Coalition to scale up land restoration
massively
worldwide
New Delhi, 11
Sept 2019
- On
the road to the Climate Action Summit, the
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change of India and President of COP14, His
Excellency Mr. Prakash Javedkar, and the United
Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Her Excellency
Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, hosted a high-level
luncheon on land and climate on 9 September
2019, on the margins of the UNCCD Fourteenth
Session of the Conference of the Parties
(COP14). The event was co-facilitated by the
United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD) and the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
- During
the meeting, participants underscored that land
resources are the basis for human health,
livelihoods, food security, and for our
economic, cultural and spiritual well-being.
Some 25 per cent of the world’s land is degraded
(IPCC, 2019), affecting the lives of 3.2 billion
people, particularly smallholder farmers, those
in rural communities and the world’s poorest
populations (IPBES, 2018). Women in particular
are on the daily frontline struggle to salvage
the large area of agricultural land already
affected by land degradation. And the
stewardship of indigenous peoples is essential
to safeguard the world’s remaining biodiversity.
All vulnerable groups who depend on sustainable
land management and who can contribute to land
restoration need our support.
- Participants
welcomed the IPCC’s special report on Climate
Change and Land which constitutes the first
comprehensive study of the entire land-climate
system. As such, they agreed that it is a
fundamental contribution to global negotiations
on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable
land management, and calls for synergies between
the Rio Conventions. The report provides a sound
basis for ambitious actions contributing to
climate change adaptation and mitigation,
biodiversity conservation as well as to combat
land degradation and enhance food security.
- Participants
stressed that restoring degraded lands and
achieving land degradation neutrality (SDG 15.3)
provided an integrated solution to increase
ecosystems and populations resilience as well as
to enhance the capacity of our land for carbon
sequestration. Land use must therefore be an
integral part of the climate solution, rather
than a cause of GHG emissions. This will
strengthen biodiversity conservation, increase
livelihoods and human security. It will also
curb emissions from degrading lands and help
close the projected
emissions gap between Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Paris
Agreement objectives. Most importantly, land
degradation neutrality will improve the living
conditions of affected populations and the
health and productivity of their ecosystems.
- Participants
agreed that land restoration will deliver
co-benefits to many Sustainable Development
Goals and that the three Rio Conventions can
actively work together to support restoration
activities as an important contribution to the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Participants
agreed that the critical role of land
restoration for climate mitigation and
adaptation must be visible. The Climate Action
Summit will send a strong political signal for
more public funding and private investments to
enable land restoration for impact at the scale
needed, through gender-responsive,
transformative projects and programmes that seek
to generate and sustain fundamental and
sustainable positive change. Every 1 USD
invested in land restoration is expected to
generate up to 10 USD in returns for society
through more efficient agricultural practices,
integrated water management, and vital ecosystem
functions (GPFLR, 2018).
- Participants
indicated that time had come to turn the vicious
circle between land and climate into a virtuous
one by reinforcing the positive elements of the
relationship, helping to manage emissions on the
one hand and adapting to climate impacts on the
other. Participants therefore called for more
concerted policy action, more investments, and
more capacity to scale up land restoration to
achieve land degradation neutrality. They expect
the Nature-Based Solutions Coalition to propose
concrete and ambitious actions at the Summit.
- Participants
supported the global effort to achieve land
degradation neutrality through ambitious
initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge target of
having at least 350 million hectares of degraded
land under active restoration by 2030 and the
Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel
Initiative. Participants also welcomed the UN
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 (UN
General Assembly resolution 73/284) as a unique
opportunity to galvanize political will,
increased investments, and action on the ground
for land restoration at massive scale across the
world.
- Participants
called for the UN Climate Action Summit to be
the starting point for the establishment of a
coalition of countries, to accelerate massive
scaling up of land restoration activities
worldwide, and to act as the building block of
the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration
(2021–2030). A coalition of active countries
could federate and accelerate the achievement of
existing ecosystem restoration goals of all into
the UN Decade – a decade of action and impact on
the ground for the planet, for the people and
for prosperity.
- Participants
included Armenia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil,
Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany,
Haiti, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Morocco,
Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Peru,
Republic of Korea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, Samoa, South Africa,
Tajikistan, The United Kingdom, the European
Union as well as CBD, GCF, GEF, FAO, IPBES,
IPCC, UNCCD, UNDP, UNEP, UNFCCC, UNRC India and
the World Bank.
For further
information, please contact:
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The United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) is the only legally binding
international agreement on land issues. The
Convention promotes good land stewardship. Its
197 Parties aim, through partnerships, to
implement the Convention and achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals. The end goal is
to protect our land, from over-use and drought,
so it can continue to provide us all with food,
water and energy. By sustainably managing land
and striving to achieve land degradation
neutrality, now and in the future, we will
reduce the impact of climate change, avoid
conflict over natural resources and help
communities to
thrive. | | |
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Sent: Wednesday, September 11,
2019 4:26 PM
Subject: Ministers, ahead of
Climate Action Summit, call for coalition for
coalition of countries to scale up land
restoration massively worldwide
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