Press
release 11 June 2021 For Immediate
Release
Kit de prensa
(Español) Evento DDD shorturl.at/mnwRS
Costa
Rica rallies up world leaders to act on land
restoration
-
Costa
Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and
Minister of the Environment and Energy Andrea
Meza Murillo will lead an international event to
rally up a global high ambition to restore
degrading land to hasten the post-COVID-19
recovery.
-
The
event will feature the UN Secretary General, the
Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Convention to Combart Desertification and world
political leaders
-
Opportunities
for land restoration globally could generate
economic benefits of up to USD 1.4 trillion
every year. Costa Rica will present the actions,
practices, and public policies that enabled it
to increase its forests cover and that made it
the first tropical country to halt and reverse
deforestation and forest
degradation.
-
The
Forum will call on the international community
to mobilize the highest possible ambition to
provide a coordinated response to land
degradation, climate change and biodiversity
loss around the
world.
Bonn and San Jose, June 11,
2021. As host of the 2021
Desertification and Drought Day, Costa Rica will
bring together world leaders and leading
environmental figures on 17 June to rally
political support to ramp up land restoration
globally in the coming decade. The virtual
High-Level Forum will be led by the President of
Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, and the Minister of
Environment and Energy, Andrea Meza.
The
Forum is part of the 2021 Desertification and
Drought Day celebrations organized jointly with
the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD).
The
virtual High-level Forum will address the
importance of international cooperation and
solidarity in the context of global efforts to
restore balance with nature and promote peace,
while fighting climate change and ensuring human
health.
Costa Rica is hosting the
global celebration this year and will show the
impacts and solutions for this problem in a
televised talk show program to be aired the same
day.
The goal for this year’s
Desertification and Drought Day is to
demonstrate that investing in sustainable land
and water management in the aftermath of
COVID-19 can invigorate a green recovery, in
terms of creating decent jobs and rebuilding
livelihoods, but also in protecting societies
and economies from potential crises caused by
climate change, biodiversity loss and land
degradation.
In the forum, Costa
Rican authorities will highlight how the country
has implemented public policies and actions to
protect nature for decades, and was the first
tropical country to halt and reverse
deforestation and forest degradation. Forests
cover more than 54 per cent of its territory
today and meet the daily needs of thousands for
people. More than 26 per cent of the national
territory is protected by law and the country is
already implementing plans, public policy, and
specific actions for land
restoration.
President Carlos
Alvarado said that "for Costa Rica it is
important to use its leadership - and it must do
so – to bring many partners together and to be
able to raise its voice on this
issue."
“Everything is interconnected in
today's world. In cities, the desertification
issue may be seen as something remote. But what
happens in rural areas - the loss of those
arable areas - means more pressure on the
world's food systems and less food for all and
all or less carbon-sequestering forests”, he
stressed.
The Secretary General of the
United Nations, António Guterres; the President
of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkır; UNCCD
Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw; ministers
from key countries around the world and civil
society participants will also make
interventions. Christiana Figueres former
executive secretary of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and
founder of Global Optimism will moderate the
session.
“The pandemic has reminded
us how much we depend on each other. How much
our fate depends on our relationships with
nature. How much we need good political will,
combined with collective action, and sustained
investment. When these come together, we can
make a difference. Restoring land can give us
better food and water security, reduced carbon
emissions, and healthy air quality. We already
have the tools – like responsible land
governance, and investments that protect and
restore nature. Investing in healthy land to
drive a green recovery is a smart economic
decision. This is how we can build a greener,
healthier, and more sustainable future,” said
Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the
UNCCD.
Costa Rica’s
Call At the onset of the UN Decade
of Ecosystems Restoration (2021 – 2030), and
based on its experience and environmental
leadership, on June 17, Costa Rica will call on
the international community to rally up a high
ambition for the stewardship of land as part of
a coordinated response to land degradation,
climate change and biodiversity loss
worldwide.
“And that is what we need to
put on the table: mobilizing funds so that we
can continue to implement all our land-based
solutions. It is critical for all governments,
companies, and societies to have this integrated
approach. If we want to make progress, tackle
the climate crisis, and halt the loss of
biodiversity, we also need to have an extremely
robust strategy for preserving our soil. That is
what is going to give us healthy societies and
healthy economies,” added Minister
Meza.
“If everyone is not getting
vaccinated, we are not going to emerge from this
pandemic. If we do not all get together and
protect our forests and soils, we are not going
to have a common food future. There is no
scenario here where some are going to make it
and others are not. It’s the entire planet that
has to make it,” concluded President
Alvarado.
The Example of
Costa Rica Costa Rica was also the
first country to create, in 1997, a Commission
for the implementation of the UNCCD. Known as
CADETI (Advisory Commission on Land Degradation)
the body is led based on the UNCCD’s principles
of participation and partnership, with the
government sector (Ministries of Environment and
Agriculture), civil society and academia all
represented.
Northern Costa Rica and
Guanacaste are part of the Central American Dry
Corridor that is hard hit by climate change,
negatively affecting livestock and agriculture.
These areas, together with the Barranca,
Tárcoles, Jesús María, and Reventazón river
basins, are sites where the country is already
implementing plans, public policy, and specific
actions for land restoration.
“Many
people’s lives depend on the health of the land.
The fact that we are losing this land due to
desertification or drought puts thousands of
lives at risk. It is essential for us to form a
common front to respond appropriately to this
issue so that the next generations will have an
opportunity for a good and healthy life,” said
President Alvarado Quesada.
“The example
of Costa Rica, with its agro-environmental
policies, is evidence that public policies both
matter and have an impact. The knowledge being
generated in our interventions in these river
basins and all over the country shows that
working with small farmers - implementing soil
management, water capture, and pasture recovery
measures, among others – benefits small land
owners can be carried out on different scales,”
said Costa Rican Environment and Energy
Minister, Andrea Meza Murillo.
The
program for payment for environmental services
(Pago por Servicios Ambientales, or PSA), for
instance, provides a direct source of income to
households that dedicate their lives to working
and protecting the land. In 2021, this program
will benefit more than 33,000 people in Costa
Rica, including indigenous communities and women
farm owners. The PSA has helped to protect
320,000 hectares at a cost of over $22
million.
Costa Rican government is
now developing the Future Footprint (Huella del
Futuro) project. About planting 200,000 trees
will be planted in the country’s northern zone
in the first phase with a view to reforest and
reconstruct landscapes and create jobs for the
wellbeing of people and the
land.
Resources Case
Studies: https://bit.ly/3ivtbel Interviews:
https://bit.ly/3izrv3u Photos:
https://bit.ly/3pHwNvf
Press
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Alfaro | Email: kal...@minae.go.cr | Phone:
+506 8455 7695 Mr. Josué Paniagua | Email:
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8946 Mr. Diego Arguedas Ortiz | Phone: +506
8449 8301
Press contacts for
international media Ms. Wagaki
Wischnewski | Email: wwisch...@unccd.int. |
Phone +49 173 268 7593 Ms. Katheryn Jimenez |
Email:
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