News
Release: Distributed from multiple
citiesFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
Friday 20 May,
2022 Contacts:Xenya
Scanlon, Chief of Communications,
xsca...@unccd.intWagaki
Wischnewski, Head of Press and Media,
wwisch...@unccd.intTo
request interviews: pr...@unccd.int The
concluding UNCCD COP15 news conference held at the
Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire, MET 02 (Salle des
Fêtes), can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3G2ybkf
and UNCCD’s YouTube channel, https://bit.ly/3G33o6O United
Global Call to Act on Land Degradation and Drought
Concludes Major UN Meeting in Côte
d’Ivoire
- UNCCD
COP15 adopts 38 decisions, including on tenure,
migration and gender, that highlight the role of
land in addressing multiple crises
- Robust
monitoring and data to track progress against
land restoration commitments
- New
political and financial impetus to help nations
deal with devastating impacts of drought and
build resilience
- US
$2.5 billion Abidjan Legacy Programme will help
future-proof supply chains while
tackling deforestation and climate change
- Regional
initiatives launched in support of the
Africa-led Great Green Wall
- Nearly
7,000 participants at two-week meeting included
delegations from 196 countries and
the European Union
- Future
UNCCD meetings to be held in Saudi Arabia,
Mongolia, Uzbekistan
Abidjan,
Côte d’Ivoire, 20 May 2022 – A united
global pledge to boost drought resilience and
invest in land restoration for future prosperity
today concluded the 15th Conference of Parties
(COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD), held in Abidjan, Côte
d’Ivoire.
This two-week meeting on
the future of land management drew nearly 7,000
participants, including Heads of State, ministers,
delegates from the UNCCD’s 196 Parties and the
European Union, as well as members of the private
sector, civil society, women, youth leaders and
media.
Speaking at the closing
ceremony of UNCCD COP15, Patrick Achi, Prime
Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, said: “Each generation
faces this thorny question of how to meet the
production needs of our societies […] without
destroying our forests and lands and thus
condemning the future of those on whose behalf we
endeavour.”
He also drew
attention to the US$2.5 billion raised for the
Abidjan Legacy Programme launched by Côte d’Ivoire
President Alassane Ouattara at the Heads of State
Summit on 9 May, which has already surpassed the
US$1.5 billion anticipated for it.
At
a news conference, Alain-Richard Donwahi, COP15
President, highlighted that it was the first time
Côte d’Ivoire hosted a COP for one of the three
Rio Conventions, and emphasized his country’s
continued commitment to keep land issues high on
the international agenda.
Ibrahim
Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary, said: “Meeting
against the backdrop of multiple global
challenges, including the worst-in-40-years
drought in Eastern Africa, as well as food and
economic crises fuelled by the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic and conflicts, countries have sent a
united call about the importance of healthy and
productive land for securing future prosperity for
all.”
Highlights among the new
commitments:
- Accelerate
the restoration of one billion hectares
of degraded land by 2030 by improving
data gathering and monitoring to track progress
against the achievement of land restoration
commitments and establishing a new partnership
model for large-scale integrated landscape
investment programmes;
- Boost
drought resilience by
identifying the expansion of drylands, improving
national policies and early warning, monitoring
and assessment; learning and sharing knowledge;
building partnerships and coordinating action;
and mobilizing drought finance.
- Establish
an Intergovernmental Working Group on
Drought for 2022-2024 to look into
possible options, including global policy
instruments and regional policy frameworks, to
support a shift from reactive to proactive
drought management.
- Address
forced migration and
displacement driven by desertification and land
degradation by creating social and economic
opportunities that increase rural resilience and
livelihood stability, and by mobilizing
resources, including from the diaspora, for land
restoration projects;
- Improve
women’s involvement in land
management as important enablers for effective
land restoration, by addressing commonly
encountered land tenure challenges by people in
vulnerable situations, and collecting
gender-disaggregated data on the impacts of
desertification, land degradation and drought;
- Address
sand and dust storms and other
escalating disaster risks by designing
and implementing plans and policies including
early warning and risk assessment, and
mitigating their human-made causes at source;
- Promote
decent land-based jobs for youth and
land-based youth
entrepreneurship and strengthen youth
participation in the UNCCD process; and
- Ensure
greater synergies among the three Rio
Conventions, including
complementarities in the implementation of these
treaties through nature-based solutions and
target-setting at the national level.
In addition to the
decisions, three declarations were issued during
the COP, namely:
- The
Abidjan
Call issued by the Heads of State and
Government attending the Summit
hosted by Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane
Ouattara on 9 May. It aims to boost long-term
environmental sustainability across major value
chains in Côte d’Ivoire while protecting and
restoring forests and lands and improving
communities’ resilience to climate change, which
will require mobilization of US$1.5 billion over
the next five years.
- Abidjan
Declaration on achieving gender equality for
successful land restoration, which
emerged from the Gender Caucus chaired by the
First Lady Dominique Ouattara.
- The
COP15 “Land, Life and Legacy”
Declaration, which responds to the
findings of the UNCCD’s flagship report, Global
Land Outlook 2, a five-year study
with 21 partner organizations, and with over
1,000 scientific references. Released 27 April,
it reported up to 40% of all ice-free land is
already degraded, with dire consequences for
climate, biodiversity and livelihoods.
Reports launched
during COP15 include:
- “Drought
in Numbers 2022,” a compendium of
drought-related facts and figures, including a
29% a rise in droughts since 2000 and a
projection that three-quarters of the world’s
population will be affected by drought by 2050
unless urgent action is taken.
- A
special Southern
Africa
thematic report released as part of
the Global Land Outlook series, which warned of
rising pressures on land and land-based
resources, exacerbated by insecure land tenure
systems, pervasive poverty, and low rural
literacy levels, raising risks for the most
vulnerable among Africa’s population. It
underlines the need to leverage strong links
between the food, water, energy and environment
sectors.A new technical guide that helps shape a
tailor-made response to commonly encountered
land tenure challenges via a range of national
plans, legal frameworks, strategies, and action
programmes addressing land degradation.
- The
study on Differentiated
Impacts of Desertification, Land Degradation and
Drought on Women and Men has
revealed that women are twice more affected by
these issues, and that drought and land
degradation tend to increase the burden of
unpaid care and domestic work shouldered by
women and girls.
- Sand
and Dust Storms Compendium:
Information and guidance on assessing and
addressing the economic, environmental and
health risks of these increasing phenomena.
Also
launched:
- The
Business
for Land initiative aimed at
bringing visibility to the commitments made by
participating companies towards land degradation
neutrality, both in supply chains and CSR
activities.
- The
Sahel
Sourcing Challenge to enable
communities growing the Great Green Wall to use
technology to monitor progress, create jobs and
commercialize their produce such as baobab
juice, moringa oil and shea butter.
- Droughtland,
a new UNCCD public awareness campaign that aims
to showcase solutions and rally global action on
drought. The campaign will also be
featured during UN
Desertification and Drought Day (17
June), hosted this year by Spain.
UNCCD’s COP15 is
the first Conference of the Parties of the three
Rio Conventions taking place in 2022, ahead of the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP27
and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
COP15. Future meetings of the
Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD and its
subsidiary bodies will be held in Saudi Arabia
(COP16 in 2024), Mongolia (COP17 in 2026), and
Uzbekistan (Committee for the Review of the
Implementation of the Convention in
2023). About the
UNCCD The United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is
the global vision and voice for land. We unite
governments, scientists, policymakers, private
sector and communities around a shared vision and
global action to restore and manage the world’s
land for the sustainability of humanity and the
planet. Much more than an international treaty
signed by 197 parties, UNCCD is a multilateral
commitment to mitigating today’s impacts of land
degradation and advancing tomorrow’s land
stewardship in order to provide food, water,
shelter and economic opportunity to all people in
an equitable and inclusive
manner. COP15 background
documents and information: https://www.unccd.int/cop15All
COP15 decisions are available here: https://www.unccd.int/cop15/official-documents Download
b-roll on the drought in Eastern
Africa ( https://bit.ly/3Pw6ULm).
Credit UNCCD. Images
from COP15 are available for use with the
following attribution: Photo by IISD/ENB | Kiara
Worth: https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop15 COP15
social media assets: #LandLifeLegacy
#UNCCDCOP15
#UNited4Land
@unccd * * * * *
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