Friday, 17 June 2022,
11:00-14:00 hrs (CEST) /09:00-12:00
(GMT/UTC)
Streaming
through Twitter and Facebook:
@unccd
Bonn/Madrid,
17 June 2022 – In the face of growing
impacts of drought exacerbated by land degradation
and climate change, countries and communities must
take action now to build drought resilience,
global leaders urged today at a high-level event
to mark Desertification and Drought Day in Madrid,
Spain.
United Nations
Secretary-General António Guterres said:
“Droughts in all regions are getting more frequent
and fierce. The well-being of hundreds of millions
of people is being compromised by increasing
sandstorms, wildfires, crop failures, displacement
and conflict. Climate change bears much
responsibility, but so does how we manage our
land. Taking care of our land and its biodiversity
can help address the climate crisis and assist in
reaching all our Sustainable Development Goals.
Let us act now to drought-proof our
future.”
Drought resilience is the focus of
this year’s global observance hosted by Spain and
led by the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD), with commemorative events
taking place around the
world.
Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD
Executive Secretary, said: “No
nation—rich or poor—is immune to drought, and all
countries can take steps to avoid the devastating
impacts of droughts on people’s lives and
livelihoods. Although we have made some progress,
it is not enough. Drought is a natural hazard, but
it does not have to be a disaster. We are calling
on all countries to make this year’s global
observance a pivotal moment where we commit to
working together to restore our lands, protect
natural resources and boost communities’
resilience to drought to ensure no country becomes
Droughtland.”
Teresa Ribera,
Vice-President of the Government of Spain,
said: “Spain is one of the
most vulnerable European countries to
desertification. Almost three quarters of its
territory are drylands susceptible to be affected
by this phenomenon, 20% of which are already
considered degraded. The fact that Spain has had
to live with droughts and their consequences for
decades has taught us the need to integrate
drought into hydrological planning and water
resource management, addressing it in advance and
avoiding, as far as possible, emergency actions
when severe situations have already been
reached.”
Droughts are hitting
harderAccording to the latest
UNCCD
report, droughts are up 29% since 2000, with
55 million people affected every year. By 2050,
droughts may affect an estimated three out of
every four people around the world.
In the
Horn of Africa, at least 26 million people are
facing food shortages following four consecutive
poor rainfall seasons. Elsewhere, communities from
Chile to the United States, from Mexico to
Morocco, from China to Spain are also in the grips
of severe—and often
unprecedented—drought.
Patricia
Kombo, Founder of PaTree Initiative and UNCCD Land
Hero from Kenya, said: “Drought
was declared a national disaster last October. And
I have witnessed how it is affecting people in
Turkana [County in Kenya] while we were providing
emergency food relief there. I realized that
droughts do not only affect food systems, but they
fuel poverty, conflicts and migration… because in
one village you could only find like 10 households
and they were telling us the youthful generation
had migrated…it’s a cross-cutting issue.
”
A drought in Southern Africa five years
ago put 20 million people on the verge of
starvation. This year Chile marked a
record-breaking 13th year of drought. A prolonged
drought in the United States that started in 2000
is the country’s driest period in over 1,200
years. Monterrey, the third largest city of
Mexico, is rationing water due to
drought.
“Desertification and drought are
the primary causes of migration and
inter-community conflict. It is not by chance that
in most countries, years of drought are listed as
years of economic downturn…. We must deal with
drought, using every tool we can. Existing tools
and resources may not be enough. But they can get
us far, if we make a better use of the existing
tools: Early Warning- Preparedness- Response…the
recently held COP discussions in Abidjan have
reinforced the momentum that has been building on
the need to tackle, urgently, desertification,
land degradation and drought,” said
Alain
Richard Donwahi, UNCCD COP15
President.
Half of the world’s
population is expected to face severe water
scarcity in the next eight years. As many as 700
million people (about 10% of the world’s
population) are at risk of being displaced during
that period, according to UNCCD’s Drought in
Numbers report.
Hindou Oumarou
Ibrahim, President, Association for Indigenous
Women and Peoples of Chad, said:
“In Chad, the desert is advancing
four kilometers every year. That means, in a few
decades, the capital N'Djamena will be in the
desert. And we are facing extreme weather events
from drought around all the Sahel region and all
over Africa. The rainy seasons are not coming
anymore and this worsens the drought in our
communities. We need urgent action to fight
desertification, to fight this drought, to invest
in our communities, to restore our ecosystem in
order to give us good food
production.”
Examples of resilience
in the face of droughtA recent review
of
drought
risk mitigation measures by UNCCD and the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) showcases examples from around the
world of how countries and communities can boost
drought resilience through better early warning
systems, greater interagency cooperation, and a
mix of traditional knowledge and innovative
approaches.
In
Brazil,
Ethiopia and Tunisia, a combination of
water harvesting and sustainable land management
practices are used to reduce the impact of drought
among vulnerable populations.
There are
signs of progress even in the most
vulnerable regions. The drought risk system in
Africa’s
Sahel is regional in
scope. Originally set up 50 years ago, it brings
together the entire range of stakeholders, from
producer associations to decision-makers, who
benefit from scientific and technological
capabilities provided by regional
organizations.
India has
taken an even more comprehensive approach that
includes drought management as part of the
national disaster management plan and involves
various institutions at national, state and local
levels. It is built around early action that
begins with the management of the country's water
system, including rainwater, rivers and
groundwater.
In
Central
America’s Corredor Seco, the dry corridor
stretching across Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, as well as areas of Costa
Rica and Panama, community contingency funds are
used to support drought-hit farmers without access
to formal financing and insurance systems. Over
60% of the population depends on the production of
staple grains for their livelihoods, and in three
out of five harvest cycles, small farmers suffer
significant losses.
The
United
States has recently announced that
drought will become a strategic domestic and
foreign policy priority. The country has some of
the most sophisticated and advanced
drought-monitoring and response mechanisms, which
could benefit and fast-track the development of
collaborative action at the global
level.
“The good news is, real solutions
exist,”
Thiaw said.
“Countries should have access to robust and
effective early warning and monitoring systems.
Countries, especially in drought-prone areas,
should plan for solid drought preparedness and act
now! Communities, especially the most vulnerable
ones, should have access to adequate insurance
schemes to protect their lives and livelihoods. By
restoring land back to health, we can protect our
climate and water resources, boost drought
resilience and sustain life on this planet,” he
added.
Drought resilience was a top agenda
item at the 15
th Session of the UNCCD
Conference of the Parties (COP15) held in Côte
d’Ivoire in May. Countries
agreed
to establish an Intergovernmental Working Group
for 2022-2024 to evaluate all options for the
Convention to support a shift from reactive to
proactive drought management. The Group’s findings
and recommendations will be presented at the UNCCD
COP16 to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in
2024.
Highlights of activities in
Spain and around the worldIn Spain,
the host of this year’s global observance, a
high-level event at the Reina Sofia Museum brought
together renown scientists, issue experts, youth
representatives and high-level policymakers from
Spain and around the world to discuss:
As part of the
global Droughtland campaign, an
information
booth was set up in the centre of Madrid to
raise public awareness on the impacts of drought.
In addition, an event at Casa Arabe organized by
Fundación Biodiversidad in cooperation with Basque
Culinary Centre brought together top chefs and
experts to discuss the challenges of food
production in drought-prone areas.
Other
countries
around the world are marking this year’s Day to
bring public attention to the threats from and
solutions to drought.
They include
Chad, Kenya, Mali and Tunisia from Africa. China,
Iran, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan from
Asia. Colombia and Mexico in the Latin America and
the Caribbean region. Italy, Portugal and Spain in
the Northern Mediterranean region. The Russian
Federation in Central and Eastern
Europe.
But anyone can take action. NGOs
CARI
and Coordination Sud in France and Shine
Africa Foundation in Uganda are among those
organizing events this
year.
Notes to
editorsJournalists wishing to
cover the event in Madrid, Spain need to be
registered, and should email:
bzn-p...@miteco.es
and copy
wwisch...@unccd.int. A copy of your
valid press card and passport will be required to
pick your access card.
Download various
materials here (
https://bit.ly/3xd4IjC),
including:
For information
about Desertification and Drought Day events in
Spain and around the world, contact Xenya Scanlon,
Chief of Communications, UNCCD:
xsca...@unccd.intFor
media related inquiries:On site
contact: Alejandro Gomez,
arg...@miteco.esVirtually:
Wagaki Wischnewski,
wwisch...@unccd.int,
+49 173 268 7593 (m)
About
Desertification and Drought
DayOfficially declared by the UN
General Assembly in 1997 (
Resolution
A/RES/49/115), the annual Desertification and
Drought Day has three objectives. First, to
promote public awareness about desertification and
drought. Second, to let people know that
desertification and drought can be effectively
tackled, that solutions are possible, and that key
tools to this aim lay in strengthened community
participation and cooperation at all levels.
Lastly, to strengthen implementation of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in
countries experiencing serious drought and/or
desertification, particularly in Africa.
For
information about Desertification and Drought Day
visit:
https://www.unccd.int/2022-desertification-and-drought-dayAbout
DroughtlandDo you know where
Droughtland is? Are you interested in a visa to
live there? Think twice because Droughtland is...
special. In the lead up to the 2022
Desertification and Drought Day, UNCCD launched
Droughtland,
a public awareness campaign featuring a fictional
drought-stricken nation, to showcase solutions and
rally global action to boost drought resilience.
Learn more about the campaign:
droughtland.com Social
Media: @TourDroughtland
About
UNCCDThe 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.
QuotesBelow
is a selection of video messages and quotes for
media use: https://bit.ly/3zJVFcYAbdulla
Shahid, President of the 76th session of the
United Nations General
Assembly“…we must recognize that
our actions, our ways of living have dire
consequences. In just over a century, droughts
have impacted at least 2.7 billion people globally
and caused 11.7 million deaths. Forecasts estimate
that by 2050, droughts may affect over ¾ of the
world’s population. All of this while we continue
to devastate the very land we depend upon…
Together, we can turn this trend around. Together,
we can restore the productivity of over 2 billion
hectares of degraded land and improve the
livelihoods of over 1.3 billion people around the
world… Let us take the commitments made during
UNCCD COP15 and renew our commitment to achieve
Land Degradation Neutrality by
2030.”
Patricia Espinosa,
Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)“We must realize that we
are pushing the boundaries of this planet. Drought
is but one consequence of this constant and
unrelenting pressure. We have statistics to show
that droughts are increasing in frequency and
severity. But numbers cannot measure the misery of
thirst, the fear of a failed crop or waiting for
rain clouds to appear on the horizon — but waiting
in vain. We need unified, concerted and ambitious
action. Namely, we need nations to come up with
stronger national climate action plans and ensure
they are tabled
annually.”
Elizabeth Maruma
Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on
Biological Diversity“The links
between drought and human activities are strong
and go both ways, each having an impact on the
other. The desiccation of the Aral Sea is a tragic
example where unsustainable water consumption has
led to irreversible loss of the inland water
ecosystem and its biodiversity, increased drought
and dust storms. Protecting biodiversity can
drought-proof nature and societies. Nature-based
solutions and ecosystem-based approaches are
cost-effective, long-lasting and bring multiple
benefits for people and
nature.”
Dongyu Qu, Director
General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations“The impact of
droughts has seriously affected all agrifood
systems. Yet, agrifood systems can provide a
solution to climate change, land degradation and
water scarcity. We must transform our
agrifood system to be more efficient, more
inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable.
FAO is actively supporting Members to address
water scarcity at the national, regional, and
international level.”
Monica
Medina, Assistant Secretary of State, United
States of America“Individuals,
communities and governments must act to combat
desertification and drought around the world and
build long-term resilience… We also need to shift
planning horizons. These issues will be with us
for the long run and we need to get ahead of the
curve. We must all think long-term and find
innovative ways to reduce drought instead of just
responding to the devastating impacts caused by
drought. We need to act before damage is done.
That’s why we encourage governments around the
world to develop their own land planning processes
and provide funding for climate-smart agricultural
policies before drought hits. Using data to
improve drought forecasting is a key pillar of our
approach under the recently released White House
action plan on global water
security.”
Juan Carlos
Jintiach, Indigenous leader from
Ecuador“Drought and
desertification are very important issues that we
Indigenous Peoples must have on our agenda. They
are affecting the forests, our food, our living
conditions—not only in the Amazon region but in
the Andean region that connects the rivers and the
water sources. We are Indigenous Peoples of the
land, and we see water as part of a being, water
as part of our nature and part of Mother
Earth.”
