16 June
2017, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – A
high-level symposium of Africa’s interior,
environment and foreign affairs ministers held
in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, warned that
ignoring the plight of jobless young people in
sub-Saharan Africa is a recipe for political
instability and global insecurity. They called
for support to create land-based jobs in the
rural areas to ward off the temptation for the
most disillusioned to take up alternative but
dangerous sources of income.
This is the
first time high-ranking officials drawn from
Africa’s foreign affairs, environment and
interior ministries have met jointly to find
solutions to Africa’s growing challenge of rural
youth unemployment that is driving distress
migration and radicalization of disillusioned
young men.
A few weeks ago the Group of 7
(G-7) leaders declared that Africa’s security,
stability and sustainable development are high
priorities for G-7 countries.
The
high-level symposium held yesterday stressed
that Africa’s heavy reliance on the natural
resource base for livelihoods is a challenge,
and its mismanagement increases household risks
and amplifies the vulnerability of millions of
people.
They called for the
identification of sites where tenure or access
to land rights can be secured and provided to
vulnerable at-risk-groups. They also called for
partnerships to create 2 million secure
land-based jobs through rehabilitation of 10
million hectares of degraded land.
They
also called for investment in rural
infrastructure, rehabilitation tools and skills
development and prioritization of job creation
in unstable and insecure areas.
President
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso
delivered a speech jointly prepared with
Presidents Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and
Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, who also attended
the ceremony in solidarity. The Presidents also
received the Symposium’s outcome, a Call to
Action, which was presented by Batio Bassiere,
Burkina Faso’s Minister of Environment, Green
Economy and Climate Change on behalf of the
participants that the high-level
symposium.
The symposium examined the
threats connected to sustainability, stability
and security, namely, conflicts linked to access
to degrading natural resources, instability due
to unemployment of rural youth and insecurity
and the risk of the radicalization triggered by
social and economic marginalization and exposure
to extremist groups.
The Symposium was
part of the global celebration of World Day to
Combat Desertification. Two days earlier, more
than 400 civil society representatives from
African participated in their World Day
observance, also in Ouagadougou, and organized
by
Spong,
a local non-governmental organization (NGO), to
prepare for the International Summit of CSOs
titled,
Desertif’actions 2017, to be
held on 27 and 28 June 2017 in Strasbourg,
France.
The outcomes of the Strasbourg
Summit will be presented to the 13th session of
the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD to be
held in Ordos, China, in September 2017, and the
23rd session of the Conference of Parties to the
Climate Change Convention.
During the
celebrations, Executive Secretary Barbut
announced the two winners of the prestigious
Land for Life Award: Practical Action Sudan/UNEP
from South Sudan; Watershed Organization Trust
from India. The
Land for Life China
award was given to Ms Yingzhen Pan,
Director General of National Bureau to Combat
Desertification, China.
The winners will
be recognized at the award ceremony which is
planned at the Kubuqi International Desert Forum
next
month.
----------------
Notes
to EditorsFor background
information and materials about the Day,
click
hereFor inquiries from local journalists
contact: Ms Hortense Yeleomou,
yelem...@gmail.comFor
inquiries from international journalists: Ms
Wagaki Wischnewski, M +49 15 222 566 415,
wwisch...@unccd.intQuotesPresident
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso,
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali and Mahammadou
Issoufou of Niger: Drought, food
insecurity, water scarcity, unemployment,
hopelessness about the future and poverty are
fertile grounds for extremism, and a sign of
insecurity, instability and unsustainability.
The 1
st African Action Summit by
Heads of State and Government held in Marrakesh
in 2016 launched the Sustainability, Stability
and Security initiative – the 3S Initiative –
with a commitment to speed up the restoration
and rehabilitation of degraded lands as a means
to create jobs for rural youth. The question we
must answer today is this: are we capable of
continuing to invest for the
future?”
Monique Barbut,
Executive Secretary, UN Convention to Combat
Desertification: More than 375 million
young people will enter Africa’s job market over
the next 15 years, of whom 200 million be living
in the rural areas. Millions of rural young
people face an uncertain future due to the lack
of decent rural jobs and continuous loss of
livelihoods due to land degradation and falling
yields…Frustrations will boil over with more
migration and more conflict over a shriveling
resource base. The challenge is bigger than just
a matter of a million young African’s attempting
to make the move towards Europe over the course
of a year. The UK Ministry of Defence estimates
up to 60 million Africans are at risk of
distressed migration as a result of land
degradation and desertification pressures in the
next two decades. Imagine what could happen if
each of you committed to rehabilitate 100,000
hectares of land in your respective countries…
If young people in Africa were given the chance
to bring that natural capital back to life and
into production… With the right type of
investments in land, rural infrastructure and
skills development, the future in your region
can be bright.
Batio Bassiere,
Minister of Environment, Green Economy and
Climate Change, Burkina Faso: Burkina
Faso, on average, loses 360,000 ha of land to
degradation every year, with significant impacts
on 85% of the population that lives off
agriculture and pastoral activities. As stated
in the theme of the World Day to Combat
Desertification,
Our Land, Our Home, Our
Future must be preserved against all forms
of degradation or desertification. Burkina Faso
is now among the 110 countries that to-date have
committed to achieve the Sustainable Development
Goal target of land degradation neutrality by
2030.
Quotes: Land for Life
Award WinnersMonique
Barbut, Executive Secretary, UNCCD, regarding
the winners: The winners show that
restoration of degraded land can halt distress
migration that is driven by unproductive land
resources. Families and communities are
transformed and become more resilient towards
climate change when job opportunities are
created. When practices like these are amplified
globally, sustainability, stability and security
of all is possible. It only requires political
will and decisive action against losing more
productive land to
desertification.
Awadalla Hamid,
Practical Action Sudan, North Darfur:
Practical Action and all our partners are
delighted to have won the global Land for Life
Award 2017. Ecosystem-based approaches to
disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) are certainly
an effective approach for bringing together
beneficiary communities and relevant state
institutions as partners in building local
resilience. Winning the Global Land for Life
Award 2017 was made possible by the successful
collaboration between Practical Action, the UN
Environment, the European Union and all other
partners.
Marcella D’Souza,
Watershed Organization Trust
from India: Combating desertification
can be realized! Team WOTR is thrilled that we
have proved it substantially. Thank you UNCCD
for recognizing the years of silent committed
effort of my team and villagers through this
prestigious award. We thank our funders – the
BMZ with the KfW and GIZ, the Swiss Agency for
Development Cooperation, NABARD, the Indian
Government and our many donors who have helped
us realize this. WOTR renews its commitment to
continue Combating
Desertification.
Abdalla Latief,
Director General, State Ministry of Agriculture
North Darfur: Excellent news on the
occasion of Ramadan. It is extremely
rewarding for the Eco DRR project in North
Darfur to be awarded the Global Land for Life
Award 2017 by the UNCCD Secretariat. It is a
great accomplishment for our communities, the UN
Environment, the state government of North
Darfur, Practical Action and the Voluntary
Networks. I had faith that the exceptional
devotion and efficient coordination towards
implementing Eco-DRR projects was leading us to
success.
Erik Solheim, Head of UN
Environment: I’m immensely proud of the
work UN Environment is doing to help improve
people’s lives in North Darfur and around the
world. Winning this award proves that by working
together in effective partnerships and hand in
hand with communities themselves, we can make
positive and lasting change, even in some of the
most difficult situations.
Winner
of Land for Life China
Award:Pan Yingzhen,
Director General of National Bureau to Combat
Desertification, China: Thank you UNCCD
for awarding this Land for Life Award. I am very
honored. This is a recognition not only for
myself but also for those who have worked hard
to fight desertification. The award also gives
affirmation to our government’s commitment to
combat land degradation and encouragement to
people to restore degraded land. As the China
National Focal Point of Combating
Desertification, I will continue together with
my colleagues to lead and realize the work of
rehabilitating degraded land. Let our land be
alive again, giving more hopes and
opportunities!