Sustainable sources of energy, including solar and wind power, can help communities across the world to reverse desertification and land loss, according to Ibrahim Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Speaking to UN News on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked annually on 17th June, Thiaw said:” Desertification is happening at the local level as much as it is global. Unless we address this at the local level, we will never be able to actually control it at the global level. Global policies and global decisions are needed.”
”Land loss is happening all over the world and land degradation is affecting both arid and less arid lands. But in terms of drylands and desertification, it is estimated that 45 per cent of the land surface is affected by desertification. Maybe it is more striking to say that 3.2 billion people or one third of the world population are affected by that. Every year a hundred million hectares of land is being degraded, an
area the size of Egypt. We need to halt land degradation, but we also need to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land.”
The impacts are huge in terms of food security and food sovereignty, he warned
”It also drives forced migration. If people can no longer produce food on their land then they will migrate. As we have seen for example in the Sahel or Haiti, there can be severe consequences for global security. When people fight over access to land and water, it leads to more conflicts. We are seeing more of this, and it has consequences on the homogeneity of communities and on national economies,” he explained.
It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of the global GDP might lost by 2050 due to challenges with agriculture and food production unless we address the issue of land loss and desertification.
”Restoring degraded land is not an expensive activity to undertake, but it is absolutely essential to provide more food security and to reduce conflicts. Every single dollar invested in land restoration can g
enerate up to $30 in economic benefits, so investment in restoration activities is quite profitable from the economic point of view,” he added.
Source: Emirates News Agency