At the COP14 held in India, 196 countries and the EU adopted voluntary land degradation neutrality targets that include their restoration by 2030
At the just-concluded Conference of Parties (COP) 14 hosted by India under the aegis of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), 196 participating countries and the European Union adopted the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ wherein they agreed that land degradation is a major economic, social and environmental problem, and welcomed strengthening of the adoption of voluntary “land degradation neutrality” targets that include restoration of degraded land by 2030.
The UNCCD, one of the three environmental conventions running after the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, (the other two being The United Framework Convention Climate Change and Convention on Biological Diversity) was established in 1994 as a legally-binding international agreement within the parameters of the UN and connects the environment and development with sustainable land management. The conventions deal with most vulnerable ecosystems in arid, semi-arid and dry lands areas. The basic aim of the convention is to work for improving the livelihoods of the people in these ecosystems through restoration of soil and land and combat draught conditions.
Under the UNCCD, the developed countries are supposed to transfer technologies to the developing countries for sustainable land development. The UNCCD had adopted a strategic framework for the period 2018-2030, which among other things, primarily focusses on improving the condition of affected ecosystems, combat desertification, land degradation, promote sustainable land management and contribute to land degradation neutrality. It also aims to mitigate, adapt to and manage the effects of drought in order to enhance resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems; mobilise resources for implementation of the convention and improve the living conditions of the people residing in dry land ecosystems. By far this is the most important convention and the success of two other conventions’ objectives depends upon the success of the UNCCD. The secretariat of the convention had taken lot of programmes to achieve its mandate and some excellent work has already been achieved by India though almost one-third of country’s landmass remains degraded and prone to desertification.
China, which became the president of the convention in 2017, passed on the baton to India at the programme held in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar, now has the mammoth task of steering the mandate of the convention for the next two years. The four issues discussed during COP14 were land and draught; land and human security; land and climate change and land and sustainable development goals.
Signatories to the New Delhi Declaration endorsed 35 decisions, including commitments to combat land degradation, desertification and drought. In the resolutions, the conference agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving “land degradation neutrality” (LDN), a national target for action. Besides the LDN agreement, whereby countries have pledged to halt the degradation of land to the point where ecosystems and land use can no longer be supported, there was a landmark decision to boost global efforts to mitigate and manage the risks of crippling drought.
Countries will now be expected to address insecurity of land tenure, including gender inequality; promote land restoration to reduce carbon emissions and mobilise innovative sources of finance from public and private sources to support the implementation of these decisions at a national level.
All countries recognised that desertification undermines health, development and prosperity in all regions and were deeply concerned that the impacts would be felt most keenly by vulnerable people. They were also convinced that participation from civil society organisations, local governments and the private sector would be crucial to achieving the objectives of UNCCD.
The document laid special emphasis on community-driven transformative projects that are gender-sensitive at local, national and regional levels to drive implementation.
While the declaration is a statement of consensus, the 35 decisions are legally binding on each of the 197 signatories. Activities carried out over the next two years would be monitored by India.
The resolutions adopted in the New Delhi Declaration are vital for India and the world, which is grappling with the ever-increasing effects of climate change and faces a major desertification threat.
Around 30 per cent of the world’s populations live in dry areas, which cover more than 40 per cent of Earth’s land surface. Countries like Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan are prone to repeated draught and in fact, 40 per cent of the world is now facing draught-like conditions due to climatic vagaries.
In India, around 20 per cent (63.8 million hectares) of the land is categorised as waste lands and most of this is in dry areas. Latest statistics shows that 42 per cent of the Indian land mass faces draughts where more than 600 million people live.
In the light of these findings, the COP14 is vital for the entire world and its recommendations need to be implemented in all seriousness. The people and the institutions of governance must focus on physical structure of land and quality of soil; improve the availability of water; control landslides, floods and movement of soil and conserve the bio-diversity and use of land for sustainable development of the people living in these areas.
India must gear up its diplomatic channels to ensure creation of fund and technology for tackling the threat by all countries. As for India, an action plan must be prepared to deal with deforestation, water conservation and land degradation for forest and non-forest lands. The degraded forests below 40 per cent crown density have increased from 24 million hectares in 1985 to 30 million hectares in 2017 and regeneration of natural forests needs to be backed up.
The recent proposal of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to bring private investments in forest areas of less than 10 per cent crown density should be started on pilot basis after taking the local people into confidence. If it succeeds, it will give a big fillip to forest conservation and enhancement of land productivity. The land vested with tribals under Forest Right Act should also be taken up for investment for productive use and livelihoods.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the ministerial segment of the convention, outlined the success achieved by India in implementation of the objectives of the convention in checking desertification and land degradation as well as help in saving the livelihoods of the people residing in dry areas. Modi asserted that India was looking forward to making an effective contribution at the global level as it took over the chairmanship for the next two years.
He called for concerted attempts as two-third of the countries are affected by desertification and are in the grip of severe water crisis. He exhorted the delegates to create a Global Water Action Agenda and offered Indian expertise to other countries in land degradation and raised the target of its land restoration from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares by 2030.
Pointing out that India was on course to achieve its Paris climate change targets, Modi announced setting up of a Centre of Excellence at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education to facilitate scientific and technological collaboration between South-South Cooperation and with those who wish to access knowledge and training of manpower so that land degradation is addressed effectively.
(The writer is a retired civil servant)
