Land degradation costs much more than restoration: UN deputy chairman

Speaking at the high-level opening of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Ms. Mohammed called on the government to move beyond individual restoration projects and implement a national plan, supported by predictable funding and greater decision-making power for communities that depend on the land.

Globally, up to 40 percent of land is degraded, weakening food production and livelihoods the frequency and duration of droughts has increased by 29 percent since 2000.

By 2050, as many as three out of four people could be affected.

More than 70 countries have developed national drought plans UNCCD support. The challenge now, said Ms. Mohammed, is to ensure they have the resources to carry it out.

“You should not be asked to develop a national plan and then be left to figure out how to make it happen,” he said. “Finance must be available to invest in the priorities that countries have set.”

Expensive investment gap

At a separate event at the finance-focused meeting known as COP17, Ms Mohammed warned of a huge gap between what is needed to restore land and what is actually being invested.

“Given current trends, we will only invest about $77 billion a year of the $355 billion needed annually,” he said. The costs of inaction are much higher, at least $878 billion per year.

Meanwhile, land restoration could generate annual benefits of about $1.8 trillion, and every dollar invested is estimated to generate returns of between $7 and $30.

“Healthy soil is not an environmental luxury. It is productive capital… Land is infrastructure. Watersheds are infrastructure. Grazing land is a productive asset,” said the Deputy Secretary-General.

Land degradation has a detrimental impact on the incomes of farmers and herders, raising food prices, reducing agricultural productivity, and placing greater pressure on water and energy systems.

Droughts add to the devastating impact on the economy, forcing governments to spend more on emergency response, subsidies and reconstruction, as well as losing tax revenues and, in some cases, increasing debt.

Ms. Mohammed urged countries to integrate land and drought resilience into national development and fiscal planning, reform subsidies that encourage unsustainable practices and explore tools ranging from green bonds to drought insurance.

He also called on multilateral development banks to use guarantees, concessional financing and other instruments to attract more private investment, especially for small farmers and local businesses.

Great Green Wall

The Great Green Wall in Africa provides one example of how it could be expanded. More than 20 million hectares have been restored through efforts related to this initiative and outside the original corridor, including five million hectares regenerated by farmers in Niger.

The Deputy Secretary-General said the initiative had grown from the idea of ​​a row of trees in the Sahel to a broader African-led strategy linking restoration, food production, jobs and economic opportunity.

These relationships are particularly important in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions where conflict and insecurity place additional pressure on communities already struggling with drought and degraded land.

“Restoring land will not end conflict. But it can help restore livelihoods and opportunities that give communities a stake in peace,” he said.

Recovery starts with people

Ms. Mohammed also emphasized that farmers, pastoralists and other communities managing land must have a say in how restoration investments are made and guarantee rights to the land they restore.

“Healthy soil gives people something fundamental: the ability to build a future in which they already exist and can thrive.”