“Each second, round 4 soccer fields of wholesome land are degraded,” stated UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres.
“The safety, prosperity and well being of billions of individuals depend on thriving lands supporting lives, livelihoods and ecosystems, however we’re vandalising the Earth that sustains us.”
Desertification, land degradation and drought are presently among the many most urgent environmental challenges.
United for land
The Day’s theme is United for Land. Our Legacy. Our Future, spotlighting the way forward for land stewardship, which is the planet’s most treasured useful resource to make sure the steadiness and prosperity of billions of individuals world wide.
Wholesome land not solely gives us with virtually 95 per cent of meals eaten world wide, however a lot extra. It garments and shelters individuals, gives jobs and livelihoods and protects communities from the worsening droughts, floods and wildfires.
“As the main focus of this yr’s World Day reminds us, we should be ‘United for Land’,” he stated. “Governments, companies, lecturers, communities and extra should come collectively and act.”
‘We all know what we have to do’
Rising populations coupled with unsustainable manufacturing and consumption patterns gasoline demand for pure sources, placing extreme stress on land to the purpose of degradation.
On the similar time, desertification and drought are driving compelled migration, placing tens of tens of millions of individuals annually prone to displacement.
Of the world’s eight billion inhabitants, over one billion of younger individuals beneath the age of 25 years stay in growing international locations, significantly in areas instantly depending on land and pure sources for sustenance. Creating job prospects for rural populations is a viable answer that provides younger individuals entry to eco-entrepreneurship alternatives and on the similar time to scale up greatest practices.
“We all know what we have to do,” the UN chief stated. “It’s set out clearly within the UN Conference to Fight Desertification (UNCCD). As we mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Conference, the world should dramatically decide up the tempo of implementation.”
To do that, he pointed to constructing momentum in direction of UNCCD Convention of States Events (COP16) in Riyadh and guaranteeing younger persons are heard within the negotiations.
“Collectively, let’s sow the seeds for a thriving future for nature and humanity,” he stated.
Quick information
NOOR for FAO/Benedicte Kurzen
Ladies in Senegal work in tree nurseries created as a part of the Nice Inexperienced Wall initiative to enhance residing situations, biodiversity conservation and the sustainability of the land within the Sahel area.
- Each second, an equal of 4 soccer fields of wholesome land turns into degraded, including as much as a complete of 100 million hectares annually
- Every greenback invested in land restoration can yield as much as $30 in return
- In lots of international locations affected by desertification, land degradation and drought, agriculture represents a excessive share of financial income
- Below UNCCD, over 130 international locations have already pledged to attain land degradation neutrality by 2030 in direction of a world the place human exercise has a impartial, and even optimistic, influence on the land
- The UN helps modern efforts worldwide, together with the newly launched Nice Inexperienced Wall Observatory, which tracks progress of Africa’s largest land restoration initiative to fight land degradation, desertification and the unfavorable impacts of local weather change within the Sahel area
- The UN Academic. Scientific and Cultural Group (UNESCO) established a rising nationwide and world networks of “Geoparks” combining conservation and sustainable growth, with 213 UNESCO World Geoparks working in 48 international locations and counting
- Study extra about how the UN helps right here
