The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Wednesday launched a report that focuses on achieving zero net land degradation by 2030.
The policy brief says the time is ripe to agree on a sustainable development goal at the upcoming Rio+20 summit on zero net land degradation to secure productive land for present and future generations.
The report notes achieving zero net land degradation by 2030 “will require the commitment, the support and the active investment of all public and private sectors.”
“When we consider the trend of land degradation and the need for us to preserve forest and land, it will be mission impossible unless at Rio+20 the international community commits a sustainable goal for land use,” UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja told Xinhua.
Zero net land degradation is achieved by avoiding land degradation and offsetting it by land restoration.
The report also outlines drought policies and preparedness measures in drought-prone regions and countries by 2020.
UNCCD, the sole legally-binding international agreement linking environment and development issues to sustainable land management, says an additional 120 million hectares of productive land will be needed to support the demand for food production, which will grow by 50 percent in 2030.
However, each year 12 million hectares of productive land are lost due to land degradation and desertification. Globally, 1.5 billion people are directly affected by land degradation.
Established in 1994, Bonn-based UNCCD addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands. The Convention’s 195 Parties work together to improve the living conditions in the drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought. [PNA/Xinhua]
