A U.N. official has called for a significant investment from the private sector to slow down the desertification of land as the growing global population faces food insecurity.
What's happening?
Reuters reported Dec. 1 that Ibrahim Thiaw, the executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, estimates that the world needs a $2.6 trillion investment by 2030 to restore degraded land and halt desertification.
Thiaw revealed the figure ahead of the anti-desertification-focused UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saying an investment from the private sector is critical, with the world needing to double food production to keep up with a burgeoning population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050.
"The bulk of the investments on land restoration in the world is coming from public money. And that is not right. Because essentially the main driver of land degradation in the world is food production ... which is in the hands of the private sector," Thiaw said, per Reuters.
"How come that one hand is degrading the land and the other hand has the charge of restoring it and repairing it?" he added.
Why is slowing down desertification important?
Desertification means that previously fertile land has turned arid, making it more difficult to grow food crops. While natural processes play a role in land changes over long periods, human activities such as mining, unsustainable farming, and urbanization are accelerating the rate of this transformation, as National Geographic explains.
The warming global temperature (mostly linked to pollution from dirty fuels) is also causing droughts to become more frequent and severe. According to the UNCCD, droughts have increased 29% since 2000 and 20% of agricultural land has been lost to degradation, with the decline of fertile lands costing $1.1 trillion annually.
What can be done about desertification?
Leaders from governments and the private sector as well as global stakeholders convened at COP16 from Dec. 2 to 13 to sync on the next steps toward adopting more sustainable land management practices, which would help to combat desertification.
Thiaw acknowledged that governments should set and enforce responsible land-use regulations, as the agricultural sector is responsible for 23% of planet-warming pollution, 80% of deforestation, and 70% of freshwater use, per Reuters.
Using your voice and purchasing power to support environmentally friendly policymakers and companies is one way to advocate for more sustainable agricultural practices. Meanwhile, drip irrigation (which delivers water more directly to plant roots) is one of the proven techniques to support crop growth and food security in arid regions.
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