Land degradation is dangerous to human health, the Saudi government says

Degradation of land and landscapes threatens people’s lives, and must be urgently addressed, the Saudi Arabian government has said.

Neglecting land drains billions of dollars from the global economy, disrupts agricultural production, disrupts water supplies, threatens children with malnutrition, and destroys important ecosystems, according to the deputy environment minister. of the country.

Land degradation, and ways to combat the problem, will feature prominently at a global conference to be held in the country’s capital, Riyadh, in December.

The Conference of the Parties (Cop) of the UN Convention on Combating Desertification (CCD), which takes place every two years, is often a neglected, little-attended international meeting. compared to Cops in terms of climate and biodiversity.

But as this year’s host, Saudi Arabia plans to put the issue of land management in the spotlight, inviting senior ministers and heads of government from around the world, in an attempt to bring financial power. In doing so, the country, which is often blamed for the disruptive behavior of the Cops climate, will offer a rare view of its environmental priorities, in an increasingly vulnerable world. of global warming and associated water scarcity.

The deputy minister of environment in the royal government, Osama Faqeeha, said that people should not be misled by the word desert, which can only be seen as a matter of concern in dry countries. In fact, CCD should be understood to cover all the vulnerable countries of the world, and efforts to save and protect them.

“This cop is about land degradation, soil conservation and drought,” he told the Guardian, in a rare interview. “It is very important for water security, food security, biodiversity and human society. We need to go back to basics and remind the world of this connection we all have with the land. ”

“Turning into a desert tells us that we have not used good land management,” said Faqeeha, who will take a prominent role in helping the president of Cop, the Saudi minister of environment and water, Abdulrahman al-Fadley. “We need to have a holistic view. Land degradation is everywhere. More than 2bn hectares worldwide have been destroyed. Now, 55% of countries report land degradation, and there is not enough reporting… The cost of land degradation is a staggering $6tn a year.”

With current practices, he warned, the amount of land affected could triple by 2050, without strong action to restore fertility and prevent land from being overused.

The impacts can be felt not only in the loss of species, but also in human nutrition, he added. Children who eat the same amount of food now as they did a few decades ago are getting far less of the nutrients they need, because degraded land produces less nutritious food.

The UNCCD was established in Rio in 1992, along with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and each holds a separate Cops – year and a year, in the case of weather, and every year for the other two. Cop29 on climate will be held in Azerbaijan from November 11, while Cop16 on biodiversity ends in Colombia this week. Their findings will feed into CCD Cop16 Riyadh. For the three policemen, it was “very incomprehensible”, said Faqeeha.

Harjeet Singh, director of global engagement at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said the Saudi government must address climate in the Riyadh talks. “As drought, land degradation and desertification are increasing due to rising temperatures, especially in vulnerable regions such as the Middle East, linking climate action with sustainable land management must be they are in the middle of negotiations,” he said.

“Saudi Arabia will face major international scrutiny over whether it will take bold action in committing to an end to fossil fuels or curb its efforts to promote tree planting and land restoration efforts.”

But Saudi is reluctant to link the CCD talks with climate, despite the clear link between desertification and major changes in the global water cycle damaged by the climate crisis. , and it is becoming more visible in the form of extreme weather, heat waves. , droughts and floods. The Saudis’ climate responsibility, as holders of the world’s largest oil reserves, will not be part of the negotiations.

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after the news release

“This cop is not about Saudi Arabia, it’s about the whole world and the problems of the world,” Faqeeha said. “Other countries have an equal say – we’re just helpers.”

Meanwhile, at this year’s climate conference, countries will discuss the need to raise billions of dollars for developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of extreme weather. . Saudi, with its extraordinary oil wealth, is still considered a frontrunner in the climate debate. But for the first time, the Saudis and their partners will be asked by the leaders of the developed countries at Cop29 to contribute funds for the poor world – a request that the government may refuse.

Faqeeha emphasized that these questions are not related to UNCCD Cop. He said that the main source of funds to protect countries against damage must be private organizations, which would be represented mainly by financial and business leaders at the meeting in Riyadh.

Faqeeha says Saudi is a good place to catch a desert Cop. He said: “This area is greatly affected by becoming a desert. “It makes sense to arrest this Police in a dry land.” different ones.

For example, the country is working hard to protect the mountain range adjacent to the Red Sea, where rain is harvested. The Saudi Green Initiative aims to restore 40m hectares of degraded land by 2030.

As many countries agreed at Cop16 on biodiversity in Cali, Colombia, to conserve at least 30% of their land, Faqeeha hopes that countries will make a commitment to return their areas of land severely degraded to CCD Cop . He said: “Not all countries have the intention of restoring land. “And we also need to prevent degradation, with good land management.”