India Will Restore 26 Million Hectares of Degraded Land by 2030

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated the High-Level Segment Meeting of the 14^th Conference of Parties (COP14) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at New Delhi on September 9, 2019

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to addressing all the three main concerns of the Rio Conventions. He also stated that India has hosted global gatherings through the CoP’s for all the three Conventions. “Going forward, India would be happy to propose initiatives for greater South-South cooperation in addressing issues of climate change, biodiversity and land degradation”, said the Prime Minister.

During his address, the Prime Minister announced that India would raise its ambition of the total area that would be restored from its land degradation status, from twenty-one million hectares to twenty-six million hectares between now and 2030. This will be focused on restoring land productivity and ecosystem services of 26 million hectares of most degraded and vulnerable land, with emphasis on the degraded agricultural, forest and other wastelands by adopting a landscape restoration approach.

Shri Narendra Modi also announced India’s proposal to setup a global technical support institute for the member countries of the UNCCD for their capacity building and support regarding the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Program. “India would be happy to help other friendly countries develop land restoration strategies through cost effective satellite and space technology”, said the Prime Minister.

Acknowledging the importance of the role of water, Shri Narendra Modi called upon the leadership of UNCCD to conceive a global water action agenda which is central to the Land Degradation Neutrality strategy. “When we address degraded lands, we also address water scarcity. Augmenting water supply, enhancing water recharge, slowing down water run-off and retaining moisture in the soil are all parts of a holistic land and water strategy”, said the Prime Minister.  

The Prime Minister also advocated on the need to eradicate the menace of single use plastic, he stated “My Government has announced that India will put an end to single use plastic in the coming years.  I believe the time has come for even the world to say good-bye to single use plastic”.

The New Delhi Declaration: Investing in Land and Unlocking Opportunities

The fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held on 9^th and 10^th  September 2019 at New Delhi.  The following declaration was issued at the Conference:

We, the Ministers and Representatives gathered for the high-level segment at the fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held on 9–10 September 2019 in New Delhi at the invitation of the Government of the Republic of India, 

Expressing our sincere appreciation to the Government of the Republic of India for its hospitality and to the UNCCD secretariat for the organization of the high-level segment, 

Recognizing that desertification/land degradation and drought undermines health, development and prosperity in all regions and acknowledging that dryland ecosystems are areas of special focus,

Deeply concerned that the impacts of desertification/land degradation and drought are felt most keenly by vulnerable people, 

Recalling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework and looking forward to comprehensively reviewing and monitoring progress with the aim of accelerating the implementation of both,

Recalling also that striving to achieve land degradation neutrality has the potential to act as an accelerator for achieving a number of the Sustainable Development Goals and as a catalyst for attracting sustainable development financing to implement the Convention, 

Acknowledging those practices which conserve and restore land and soil affected by desertification/land degradation, drought and floods, contribute towards achieving land degradation neutrality and can also have long-term multiple benefits for the health, well-being and socioeconomic development of the entire society, especially for the livelihoods of the rural poor, 

Noting the link between the restoration and sustainable management of land and the creation of decent jobs, including green jobs initiatives and other employment-generating opportunities, for vulnerable communities in degraded areas,

Recalling that the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration, recognized by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its fourteenth session, called for synergies in addressing environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change,

Noting the findings of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment and its Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems, which recognize the role of the land-use sector, 

Recognizing the contribution of effective and responsible governance and stewardship of natural resources, especially land and water, for combating desertification/land degradation and drought and for the sustainable development of current and future generations,

Convinced that diverse multi-stakeholder participation, as appropriate, at local, subnational, national and regional levels and from all sectors of society, including civil society organizations, local government and the private sector, will be crucial to achieving the objectives of the UNCCD,

Renewing our commitment to concerted international cooperation for the effective implementation of the Convention,

1. Encourage the development of community-driven transformative projects and programmes that are gender-responsive, at local, national and regional level, to drive the implementation of the Convention; 
2. Also encourage, in the context of projects aimed at combating desertification/land degradation and drought and achieving land degradation neutrality and resilience-building, inter alia and as appropriate, the transition and increased access to energy in rural and urban communities, within the scope of the UNCCD;
3. Further encourage a proactive approach to reducing the risks and impacts of desertification/land degradation and drought through the implementation of drought preparedness plans and increased risk mitigation for drought and sand and dust storms;
4. Invite development partners, international financial mechanisms, the private sector and other stakeholders to boost investments and technical support for the implementation of the Convention and the achievement of land degradation neutrality, create green jobs and establish sustainable value chains for products sourced from the land;
5. Promote opportunities that support, as appropriate and applicable, the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement and the development of an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework, taking into consideration land-based solutions for climate action and biodiversity conservation and the mutually supportive implementation of the three Rio conventions; 
6. Welcome the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), commit to adopting an integrated, best-practice approach to land restoration based on scientific evidence and traditional knowledge that offers hope to vulnerable communities and invite Parties, observers and other relevant UNCCD stakeholders, including the private sector, to accelerate and scale up relevant initiatives at all levels; 
7. Take note of the benefits brought to participating countries by the accelerated implementation of initiatives that support a transformative narrative in the Sahel through, inter alia, the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative and the Initiative on Sustainability, Stability and Security; 
8. Also take note of the launch of the Peace Forest Initiative and its potential contribution to increasing cooperation on land degradation neutrality, including land restoration and reforestation in transborder areas in participating countries, where appropriate;
9. Reaffirm the relevance of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security for better access, control and stewardship over land and equitable tenure security, in accordance with relevant national legislation, for the implementation of the Convention and the promotion of sustainable land management;
10. Encourage local governments to adopt integrated land use management and enhanced land governance to rehabilitate the natural resource base that makes cities sustainable, taking into consideration the New Urban Agenda, including by reducing rates of land consumption and soil sealing along with biodiversity and ecosystem loss;
11. Welcome the various initiatives targeting land degradation neutrality by India such as Har Khet Ko Pani, More Crop Per Drop, the National Afforestation Program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and the Soil Health Card Scheme;
12. Also welcome the proposed adoption of a voluntary land degradation neutrality target by India that includes the restoration of degraded land and the legacy programme announced to support South–South cooperation following this Conference of Parties.
     

Global Sustainable Development Report 2019

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs has released the Global Sustainable Development Report 2019. This report, entitled ‘The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development’, is the first quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report prepared by an independent group of scientists.

Main Points

The following are the main points from the Executive Summary of the Report:

Since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, there have been many positive developments. Countries have started to incorporate the Goals into national plans and strategies, and many have set up coordinating structures for coherent implementation.

However, despite the initial efforts, the world is not on track for achieving most of the 169 targets that comprise the Goals. The limited success in progress towards the Goals raises strong concerns and sounds the alarm for the international community. Much more needs to happen – and quickly – to bring about the transformative changes that are required: impeding policies should urgently be reversed or modified, and recent advances that holistically promote the Goals should be scaled up in an accelerated fashion.

Adding to the concern is the fact that recent trends along several dimensions with cross-cutting impacts across the entire 2030 Agenda are not even moving in the right direction. Four in particular fall into that category: rising inequalities, climate change, biodiversity loss and increasing amounts of waste from human activity that are overwhelming capacities to process them. Critically, recent analysis suggests that some of those negative trends presage a move towards the crossing of negative tipping points, which would lead to dramatic changes in the conditions of the Earth system in ways that are irreversible on time scales meaningful for society. Recent assessments show that, under current trends,

the world’s social and natural biophysical systems cannot support the aspirations for universal human well-being embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Just over 10 years remain to achieve the 2030 Agenda, but no country is yet convincingly able to meet a set of basic human needs at a globally sustainable level of resource use. All are distant to varying degrees from the overarching target of balancing human wellbeing with a healthy environment. Each country must respond to its own conditions and priorities, while breaking away from current practices of growing first and cleaning up later. The universal transformation towards sustainable development in the next decade depends on the simultaneous achievement of country-specific innovative pathways.

Nevertheless, there is reason for hope. Human well-being need not depend on intensive resource use, nor need it exacerbate or entrench inequalities and deprivations. Scientific knowledge allows for the identification of critical pathways that break that pattern, and there are numerous examples from across the world that show that it is possible.

The science and practice of sustainable development thus points the way forward. Advancing the 2030 Agenda must involve an urgent and intentional transformation of socio-environmental-economic systems, differentiated across countries but also adding up to the desired regional and global outcomes, to ensure human well-being, societal health and limited environmental impact. Achieving that transformation – a profound and intentional departure from business as usual – means carefully taking into account the interactions between Goals and targets. Policymakers will find similarities and contradictions within them, as well as systemic interactions and cascade effects, as action towards one Goal can alter the possibilities for meeting other goals. A significant amount of knowledge is already available about those important interactions, and more research is under way.

An important key to action is to recognize that, while the present state of imbalance across the three dimensions of sustainable development arises from not having fully appreciated the interlinkages across them or having unduly prioritized the short-term, it is these same interlinkages that will lead to the desired transformative change when properly taken into account. The most efficient – or sometimes the only – way to make progress on a given target is to take advantage of positive synergies with other targets while resolving or ameliorating the negative trade-offs with yet others. Translating that insight into practical action for the Goals is informed in the Report by current assessments that emphasize the need for urgency, forward-looking expectations about a growing global population seeking higher levels of well-being and normative considerations, such as leaving no one behind.

Those actions can be undertaken by a more diverse group of people and organizations than governments of United Nations Member States alone. At the local, national and international levels, new key development actors are emerging and gaining greater power and influence. Innovative and powerful partnerships can result from collaborations between traditional stakeholders and emerging actors. The success of the 2030 Agenda thus depends on the cooperation of governments, institutions, agencies, the private sector and civil society across various sectors, locations, borders and levels.