Our Bureau
India will host the next global conference on desertification, land degradation and drought in October this year, the United National Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) announced in Bonn on Wednesday.
Scheduled to be held in New Delhi between October 7 and 18, the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties (CoP14), will have a chance to assess the trends more accurately as new scientific data will be available before the meet takes place.
Earth observation data
In time for the meeting, earth observation data on trends in land degradation dating from 2000 in 120 of 169 countries affected by desertification will be available for the first time. Besides, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to come out its first report on desertification and climate change before the CoP, said UNCCD. The new insights, it is said, will help participants from 197 UNCCD member countries identify associated threats and risks to agree on the best solutions to be adopted over the next 10 years to fight desertification.
‘India can lead’
“India is one of the countries affected by desertification, and is facing new challenges, among which are recurrent droughts and dust and sand storms. The country has tremendous potential to turn these challenges into opportunities through improved land use and management, and to provide the leadership the world needs to take bold actions,” said Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of UNCCD, in a statement.
According to UNCCD, India was one of the first countries to commit to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN), which aims to halt the degradation of land through concrete actions.
Achieving land degradation neutrality can help vulnerable populations to improve their livelihoods, and communities all over the world can strengthen their resilience, especially to natural disasters linked to climate change.
Preparatory meet
Later this month, government representatives will meet in Georgetown in Guyana for a preparatory meeting which will take stock of results of the first global assessment of land degradation, based on Earth observation data reported by governments. The last Conference of Parties, hosted by China, was held in October 2017 in Ordos, Inner Mongolia.