| UNEP
Executive Director Speaks of Land Degradation and Desertification
at the High-level Segment of the UNCCD Meeting in Nairobi
Land degradation and desertification
are among the central issues facing the international
community if we are to meet the Millennium Development
Goals and achieve a just, healthier and more stable world.
This concern was voiced by Klaus Toepfer, the Executive
Director of UNEP, in his speech at the High Level Segment
of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) which is currently taking place at the UN offices
in Nairobi.
Addressing high-level delegates, Toepfer went on to highlight
the fact that some 66 per cent of the African continent
is classed as desert or drylands and that 46 per cent
of Africa’s land area is vulnerable to desertification.
He welcomed the TerrAfrica initiative which was to be
launched and of which UNEP is part. The initiative aims
to leverage some $4 billion over the coming years in the
cause of land degradation.
He warned that if land degradation continues, the targets
and timetables from the World Summit on Sustainable Development
agreed in 2002—to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity-
will be harder to achieve.
The Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP
7) which also comprises the seventh session of the Committee
on Science and Technology (CST 7) and the Fourth Session
of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation
of the Convention (CRIC 4) of the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) aims to take further
concrete steps towards the implementation of the Convention
with the participation of representatives of governments,
NGOs, and international organizations.
Desertification, or land degradation in arid, semi-arid
and dry sub-humid areas is a worldwide problem directly
linked with poverty, hunger and forced migration that
affects two thirds of the world’s agricultural land where
the world’s poorest reside. |
