New York, 19 May 2022 (TDI): Pakistan has been listed among 23 countries facing drought emergencies over the last two years and requires immediate drought restoration measures.
This statement has been made by the “Global Land Outlook report 2022 “United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification report.
According to the statistics, 4 million square kilometers of natural land require drought restoration measures. Forty percent of the land is degraded and is a threat worth $40 trillion, constituting 50 percent of the global GDP.
Aside from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, and Madagascar are included in the list.
Likewise, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, the US, and Zambia are included in the list of most affected countries due to the onset of droughts. Asia is the worst-hit region due to drought.
According to Agenda 2030, restoring 1 billion hectares of land requires $1.6 trillion during this decade, which is a fraction of today’s annual $700 billion in agricultural and fossil fuel subsidies.
By restoring land, we restore life, restore our economies, restore our communities, and so much more. We cannot stop the climate crisis today, biodiversity loss tomorrow, and land degradation the day after. We need to tackle all these issues together.
These remarks were delivered by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. He regarded land restoration as a no-regret option to recover soil health, replenish natural capital, and retore land health to deliver benefits that exceed costs.
Land restoration is a no-regrets option, in that any effort to recover soil health, replenish natural capital, and restore land health will ultimately deliver benefits that far exceed the costs.#UNCCDCOP15 #LandLifeLegacy #UNited4Land
— Ibrahim Thiaw (@ibrahimthiaw) May 17, 2022
While addressing the issue of droughts in Pakistan from 2020-to 2022, The Federal Minister for the Ministry of Climate Change, Sherry Rehman has emphasized developing the capacity to seek financing which is never disbursed to the developing countries.
Global Land Outlook report-2022
The second edition of the Global Land Outlook report and its summary were published for decision-makers in April 2022 before the UNCCD COP15 in Abidjan.
The report focuses on finding sustainable measures for land restoration, recovery, and resilience for prevailing droughts in different parts of the world.
The report also enlists pathways and sets out the rationale for countries and communities to reverse the impacts of land degradation by implementing the land restoration agenda.
The report also predicts the risks and outcomes of drought by 2050, requiring protection measures for water regulation, conservation of flora and fauna, biodiversity, and provision of critical ecosystem functions.
It also projects the additional degradation of an area equivalent to the size of South America in the coming years. The report warns that humanity has faced such an extent of familiar and unfamiliar risks and hazards at no other point in history.
It lists indigenous people and rural communities, smallholder farmers, women, children, and youth as the most affected people due to drought.
It also emphasizes finding local solutions to the encountered problems to protect and restore natural capital. The report has also highlighted finding immediate financial support for conservation and restoration activities in developing countries.
