17 June 2014
The land under our feet is ancient. Minerals and organic
material have mixed together over decades, if not centuries and millennia, to
provide the bed upon which our food is grown. The plants which grow in this soil
are not only the basis for food and fiber they are also contribute to our
supply of clean water and are a storage place for carbon. Land is the key for
life and livelihoods today.
As the global population increases in the years to come, and
as climate change affects the availability of water, with consequences for
water and food security, land will become even more important. Drylands hold a
significant proportion of the world’s soil carbon stock, and land degradation
contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable land management is therefore
a key climate change mitigation strategy.
Biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management
will be critical for managing our ecosystems so that they can support improved
water security for food production as well as being more resilient to climate
change.
Ecosystem-based adaptation, which integrates biodiversity and
ecosystem services into an overall adaptation strategy, can be cost-effective
and generate social, economic and cultural co-benefits. This approach can
contribute to the conservation of biodiversity while providing climate change
adaptation benefits.
The Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, held 2010
in Japan, adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and twenty
Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which provide a framework for biodiversity
conservation, ecosystem restoration and sustainable land management.
In particular, I would like to highlight Aichi Biodiversity
Target 15 which calls for the enhancement of the resilience of ecosystems and
the restoration of at least 15% of degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to
climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification. Also
relevant are: Target 5 which aims that by 2020, the rate of loss of all natural
habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought
close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced;
Target 7, which calls for areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry to
be managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity; and, Target 14,
which aims that by 2020, ecosystems that provide essential services, including
services related to water, and contribute to health, livelihoods and
well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into account the needs of
women, indigenous and local communities and the poor and vulnerable.
As sister Rio Conventions, the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification have many
areas of convergence, the most significant being the work to conserve, restore
and sustainably utilize dryland ecosystems. In fact, the Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets provide strong bases
for implementing the synergies between the two Conventions at the national
level.
As we prepare to celebrate the World Day to Combat
Desertification let us strive for sustainable strategies that integrate the
management of land, water and biodiversity through sustaining ecosystem
services. In this way we can combat desertification, help adapt to climate
change and achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
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