Context: Recently, the Prime Minister delivered a keynote address at the United Nations (UN) “High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought” via video conference.

About UN High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought

• The dialogue has been organized by the President of the United Nations(UN) General Assembly.
• It aims to focus the international community’s attention on land issues. So that it can generate political will for implementing land solutions within COVID-19 adaptation and recovery strategies.
• The dialogue encourages all Member States to adopt and implement Land Degradation Neutrality targets and National Drought Plans.
• Indian Prime Minister(PM) presided over the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Thus, he spoke at the opening segment of the dialogue, which is part of UNCCD.

What are the key takeaways from Indian PM address?

• Firstly, India is working towards restoring 2.6 crore hectares of degraded land by 2030. India is also assisting fellow developing countries to develop land-restoration strategies.
• Secondly, India is working towards restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
• This would contribute to India’s commitment to achieving an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Thirdly, over the last 10 years, India has added around 3 million hectares of forest cover. This has enhanced the combined forest cover to almost one-fourth of the country’s total area.

Lastly, India has also taken up some novel approaches in many parts of India.

• Example: Banni region in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat suffers from highly degraded land and receives very little rain.
• In the Banni region, land restoration was done by developing grasslands. It helped the region in achieving land degradation neutrality.
• The region also supports pastoral activities and livelihood by promoting animal husbandry.

Implications of Desertification, Land degradation and Drought
Land use, biodiversity loss and climate change: Land degradation currently undermines well-being of 3.2 billion people i.e. more than 40 per cent of the entire world population.

• The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) estimates that over 70 per cent of all natural, ice-free land has been transformed by human activity, devastating global biodiversity.

Water scarcity, drought, wildfires and migration: The climate change is worsened by unsustainable land use, with many regions suffering more frequent and prolonged droughts.

• The droughts and climate change are intensifying the incidence of wildfires that devastated roughly 30 million acres of land in the global north and south from 2018-2020 alone.
• By 2025, two-thirds of the world could be living under water-stressed conditions, with 1.8 billion people experiencing absolute water scarcity.

Land use, zoonoses and building back better: Unsustainable land-use change, including deforestation, has been identified as the primary driver of emerging infectious diseases.

• Combating desertification, land degradation and drought, and achieving land degradation neutrality, are key to accelerate achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

About UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification)

• UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. It was established in 1994. It has 197 parties.
• Purpose: It seeks to work towards maintaining and restoring land and soil productivity and mitigating the effects of drought.

14th Session of COP-14 of UNCCD

• India had for the first time hosted the 14th session of the Conference of Parties(COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) at Greater Noida in 2019.
• The theme of the Conference was ‘Restore land, Sustain future’.
• During the conference, the Delhi Declaration was issued. The declaration called for better access over land and emphasised gender-sensitive transformative projects.