Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
I thank the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting this crucial gathering.
Thank you, my brother, my friend Ibrahima Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, for your outstanding leadership
COP16 marks 30 years of the Convention to Combat Desertification.Ìý Ìý
Yet, never before have so many people been affected by land degradation and drought.
40 percent of fertile land is now degraded
And the results are dire:
Rising inequalities, people hungry, people displaced...Ìý
Livelihoods and businesses threatened, environments destroyed, and the foundation of peace, stability and security rocked.
On the basis of current trends, by 2050, 3 in 4 people, will be affected by drought worldwide.
But you are in Riyadh to turn the tide.
I urge you to focus on three priorities.
First, strengthen international cooperation on land degradation and restoration.
This is in all our interests: no region, no biome, no nation is immune to drought.
Ending degradation and boosting restoration requires good governance, regulatory policies, early warning systems, and action across sectors.
This COP can drive these efforts forward: reinforcing dialogues; addressing data gaps; and jump-starting collaborative implementation of the Convention, with regular progress reviews that span sectors.
Ìý
The Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership – led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – is a welcome step in the right direction. It will support 80 of the world’s most vulnerable nations to build drought resilience – including by leveraging finance for critical areas.
Now we need a clear roadmap to champion drought resilience and land restoration at scale and speed.
Second, I urge this COP to ramp-up restoration.
We have a reservoir of 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land that can be rehabilitated, cared for, and put back into production.
The benefits are numerous.
Land restoration is a solution to many sustainable development priorities:Ìý
It can tackle poverty and hunger, and help secure freshwater for all
It acts as a social and economic safety net. It can generate millions of green jobs. And it is an immense economic opportunity – every $1 invested can generate up to $30 returns.
Restoring over one billion hectares is projected to generate up to USD 1.8 trillion annually.
But we need clear investment strategies that unleash the full benefits of land restoration, and ensure they are equitably distributed to all.
Third, I urge you to prioritise a mass-mobilisation of finance, to scale-up investment.
ÌýCumulative investments must total USD 2.6 trillion by 2030. That is what the world spent on defense in 2023 alone.
To date, only 18% of these investments have been realized. Ìý
We need a step change in finance. And we need those responsible for damage to pay for repairs.
Today, private enterprise are leading causes of degradation – particularly agriculture, mining, and cotton production.
But taxpayers heal the wounds.
Domestic resources account for almost three quarters of land restoration investment. The private sector represents just 6%.
Every land user – big or small – should invest in their land to ensure their business remains sustainable.
Governments must end subsidies that incentivize harming land. And replace them with measures to encourage land-positive investments.Ìý
Development assistance investments must scale-up support to combat desertification, land degradation and drought.Ìý
Excellencies,
Land sustains us.Ìý And we are destroying it.
Action cannot wait.
I count on you all, together in solidarity, to take the chance you have in Riyadh: to deliver a successful COP for peace, prosperity, and the planet.
Thank you.
***
Ìý