On the 5th of June every year, the world is marking World Environment Day with various thematic declarations. The theme of World Environment Day 2024 is 'land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience'. World Environment Day is celebrated to raise awareness and promote environmental conservation
The occasion is marked with the purpose of mobilizing individuals, communities, and governments to take action in restoring the health of our planet's lands, which is essential for sustainable development and climate resilience. Activities and events will be held worldwide, encouraging participation and engagement from various sectors to foster environmental stewardship and sustainable practices.
Globally, ecosystems are continuously threatened. From forests and drylands to farmlands and lakes, natural spaces on which humanity's existence depends are reaching a tipping point.
According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet's land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world's population. The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 per cent since 2000 - without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world's population by 2050.
Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
That is why World Environment Day 2024 focuses on land restoration, halting desertification and building drought resilience under the slogan "Our land Our future. We are #Generation Restoration." We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, revive water sources, and bring back soils. We are the generation that can make peace with land.
2024 will mark the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, from 2 to 13 December 2024.
Ever since the formulation of Ethiopia's Climate Resilient Green Economy Policy in 2011 and the consequent socio-economic and environmental measures taken over the last several decades, the nation has not only championed the issue of environment protection and development but has vividly demonstrated to the world that the country is markedly contributing to towards the mitigation of climate change and its devastating effects.
Since 2018, under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy and his cabinet, Ethiopia embarked on a series of integrated development programs that primarily focused on creating carbon free country by 2030, utilization of non-fossil fuel energy resources in hydropower development programs like GERD, Koyisha HEP and a number of other hydroelectric sources across the country.
Ethiopia embarked on National Green Legacy Initiative with the vision and objective of greening the entire country and conserving the flora and fauna resources of the country by planting an average of 6 billion tree seedlings adding up to more than 30 billion trees over the last five years.
On the other hand, through a series of home grown initiatives of dining for the nation, Addis Ababa and the country as well as the future generation eco-tourism projects were developed across the country all contributing to the protection , use and development of
Over the last 50 years and probably beyond, Ethiopia suffered from climate change induced drought which seriously affected the country's agriculture and plunged her into a vicious circle of food insecurity. On the other hand, the lion's share of the country's GDP comes from the agriculture sector.
Apart from globally recognized climate change mitigation achievements, Ethiopia conducted remarkable climate diplomacy over the last several years.
Ethiopia is currently utilizing a railway network to Djibouti that utilizes hydroelectric power and has also stopped import of fossil fuel based vehicles for home and institutional use. The country forwarded a policy of encouraging the production and utilization of electric vehicles as part of the national effort to free the country from carbon that is emitted from vehicles.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has recently launched a nationwide green and clean cities development across the country. In Addis Ababa, both clean and green cities program has already been launched along with city corridor development program and riverside ecotourism development all of which are currently in progress. All these projects hinge around a national development policy to create a livable and healthy environment for citizens.
Ethiopia has already started to conduct climate diplomacy both at the regional and global level by actively engaging in all COP and all relevant international activities pertaining to climate change and protection of the global environment.
Besides, all development programs in the country and activities in all sectors of economic activities are fully considering and conducting environmental impact assessment in view of balancing all development programs with the protection of natural environment resources and assets across the country.
Why is Ethiopia seriously focusing on climate diplomacy as an important component of its diplomatic activities? Several answers could be given for this but the main point is Ethiopia cannot withstand the effects of climate change in standalone mode as the issue is not limited to the country but has huge global dimensions. On the other hand without multi-lateral support and coordination, the country cannot fully finance its climate change programs at least for the forth coming several decades.
Climate diplomacy calls for preparing appropriate risk assessment and risk management strategies at a global strategic level. "Climate diplomacy also means prioritizing climate action with partners worldwide in diplomatic dialogues, public diplomacy and external policy instruments. This includes reaching out to partner countries bilaterally and making the case for more ambitious climate action."
This definition stresses on the use of climate diplomacy as a tool for peace building and multi-lateral approach as a strategy for conducting this modern area of diplomacy that is also an additive to the conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy in modern international relations. Ethiopia has huge potentials in successfully blending domestic climate change mitigation efforts with her climate diplomacy initiatives in the context of multi-lateral undertakings.
In Ethiopia, the issue of climate and climate diplomacy started to gain currency with the initiatives taken by the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi in 2009 as a major national departure from fossil fuel based development to a climate change resilient sustainable development. Climate diplomacy was accentuated in the first national climate change conference which took place on January 15, 2009, and was attended by high level government officials, CSOs, UN, bilateral and multilateral organizations, as well as the private sector.
The conference culminated in the creation of the Climate Change Forum-Ethiopia (CCF-E) in order to ensure a coordinated effort in addressing climate change. The conference also helped in bringing different actors together and aligning Ethiopia with regional and global movements. Former P.M. Meles also proposed having a strategy that would guide the country to follow a green development path. This resulted in the formulation of a national Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy (CRGES) IN 2011, with its vision of making Ethiopia middle-income country with a carbon neutral economy by 2025.
Moreover, at the regional level, Meles masterminded the establishment of The Conference of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) in 2009 by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government meeting, held 1-3 July 2009 in Sirte, Libya. The CAHOSCC started its work in earnest during COP15 held in Copenhagen, Denmark and continued through to COP21. There were ten member states at the establishment including: Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa, plus the chairperson of the African Union.
The first CAHOSCC meeting resolved that Ethiopia should lead CAHOSCC. Hence, Meles Zenawi led the CAHOSCC for two terms from COP15 to COP17--which were held in Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban respectively. Most climate change related meetings held in Ethiopia are also done in close collaboration with the Government of Ethiopia.
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For instance, Ethiopia has been working closely with the African Union member states since the establishment of CAHOSCC, and also working closely with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)-African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) in the preparation for annual conferences on Climate Change and Development in Africa.
The African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) has been established to serve as a center for knowledge generation on climate change in Africa. Ethiopia was also chosen to chair the deliberations of the 20 less developed countries with the highest vulnerability rate to the effects of climate change.
As nations mark World Environment Day, the author of this article believes that the negative impacts of wars and conflicts across the world and the plight of refugees across countries can directly or indirectly exacerbate heavy human dependence on environmental resources affecting the natural balance of the environment on earth.
Countries like Ethiopia need sustained support from partner agencies and international organization like UNEP to make researches on the impact of economic development projects on the balance of nature and the environment inn their respective countries. Universities and institutes of higher learning in Ethiopia are expected to conduct researches that will help to promote the protection of the environment in the country. The issues related to the protection of the environment should be included in school curriculums and special programs need to be developed on enhancing public consciousness on the need to protect the environment in a more participatory and responsible manner.
Law enforcement bodies should be able to draw special laws and regulations that will be observed by the public. New and specific laws need to be put in place to protect vulnerable species of the national flora and fauna resources in the country.
The above analysis indicates that Ethiopia has already spearheaded the regional effort to protect the environment through multi-faceted and integrated national environmental development projects.
