Addis Ababa, — Sustainable sources of energy, including solar and wind power, can help communities across the world to reverse desertification and land loss, according to Ibrahim Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Thiaw spoke to UN News ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked annually on 17 June.
"Desertification is happening at the local level as much as it is global. Unless we address this at the local level, we will never be able to actually control it at the global level. Global policies and global decisions are needed," he said.
According to Thiaw, the impacts are huge in terms of food security, food sovereignty, and drives forced migration.
"If people can no longer produce food on their land then they will migrate. As we have seen for example in the Sahel or Haiti, there can be severe consequences for global security. When people fight over access to land and water, it leads to more conflicts. We are seeing more of this, and it has consequences on the homogeneity of communities and on national economies."
It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of the global GDP might lost by 2050 due to challenges with agriculture and food production unless we address the issue of land loss and desertification, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification stated.
But in terms of drylands and desertification, it is estimated that 45 per cent of the land surface is affected by desertification, Thiaw said, noting that 3.2 billion people or one third of the world population are affected by that.
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Restoring degraded land is not an expensive activity to undertake, the executive secretary indicated adding "Every single dollar invested in land restoration can generate up to 30 USD in economic benefits, so investment in restoration activities is quite profitable from the economic point of view."
This is not just the responsibility of local communities but also of governments and crucially of the private sector because the largest driver of land use in the world is big agriculture, he underscored. .
While the situation is a global phenomenon affecting all countries including the United States, India, and China, the impact is much more severe in small countries, and small economies that do have neither reserves, nor the insurance systems to protect their people.
And the level of vulnerability is much higher in communities whose revenues are only based on the income they can generate from land, according to the executive secretary.
"So, it is not necessarily that we need to inject more money, but we need to better spend the money that we have."
He said the best hope we have is energy, which was the missing link for development and for small and medium enterprises adding energy is now accessible in remote places thanks to our ability to harness solar and wind energy.
"And the possibility of combining energy and agriculture is very positive, as you can harvest water, store food, reduce the food loss. You can process that food to create chains at the local level."
