The 14th Conference of Parties (CoP14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) came to a close on September 13, 12 days after it kicked-off on September 2 at India Expo Centre &Mart, Greater Noida, Delhi. The dignitaries participating in the conference addressed several global issues besides desertification and land degradation.
The conference ended with the Delhi Declaration along with thought-provoking discussions on climate change, renewable energy, land management, restoration of degraded land, drought, water scarcity and ban on single-use plastic. Also, issues like women empowerment, gender equality were pondered upon as well.
Image: Press Information Bureau
Talking about the outcomes of CoP14, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar said that Delhi Declaration is an ambitious statement of global action by each country on how to achieve land degradation neutrality. He revealed his confidence in the joint efforts of all three Rio conventions in order to achieve the set goals.
Mr. Javadekar restated India’s commitment to attain land degradation neutrality by 2030. He also pledged unwavering commitment to provide effective leadership to UNCCD during two-year tenure of his Presidentship.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar / Image: Press Information Bureau
Through the Delhi Declaration, ministers from across the globe expressed support for new alliances aiming to improve human health and well-being, the health of ecosystems, and to advance peace and security beside land restoration.
After this conference, the countries will be now expected to address insecurity of land tenure; including gender inequality, promote land restoration in direction to reduce land-related carbon emissions, and mobilize innovative sources of finance from public and private sources to support the implementation of these decisions at a national level.
Indian PM Narendra Modi also addressed this High-level segment of CoP14 and said that human empowerment is closely linked to the state of environment – be it harnessing water resources or reducing single-use plastic. He further added that to get desired results it is mandatory for all sections of society to come together and work toward it.
He also raised the bar for India’s ambition of the total area that would be restored from its degraded status from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares between now and 2030.
Around 7200 participants were scheduled to attend the conference from across the globe. Delegates, including ministers, members of UN and intergovernmental bodies, youth, local governments, business leaders and representatives of non-governmental organizations joined their heads at the conference to dig up solutions against increasing degrading land ratio and various other global issues.