Up to 40% of world’s land degraded, UN convention reports
Representatives from nearly 200 countries wrapped up United Nations desertification talks in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Friday, focused on ways to keep land productive as climate change heats the planet and degraded soils and landscapes lose their ability to hold water, produce food and support livelihoods.
Up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which organizes the biennial talks. Droughts are also emerging in areas that were not considered highly vulnerable a decade ago, said Yasmine Fouad, the convention’s executive secretary.
“Drought is coming coupled with the impact of climate change,” Fouad said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s becoming more frequent, more intense and more prolonged.”
Countries left Ulaanbaatar without resolving one of the talks’ key issues — whether to create a legally binding global drought agreement — postponing a decision until the next round of talks in Egypt in two years. The issue had already been deferred at the previous meeting two years ago.
The biennial talks draw representatives from countries that are parties to the convention, the UN body tasked with coordinating global action on land degradation and drought. The question of whether to create a legally binding drought agreement will be carried forward to the next session in Egypt in two years.