UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed says no less than 20 million hectares of land have been restored through the Africa Great Green Wall initiative.

Ms Mohammed disclosed this at the opening of a high-level UN Convention to Combat Desertification meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. According to her, the Great Green Wall demonstrates the power of African-led solutions, adding that Africa has set the direction.

“Africa’s Great Green Wall offers one example of what scaling up could look like. More than 20 million hectares have been restored through efforts associated with the initiative and beyond its original corridor, including five million hectares regenerated by farmers in Niger,” Ms Mohammed explained.

The deputy secretary-general said the initiative evolved from the idea of a line of trees across the Sahel into a broader African-led strategy, linking restoration, food production, jobs and economic opportunities.

She said that connection was particularly important in areas of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.

Ms Mohammed explained that conflicts and insecurity were putting additional pressure on communities already struggling with drought and degraded land. She, however, noted that “restoring land will not end conflict, but it can help to restore the livelihoods and opportunities that give people a stake in peace”.

Ms Mohammed said land degradation hit farmers’ and herders’ incomes, drives up food prices, reduces agricultural productivity and put greater pressure on water and energy systems. According to her, drought adds to the economic toll, forcing governments to spend more on emergency responses, subsidies and reconstruction, while losing tax revenues and, in some cases, taking on additional debt.

She said countries were spending too little to restore degraded land even as the economic cost of doing nothing climbs towards $1 trillion a year.

She, therefore, called on governments to move beyond individual restoration projects and put national plans into action, backed by predictable financing and greater decision-making power for the people who depend on the land.

Globally, up to 40 per cent of land is degraded, weakening food production and livelihoods, while droughts increased in frequency and duration by 29 per cent since 2000. By 2050, as many as three in four people could be affected.

More than 70 countries have developed national drought plans with UNCCD support. However, Mohammed said ensuring they have the resources to implement them was a major challenge.

“You should not be asked to develop national plans and then be left to search for the means to deliver them. Finance has to be in place to invest in the priorities that countries have set for themselves,” she added.

Ms Mohammed urged countries to integrate land and drought resilience into national development and fiscal planning, reform subsidies that encourage unsustainable practices and explore tools ranging from green bonds to drought insurance.

(NAN)