The overexploitation of land threatens to degrade an area the size of South America in less than three decades, which is why recovering a sustainable use of the soil is a matter of “survival”, warns a UN report published on Wednesday.
“Our way of managing and using land resources threatens the health and survival of many species on Earth, including humans,” Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, told AFP. (UNCCD, in English), the body that requested this report.
As the 2nd edition of “Global Earth Outlook” points out, the food sector is responsible for 80% of deforestation and uses 70% of the world’s fresh water. In addition, it is the main engine of species extinction.
“The risk of widespread, sudden or irreversible environmental changes will increase”, endangering up to half of the world’s GDP, close to 40 billion dollars.
The next meeting of the Convention, made up of 197 parties, will be held in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) from May 9. On the agenda is adaptation to droughts, which are multiplied by climate change, the transition to sustainable agriculture and, in general, restoring good health to cultivated land.
land use
At least 70% of the world’s ice-free soil has been converted for human use (infrastructure, housing, agriculture), and most of it is degraded, lowering its yield.
“There isn’t much land left,” Barron Orr, UNCCD scientific officer, told AFP. “And yet, we continue to see a high rate of change in uses.”
Changes that go hand in hand with concentration in a few hands: 1% of agri-food companies control 70% of the world’s agricultural land, says this report. On the opposite side, 80% of farms only represent 12% of agricultural land.
The main objective of the UNCCD is to reach “zero net loss” in each country in terms of land degradation, by 2030, with respect to the reference year, 2015.
Something that would also help to maintain the main commitment of the Paris Agreement on climate: keeping global warming below +2 ºC, as Ibrahim Thiaw recalls.
“Degraded soils emit CO2 (one of the main causes of climate change)”, Says Thiaw, “putting them in their natural state could leave that CO2 in place.”
The report assesses different scenarios between now and 2050. If nothing is done, an additional 250 billion tons of CO2 equivalent would be released into the atmosphere, about four times current annual greenhouse gas emissions.
But if soils are restored and protected, they could store 300 billion tons compared to 2015, the equivalent of five years of emissions at current levels.
Analyze strategies
Faced with the threat of the “sixth mass extinction”, this would allow biodiversity to be preserved. In addition, the conservation of natural spaces makes it possible to reduce the transmission of viruses from wild animals to humans, as could have happened with covid-19.
“Our reflection must be more strategic”, highlights Barron Orr.
The report recommends, for the first time, reinforce the land rights of indigenous peoples, as a way to protect the climate and biodiversity.
Representatives of some of these peoples, often deprived of their ancestral landsThey received the news with skepticism.
“We welcome new allies in this battle, including economic actors, but we will not let them use us for greenwashing (a green image washing, ndlr),” warned Venezuelan José Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, representative of 511 groups originating from the Amazon basin.
On the other hand, a UN convention on biodiversity will meet shortly to seek an agreement that converts 30% of the Earth’s surface into a protected area. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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