Riyadh: At least USD 2.6 trillion in total investments are needed by 2030 to restore over one billion hectares of degraded land and build resilience to drought, according to the latest report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
According to Emirates News Agency, the “Investing in Land’s Future: Financial Needs Assessment for UNCCD” report, launched today at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to UNCCD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, calls for US$1 billion in daily investments between now and 2030 to meet the world’s land restoration targets and combat desertification and drought. Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, emphasized the importance of increasing investments in land restoration, stating that the returns, both financial and societal, are undeniable. He highlighted that investing in healthy land is crucial for biodiversity, climate, and food security. Thiaw also pointed out that restoring land could save billions annually and generate trillions more by enh
ancing resilience to drought. Currently, up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting over 3.2 billion people, with indigenous communities, rural households, smallholder farmers, and especially youth and women bearing the highest costs.
The report further underscores the urgency of the situation, noting a sharp 29% rise in droughts since 2000. Projections indicate that by 2050, three in four people worldwide could be affected by drought. Despite this growing crisis, global investments necessary to meet land restoration and drought resilience goals fall short by $278 billion each year.
Desertification, land degradation, and drought already cost the global economy $878 billion annually, a figure that surpasses the investments needed to address these issues. These costs encompass reduced agricultural productivity, ecosystem service losses, social costs related to carbon emissions, and damages caused by drought.
Louise Baker, Managing Director of UNCCD’s Global Mechanism, stressed the critical urgency
of addressing the financing gap for land restoration. She highlighted the necessity for unprecedented collaboration among governments, the private sector, and international organizations to achieve global restoration targets by 2030. Baker emphasized that with the escalating threats from climate change and land degradation, scaling up investments is crucial not only for meeting targets but also for securing the planet’s future and improving the well-being of billions of people worldwide. The Global Mechanism is actively supporting countries in securing diverse funding sources, ensuring that opportunities for investment in sustainable land restoration are fully utilized.