Four years have passed since the launch in Riyadh of the Global Initiative to Reduce Land Degradation during Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20 in November 2020.
The initiative aims to achieve a 50 percent reduction in degraded lands by 2040, especially since this environmental phenomenon threatens the lives of millions of people and hinders sustainable development. United Nations desertification data indicate that more than two billion hectares of the world’s land are degraded, affecting half the world’s population. The international organization warns that if current trends continue, the world will need to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030 to attain the Sustainable Development Goals.
Riyadh marked the World Environment Day 2024 on June 5 by focusing on land restoration, desertification, and drought resistance to restore the planet.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Muralee Thummarukudy, Director of the G20 Initiative to Reduce Land Degradation at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, said that the great challenge to confront this phenomenon was the availability of funding, resources, money and technical expertise.
Thummarukudy, who is currently in Riyadh to participate in many environmental activities and seminars organized on the occasion of World Environment Day, talked about the goals of the initiative and the ongoing efforts in this regard.
Stressing that the main objective is to reduce 50 percent of degraded land globally by 2040, he said that land reclamation is the focus of the initiative, in addition to many sustainable development goals, including protecting the environment and eliminating hunger.
The official continued that 95 percent of all foods and 99 percent of calories consumed by the population come from the Earth. Thus, the work of the Global Land Reclamation Initiative has an impact on multiple sustainable development goals, especially for the Arab region, which suffers from land degradation, and faces food security and other challenges, he underlined.
Asked about the strategies, Thummarukudy pointed to capacity building to achieve land reclamation. In this context, he referred to a program within the initiative that aims to train people, youth, and experts.
He added that the initiative seeks to work with the private sector, which can play a major role in achieving land reclamation, as well as with local communities through capacity building.
Commenting on the role of Saudi Arabia, Thummarukudy said that the Kingdom has launched the entire idea of the initiative under its presidency of the G20. He added that during the meeting of environment ministers, Riyadh was able to convince other members to put land reclamation at the top of the agenda.
As a result, other countries pledged to contribute to the initiative by providing technical expertise, support and governance, he remarked.
The official emphasized Saudi Arabia’s leading role in the field of land reclamation, not only within the Kingdom itself, but across the Middle East.
Regarding the main challenges facing the implementation of the G20 Global Land Initiative in developing countries, Thummarukudy pointed to the lack of national legislation and financing necessary for land reclamation, in addition to the need for technical expertise and concerned institutions.
The availability of funding, resources, money and technical expertise represents a major challenge, he stressed, adding that Arab countries can play a role in channeling both technical know-how and financial resources to achieve land reclamation.
On how the initiative deals with the effects of climate change on desertification and land degradation, and the sustainable solutions that are presented in this context, Thummarukudy said that the strategy promotes land restoration by all means, including soil restoration, legislation, plant diversity and soil organic matter, all of which contribute to reducing the effects of climate change.
The official referred to the creation of the Global Land Reclamation Database, a compilation of best available practices on land degradation globally. He added that within the initiative, hundreds of experts from around the world are being trained on various land topics, in areas as diverse as reclaiming mining areas, restoring vegetation using agricultural biotechnology, and using geospatial information for land management.
According to Thummarukudy, there are two main ways in which the private sector can contribute to achieving land reclamation. The first is concerned with providing financial resources to support land reclamation initiatives, and second, applying best practices in afforestation, agriculture, and mining, which will reduce land degradation.
Green initiatives, such as the Middle East Green Initiative and the Global Land Reclamation Initiative, all require the participation of a large number of private sector stakeholders to achieve the desired goals, he underlined.
