Download World Day to Combat Desertification Global Observance

World Day to Combat Desertification Global Observance
Event
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Conference Center, Expo Milan, Italy
“No such thing as a free lunch: Invest in healthy soils”
Ms. Maria Helena Semedo
Deputy Director-General
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Your Excellency Mr Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment and Tourism of
Namibia;
Your Excellency Souleymane Jules Diop, Secretary of State for the Senegalese
living abroad;
Ms Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary,
Mr Gianpaolo Cantini, Director-General of Development Cooperation, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy
Ms Pia Bucella, Director, Natural Capital, Directorate-General for Environment,
European Commission,
Mr Raffaelo Cervigni, Lead Environmental Economist of the World Bank
Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests,
Representatives of civil society, private sector and academia,
Ladies and gentlemen,
1. It is a privilege for me to be here today. I commend
UNCCD
for
choosing
Milano
Expo
for
their
central
Celebration as it recalls the deep linkage between food, soils
and fight against desertification.
2. Too often we take our natural resources for granted,
including soils and today’s event is an opportunity to
highlight the role soils are playing in our LiveCycle and
the interlinkages between desertification, land degradation
and drought (DLDD).
3. Soils are essential for life, soils are essentials to humans,we
are “soil-dependent” for the production of food, fodder, feed
and fuel for today’s and future generations.
As you may know, 95% of our food is directly or indirectly
produced on our soils, and by 2050 between 60and 65%
additional food is required to feed the growing population ,
by2030 ,about 120million hectare land is needed to produce
more food
4. But soils are in danger?
5. First: Soils are threatened and degraded.
6. 33% of global soil is moderately or highly degraded and
every year an estimated 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost
due to erosion in the world's croplands.
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7. About 1.5 billion people around the world are directly
affected by desertification, land degradation and drought. In
Africa alone, an estimated 65 percent of arable land is
degraded and loses soil nutrients worth USD 4b per year
according to some estimates.
8. Second: Increasing population and urbanization put soils at
the crossroad of local and global issues. Soil Security is
closely interlinked with food security, water security, energy
demand,
climate
change
regulation
and
biodiversity
protection.
Ladies and Gentleman
9. But there are also solutions.
10. First: Awareness raising and education on soils are
key.
11. The World Soil Day and the International Year of
Soils
are
key
to
advocate
for
the
sustainable
soil
management.
12. Soils are necessary to meet the Sustainable Development
Goals and the theme of healthy soils needs to be present at
the UNSG Summit in September, at the COP-12 of the
Convention on Desertification in Turkey in October and the
COP-21 on Climate in Paris in December.
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13. The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) was launched by FAO in
2012 will focuses on awareness rising on the importance of
soils.
14. Second:
We
need
to
implement
a
sustainable
management of soils. We need to enhance quality, quantity
and accessibility of soil data and to facilitate research on
soils.
15. There is already a lot of knowledge, including appropriate
management actions, farming approaches and cropping
practices. The right institutions to address soils agenda in
the national,regional an global agricultural development
agenda are crucial
16. FAO, in collaboration with numerous partners, including
UNCCD is investing to provide technical assistance to
countries in assessing and documenting land degradation, in
scaling up sustainable land management and in developing
drought risk management strategies.
17. To help implement UNCCD action plans, with funding from
the European Union we have supported regional initiatives
and partnership platforms such as the African Union’s Great
Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative and the
inter-regional programme “Action Against Desertification”.
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18. At the last Committee on Forests (COFO) in 2014, FAO
launched the Forests and Landscape Restoration Mechanism
(FLRM) to assist countries in their efforts to restore the
productive capacity of degraded landscapes and to avoid
further degradation.
19. From the initiatives, there are considerable case studies
and Living proof that, with the right assistance, fighting land
degradation works and maintaining soils health is cheaper
than trying to reverse the problem.
Ladies and Gentleman
20. What is needed is political commitment and investment.
20. I call on us to build on opportunities provided towards
Land Degradation Neutrality, ZERO hunger and enhance
capacity to adapt to climate change.
21. I wish you a successful commemoration and invite all to
recall our common goal: the protection of our silent ally,
soils.Let history not judge us for not doing enough to save
our soils .Instead, we should be judged by the action we
take to reverse land degradation and leave a healthy soil for
the next generation.
22. Let’s celebrate “healthy soils for a healthy life”. THANK
YOU
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