* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download World Day to Combat Desertification Global Observance
Survey
Document related concepts
Soil respiration wikipedia , lookup
Soil horizon wikipedia , lookup
Surface runoff wikipedia , lookup
Human impact on the nitrogen cycle wikipedia , lookup
No-till farming wikipedia , lookup
Soil compaction (agriculture) wikipedia , lookup
Soil microbiology wikipedia , lookup
Soil food web wikipedia , lookup
Soil salinity control wikipedia , lookup
Soil contamination wikipedia , lookup
Terra preta wikipedia , lookup
Transcript
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. 2 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. 3 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”. 4 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 5 6