BERLIN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Tuesday launched its first Data Dashboard with national reporting figures from 126 countries, showing that land degradation is advancing at an astonishing rate across the globe.
The dashboard comes as world leaders and experts will soon gather in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the 21st session of the UNCCD Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention scheduled on Nov. 13-17.
"The first-ever UNCCD Data Dashboard offers an eye-opening insight into the rapid loss of healthy and productive land around the world, with dire consequences for billions of people," said Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD's executive secretary.
REGIONAL DISPARITIES
Between 2015 and 2019, the world lost at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land each year, up to twice Greenland's size.
These statistics underscore the need for urgent action as escalating land degradation continues destabilizing markets, communities and ecosystems around the globe.
The regions of Eastern and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean experience the most severe degradation, affecting at least 20 percent of their total land area.
Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa, Western and Southern Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean experienced land degradation at rates faster than the global average.
Notably, in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, 163 million hectares and 108 million hectares, respectively, have succumbed to land degradation since 2015.
"BRIGHT SPOTS"
Despite a bleak global picture, there are examples of countries effectively tackling desertification, land degradation and drought.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana reduced land degradation from 36 percent to 17 percent of its territory. It has committed 45.3 million hectares to land degradation neutrality (LDN).
It also reported 1.42 million hectares as "bright spot" areas or areas rehabilitated by implementing appropriate remediation activities.
In the Dominican Republic, the proportion of degraded land has decreased from 49 percent to 31 percent between 2015 and 2019, with ongoing efforts to restore 240,000 hectares in the Yaque del Norte River basin and in cocoa production areas in San Francisco de Macoris province.
While Uzbekistan reported the highest proportion of degraded land at 26.1 percent in Central Asia, it also saw the largest decrease -- from 30 percent to 26 percent -- compared to 2015. Three million hectares of land in Uzbekistan have been degraded due to the drying of the Aral Sea.
Between 2018-2022, Uzbekistan planted saxauls on an area of 1.6 million hectares to eliminate salt and dust emissions from the drained bottom of the Aral Sea.
NEUTRALITY GOAL WITHIN REACH
Although land degradation trends vary by region, UNCCD data warns that if current trends persist, the world must restore a staggering 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030 to reach LDN targets enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
"Although global trends are going in the wrong direction, it is still possible to not only meet but exceed land degradation neutrality goals. This can be done by stopping further degradation while accelerating efforts on existing commitments to restore one billion hectares of land by 2030 with funding and action hand-in-hand," said Barron Orr, UNCCD's chief scientist.
In a promising commitment toward building a more resilient future, 109 countries have set voluntary LDN targets for 2030, with another 21 set to do so.
Between 2016 and 2019, approximately 5 billion U.S. dollars in bilateral and multilateral sources flowed into global efforts to combat desertification, land degradation and drought, helping 124 nations roll out various projects to achieve land degradation neutrality. ■
