UN review session on combating desertification started in Samarkand
The 21st session of the Committee to Review the Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC 21) is being held in Samarkand from November 13 to 17.
CRIC-21 is attended by approximately 500 delegates from 196 countries and the European Union, representatives of civil society and academia, who will review progress towards achieving the strategic goals of the Convention. For the first time since the signing of the UNCCD, one of its most significant meetings will take place in Central Asia.
CRIC 21 parties will provide recommendations to achieve global goals to prevent land degradation in accordance with the UNCCD strategy for 2018 - 2030.
“The droughts, wildfires and heat waves we are seeing around the world are symptoms of climate and nature crises that are worsening and interconnected. Since 2015, about 4 million square meters of healthy and productive land have been lost - an area approximately equal to the size of Central Asia. We must urgently stop further land degradation and restore at least 1 billion hectares to achieve global land use goals by 2030,” Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification said.
This meeting comes at a critical time, as the latest data presented by the UNCCD shows that the world's annual loss of healthy and productive land amounts to approximately 100 million hectares. If current trends continue, 1.5 billion hectares will need to be restored to achieve land degradation neutrality in the world by
- However, stopping additional degradation and accelerating the implementation of existing obligations may exceed the set goals, according to the government portal of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was created to bring together public and private sector efforts at the international level to combat desertification, land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought. 196 countries and the EU are parties to the Convention. The Convention was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 as a result of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and entered into force on 26 December 1996. In 2012, the Convention was ratified by 195 countries.
Turkmenistan was one of the first to ratify the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 1996 and a year later developed a national action plan for the implementation of this document. In general, the country has acceded to all three global UN conventions - to combat desertification, protect the ozone layer and climate change.
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