World fails to reach drought agreement in Saudi-sponsored talks

Participants said Saturday that negotiators at Saudi-hosted United Nations talks were unable to reach an agreement on how to respond to the drought, falling short of an expected binding drought protocol. .

The 12-day Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, concluded early Saturday morning, one day later than scheduled, as parties worked to hammer out a deal.

Ahead of the talks, UNCCD Director-General Ibrahim Thiau said the world expected negotiators to “take bold decisions that will help turn the tide on drought, the most pervasive and most devastating environmental disaster.” He said he is doing so.

But Thiau, speaking in a pre-dawn plenary session, acknowledged that “parties need more time to agree on the best way forward.”

In a press release on Saturday, 196 countries and European Union parties said “significant progress has been made in laying the foundations for a future global drought regime, which will be finalized at COP17 in Mongolia in 2026.” said.

The Riyadh talks come after the partial failure of biodiversity talks in Colombia, the failure of a UN deal on plastic pollution in South Korea, and the failure of a climate finance deal that disappointed developing countries at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was done later.

Tom Mitchell, executive director of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, said the results “highlight the challenges facing global negotiations”.

“Now more than ever, cracks in the geopolitical crust are proving to be an impediment to the COP process, and some voices are being shut out.

“These issues come at a time when the crisis the summit must address is more urgent than ever.”

growing threat

In a report released on December 3, the second day of talks in Riyadh, the United Nations said the world loses more than $300 billion each year due to droughts “caused by human-induced environmental damage.” He said he was covered.

According to the report, drought is predicted to affect 75% of the world’s population by 2050.

An African country’s representative at COP16, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door deliberations, told AFP that African countries expected the talks to produce a binding protocol on drought. .

That would “place the onus on all governments” to develop stronger preparedness and response plans, the delegation said.

“This is the first time I have seen Africa so united and present a strong united front on the Drought Protocol.”

Two other COP16 participants, who also requested anonymity, told AFP that developed countries did not want a binding protocol and were instead pushing for a “framework” that African countries deemed insufficient. .

Pravina Sridhar, chief technical officer of Save Soil, a global campaign backed by United Nations agencies, said indigenous groups also want the protocol.

This will allow for better monitoring, early warning systems and response planning, she said.

However, governments can still allocate “budgets and subsidies to financially support farmers to adopt sustainable soil and land management practices,” so the lack of a COP16 protocol will not make progress. There can’t be any delay.”

funding needs

Ahead of the Riyadh talks, the UNCCD said 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) of land needed to be restored by the end of 2010, requiring at least $2.6 trillion in global investment.

The first week will see the launch of the Arab Coordination Group, a collection of national and regional organizations, and the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, which aims to mobilize public and private finance to support countries at risk. More than $12 billion has been pledged by organizations such as .

Activists are trying to undermine calls for Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to phase out fossil fuels at the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku last month. he accused.

However, desertification has become a major problem for the Gulf kingdom.

In his closing remarks, Abdulrahman Al-Fadly, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Environment, said that in addition to the Drought Resilience Partnership, Saudi Arabia has launched initiatives to promote early warning against sand and dust storms and engage the private sector in land conservation. said.

Saudi Arabia said it was committed to “working with all parties to protect ecosystems, combat desertification and land degradation, and strengthen international cooperation to combat drought.”

Save Soil’s Shridhar said Saudi Arabia had been successful in raising attention to land-related issues and was more “united” than in the climate talks in Baku.

“Taking care of the land, the farmland, the farmers, the livestock, this is not an issue. No one is going to say, ‘I don’t need food,'” she says.

“Whether or not to use fossil fuels is a very controversial topic, but this one is different.”

© 2024 AFP