19 September 2019
The Fourteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing severe drought and / or desertification was held from September 2 to 13, 2019 in New Delhi, India. The conference was attended by delegations of 152 countries, including the Republic of Belarus. The delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and the Belarusian State University.
The fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) was the first since the adoption of the UNCCD Strategic Framework for 2018–2030. One of the most important decisions of COP 14 was the decision “To intergrate Sustainable Development Goal 15 and its related Target 15.3 into the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the Land Degradation Neutrality”. The decision recognized that Sustainable Development Target 15.3 provided an impetus for the implementation of the UNCCD and that setting voluntary targets for a neutral balance of land degradation helps countries mobilize funding in this regard.
All Parties to the UNCCD are invited to step up the integration of sustainable development goals, in particular Target 15.3, into their national strategies, plans and programs. Parties to the UNCCD that have committed themselves to the voluntary objectives of LDN (land degradation neutrality) are invited to take measures to accelerate their achievement: to promote synergies between multilateral environmental agreements, strengthen coordination and cooperation at the national level, and create favorable conditions for achieving LDN. Parties to the UNCCD that are developed countries and other countries are invited to provide financial and technical support for the implementation of the UNCCD and the achievement of the LDN. Assistance to developing countries will be provided by the UNCCD secretariat, the Global Mechanism and relevant UNCCD bodies within their mandates.
At this point, 122 countries, including the Republic of Belarus, have established voluntary national objectives of the LDN and have begun to implement them.
Belarus shared with COP 14 participants the accumulated practical experience in restoring degraded peatlands. Successful implementation of the project of the Government of the Republic of Korea and the UNCCD “Restoration of drained peatlands in Belarus”, in the course of which ecological rehabilitation of more than 1 thousand hectares of peat bogs in the Kostyukovichsky and Cherikovsky districts of the Mogilev region on lands affected as a result of the Chernobyl accident was specifically mentioned.
For reference: Goal 15 is “Protecting and restoring land ecosystems and promoting their sustainable use, sustainable forest management, combating desertification, ending and reversing land degradation, and ending biodiversity loss.” 2.6 billion people are directly dependent on agriculture, but 52 percent of agricultural land is moderately or severely affected by degradation. Losses of arable land are 30–35 times higher than previous indicators. Due to drought and desertification, 12 million hectares of land on which 20 million tons of grain could be grown are lost each year (23 hectares per minute). Land degradation directly affects 74 percent of the world’s poor population. Target 15.3 is: by 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.
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