United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference (UPSC Current Affairs)

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Why in The News?

Union Minister Shri Bhupender Yadav addressed the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of Parties at its fifteenth session in Cote d'Ivoire.

What is UNCCD?

• The UNCCD, together with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity, is one of three Rio Conventions (CBD).
• The negotiation of the UNCCD was called for in Agenda 21, the program of action adopted at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or Earth Summit).
• The UNCCD was adopted on 17 June 1994, and entered into force on 26 December 1996.
• It is the only legally enforceable international agreement that connects the environment, development, and sustainable land management.
• It is the only convention that sprang directly from the Rio Conference's Agenda 21.
• The International Year of Deserts and Desertification was designated in 2006 to promote the Convention.
• Areas of emphasis: The Convention explicitly targets the arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas known as the drylands, which include some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples.

COP 15 of UNCCD

• The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 15) will focus on the theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity.'
• The fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022.
• It will bring together leaders from governments, the private sector, civil society, and other key stakeholders from around the world to drive progress in future sustainable land management and to explore links between land and other key sustainability issues.
• Drought, land restoration, and associated factors such as land rights, gender equality, and youth development are among the Conference's primary goals.
• COP15 is intended to catalyze sustainable solutions for land restoration and drought resilience through the decisions reached by the UNCCD's 197 Parties, with a heavy emphasis on future-proofing land usage.

India’s statement in COP15

• Protecting both people and the environment will be impossible unless developed countries take the lead in drastically reducing emissions, as their historical and current liability for global warming is the greatest.
• Covid 19 has exacerbated the issue of combating global warming by delaying or slowing climate action throughout the world, as the world is rapidly depleting its remaining carbon budget, putting it closer to the Paris Agreement's temperature limitations.
• India has made substantial progress toward meeting its goal of restoring 26 million hectares of damaged land by 2030.
• India has improved soil health monitoring through the Soil Health Card Program, which has been deployed across the country. Between 2015 and 2019, over 229 million Soil Health Cards were distributed to farmers, resulting in an 8-10% decrease in the usage of chemical fertilizers and a 5-6% increase in production.
• Following the global call for nominations for World Restoration Flagships, the Government of India supported six restoration flagships that aim to restore 12.5 million hectares of degraded land.
• Landscape restoration is more than just planting trees; it is also necessary to realize the power of indigenous and local knowledge with the close aide of science and technology, as well as the integration of community needs.

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