Land degradation is costing far more than restoring: UN deputy chief

Countries are spending too little to restore degraded land even as the economic cost of doing nothing climbs towards $1 trillion a year, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned at a major UN land conference in Mongolia. Speaking at the high-level opening of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Ms. Mohammed called on governments to move beyond individual restoration projects and put national plans into action, backed by predictable financing and greater decision-making power for the people who depend on the land.Globally, up to 40 per cent of land is degraded, weakening food production and livelihoods, while droughts have increased in frequency and duration by 29 per cent since 2000. By 2050, as many as three in four people could be affected.More than 70 countries have developed national drought plans with UNCCD support. The challenge now, Ms. Mohammed said, is ensuring they have the resources to implement them.“You should not be asked to develop national plans and then be left to search for the means to deliver them,” she said. “Finance has to be in place to invest in the priorities that countries have set for themselves.”A...