Saudi Arabia Assumes UNCCD Presidency During Official COP16 Opening Ceremony

Drought resilience high on first day agenda of UN conference on land degradation, with launch of Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At the opening ceremony, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been officially elected as President of the sixteenth Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16). The official recognition of Saudi Arabia's UNCCD COP16 Presidency took place during the opening plenary session of COP16 in Riyadh, beginning a two-year tenure to drive international action on land restoration and drought resilience.

Policymakers, international organizations, businesses, NGOs and key stakeholders are in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to seek urgent international solutions to the pressing global crises of land degradation, drought and desertification. During the official opening of the conference, UNCCD COP16 President and Saudi Arabia Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, welcomed attendees. In his opening remarks, he urged the international community to deliver decisive action as the UNCCD targets the restoration of 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030.

"Saudi Arabia looks forward to intensifying international efforts at UNCCD COP16 to address major environmental challenges, and enhance integration with other international environmental agreements, including the Rio Conventions on climate change and biodiversity, all to achieve ambitious outcomes that make a qualitative leap in land conservation, reduce land degradation, and build global capacity to combat drought"

"More than 100 million hectares of land is degraded every year, impacting over 3 billion people and leading to more $6 trillion of lost ecosystem services, whilst driving food and water insecurity. This COP will be a historic moment to limit land degradation and drought around the world," added Minister AlFadley.

Running from the 2^nd to the 13^th December, COP16 in Riyadh is the largest-ever UNCCD COP, for the first time featuring a Green Zone to mobilize multilateral action and help drive funding for land restoration initiatives. Bolstering global drought resilience is a focal point of COP16 in Riyadh, with three major international announcements taking place on the first day alone. The Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership will help synergize and amplify international action on drought resilience and shift global response from one of reactive crises management to proactive prevention. Launched during the opening ceremony, the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership received additional pledges of $1 billion from the OPEC Fund and $1 billion from the Islamic Development Bank. This comes in addition to the $150 million pledged by Saudi Arabia to fund the initiative. Meanwhile, the launch of the International Drought Resilience Observatory and Global Drought Atlas will help increase monitoring, prevention and awareness of drought around the world.

During the opening ceremony, Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary paid tribute to Saudi Arabia's leadership on land degradation, saying: "I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its vision and leadership in elevating the global land restoration and drought resilience agenda; whether through the G20, hosting this landmark COP and building its legacy, the Saudi Green Initiative, or, most recently, the Middle East Green Initiative."

On the eve of the multilateral talks in Riyadh, the UNCCD issued a new report in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, highlighting the growing global emergency caused by land degradation. Key findings outlined the damage being caused by unsustainable agricultural practices, with agriculture accounting for 80% of deforestation and 70% of freshwater use, whilst 23% of greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture, forestry and land use.  Meanwhile, 46% of the global land area is classified as drylands according to the latest UNCCD report.

About COP16 Riyadh: 

The UNCCD COP16 conference is taking place from December 2-13, 2024, at Boulevard Riyadh World, Saudi Arabia. The conference, themed Our Land. Our Future, will mark the 30th anniversary of the UNCCD and aims to secure multilateral action on critical issues such as drought resilience, land tenure, and sand and dust storms.   

For more information about UNCCD COP16, or to register your interest in attending, please visit UNCCDCOP16.org  

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