How New Delhi Declaration can help check climate change
NEW DELHI: The 14th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) hosted by India, which began on September 2, concluded on Friday with 197 parties adopting the “New Delhi Declaration,” which summarises the intention of the world on how it will manage land and use it to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. The parties also took decisions on around 35 contentious land issues including land tenure, gender equity and drought.
1 What is the New Delhi Declaration?
According to UNCCD, a declaration is an expression of political will and commitment to act towards something. It provides a strong foundation for actions, but is not binding on any government. A political declaration captures points of convergence on the part of the Parties, and a commitment to act. The Parties began working on the New Delhi Declaration nearly a year back to summarise their intention on how they can achieve land degradation neutrality (as specified in goal 15.3 of Sustainable Development Goals) by 2030. Land degradation neutrality is achieved when the area of productive land remains stable as the area of degraded land doesn’t increase.
2 What are the highlights of the New Delhi Declaration?
The declaration recognises the latest scientific findings of the Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Desertification. It has proposed that land-based solutions should be used for climate action and biodiversity conservation. The two-page declaration states that parties will boost private sector investment in land, create green jobs and establish sustainable value chains for products sourced from the land; the parties will also develop gender-responsive land restoration programmes at local, national and regional levels; they will take a proactive approach to drought through implementation of drought preparedness plans.
3 How will the New Delhi Declaration guide decision making?
Over 8,000 participants attended COP14. Land-based solutions could contribute up to 30% of the Paris emissions gap and underpin the post 2020 biodiversity targets, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The decisions at COP will inform decision making in each country.
4 What did the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) land report find?
Land surface temperature has already increased by 1.53 degree C since the pre-industrial period, a dangerous threshold, according to scientists. Land management can play an important role in keeping global temperature rise under 2 degree C or within the threshold decided under the Paris Agreement of 2015 because of the soil’s ability to absorb carbon. Asia and Africa are projected to have the highest number of people vulnerable to desertification, according to the report. In 2015, about 500 million people lived within areas which experienced desertification between the 1980s and 2000s. The highest numbers of people affected are in South and East Asia and the circum-Sahara region. Among major impacts from land degradation, the report has underlined that the stability of food supply will decrease ,leading to more hunger. Increased CO2 levels are likely lower the nutritional quality of crops.