The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been chosen to host World Environment Day 2024, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres is urging everyone to join the global effort to restore lands and enhance drought resilience. Land restoration is seen as a key aspect that can connect and enhance efforts across various gatherings, including the Rio Conventions on climate, biodiversity, and land.
Guterres highlights the importance of this year’s World Environment Day theme, which focuses on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience. He emphasizes that land is crucial for humanity but pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss are causing healthy lands to become deserts and thriving ecosystems to turn into dead zones. This destruction is harming forests, grasslands, and the ability of land to support ecosystems, agriculture, and communities.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen calls on everyone to participate in the global effort to restore lands, enhance drought resilience, and combat desertification. She points out that land degradation impacts more than three billion people worldwide. Degraded freshwater ecosystems make it difficult for small farmers in rural areas to grow crops or raise livestock. However, nature is resilient and by restoring ecosystems progress can be made in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and waste.
Efforts are already underway with the initiation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aiming to restore one billion hectares of land. Six countries have committed to restoring rivers and wetlands while nations at the UN Environment Assembly have agreed to strengthen sustainable land management. Further action is expected at upcoming conferences for the Rio Conventions on climate
