Desertification Cannot Wait for Climate

Desertification Cannot Wait for Climate

International and Arab News

The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, garnered little publicity. Although the UNCCD has been ratified by 196 states, no less than those that signed the Paris Climate Agreement, the world still considers desertification a local problem that does not rise to the rank of a global challenge. This was well reflected in the results, as the summit failed to adopt a binding plan to deal with droughts, which affect large areas and threaten food security and human health. In the last two years alone, Africa was hit by 14 severe droughts. However, this has not been enough to spur countries to make commitments based on a timetable, similar to the Kyoto Protocol formula for cutting carbon emissions and the International Climate Fund pledges in the Paris Agreement.

In fact, most countries still refuse to consider desertification a global problem, even though the facts prove otherwise. Drought has begun to hit large areas in North America and Europe, at an accelerating rate, compounded by rising temperatures and altered seasons due to climate change. Because drought will be more severe in