Decisions from the UNCCD COP15 feed into the objectives of upcoming UN COPs
From 9 to 20 May 2022, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification convened in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire at the 15th Conference of Parties (UNCCD COP15). The theme was Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity.
Four months following the session, a new brochure, Through the Lens of Drought, was released by UNCCD in partnership with the Global Environment Facility, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UNCCD and the COP. The report details highlights, outcomes and the way forward for advancing sustainable solutions for land restoration and drought resilience.
The 37 decisions and one resolution adopted at the UNCCD COP15 will accelerate systems and interventions on drought resilience.
The UNCCD COP15 brochure also summarized the ICCD/COP(15)/15 Follow-up on Policy Frameworks and Thematic Issues report, which presents five thematic points that emerged from the UNCCD drought agenda, including:
drought policies
early warning, monitoring and assessment
knowledge sharing and learning
partnerships and coordination
drought finance
In line with these themes and the overarching goal of future-proofing land use, the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) held a side event at UNCCD COP15 titled Multi-stakeholder action for scaling soil health globally, and participated in the session Healthy Soil for a Healthy Planet, part of the first-ever UNCCD Food Day. These sessions presented the inextricable link soil health has with land restoration, drought resilience and land degradation.
The themes of the commitments set during the UNCCD COP15 place a heavy focus on cross-sectoral participation, capacity building and ‘a shift from reactive to proactive drought management.’ This is absolutely where scaling soil health comes in, and directly feeds into the objectives and approaches of the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP27 and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) COP15.
80% of terrestrial carbon is stored in soils, but soils have never been officially recognized at the UNFCCC COP. Furthermore, the positive correlation between characteristics of soil health and carbon storage also leads to a positive feedback system whereby soil organic carbon makes for a more hospitable environment for biodiversity through more water, nutrients and porosity (space). Soil biodiversity in turn takes care of the soil, driving ‘many processes that produce food, regenerate soil or purify water,’ according to the FAO report State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity: Status, challenges and potentialities, produced in partnership with the UNCBD and others.
Advancing soil health, climate change mitigation, restoration and global biodiversity all depend on equal participation from multiple stakeholders.
Declarations from the UNCCD COP15 urge efforts, sectors and stakeholder groups to align their interventions towards a common goal of mitigating drought, drawing from individual strengths. Key declarations are the:
Abidjan Call issued by the Heads of State and Government
Abidjan Declaration on achieving gender equality for successful land restoration
COP15 “Land, Life and Legacy” Declaration
Declaration of civil society organizations attending the fifteenth session of the conference of the parties
Declaration of the Youth Forum
The UNFCCC COP27 assumes a “clear recognition of the gravity of the global climate challenge and appreciation of the value of multilateral, collective and concerted action as the only means to address this truly global threat.” Their vision and goals of mitigation, adaptation, finance, collaboration, and prioritizing a ‘just’ transition to interventions that reduce the effects of the climate crisis.
CA4SH has drafted a Soil Resolution to call on governments to champion soil health at the UNFCCC COP27 and will also be co-hosting the first-ever Food Systems Pavilion. Resources, links, articles and more on how to help drive the resolution are available on our dedicated event page.
Synergies in the approaches of the different COPs foreshadow some of the outcomes we will see from upcoming sessions with the decisions presented at the UNCCD COP15 serving as an important frame of reference for advancing collective action.
