Rio Conventions Pavilion TV, CBD COP11 (15/10/2012) – Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), discusses the links between different UN conventions and why land degradation is a key issue for both climate change and biodiversity loss.
Gnacadja emphasises that COP10 in Nagoya and Rio+20 achieved several key things but seeking convergence between the two is now vital.
Gnacadja states that land degradation is central to resolving global warming as it allows the release of greenhouse gases. He adds that the great potential for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions through improving land use could simultaneously do much to improve food security and alleviate poverty.
Gnacadja diagnoses the land degration crisis as caused by the industrial era, which made us undervalue land. He argues that since then investment has been mismanaged, causing enormous amounts of land to become unproductive every year, thereby increasing food prices and forcing people into poverty.