Brussels, 21/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Economics of Land Degradation is the title of an initiative launched on 21 September in New York during a meeting organised by the UN on soil degradation and desertification. Andris Piebalgs, the European commissioner for development, participated in this launch on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The initiative will consist of a comprehensive assessment of land degradation that looks both at the costs of failing to prevent further land degradation and at the economic benefits of addressing it through sustainable land management policies. The global study should raise awareness of this issue and help policy-makers in affected countries to implement effective strategies to address the problem. It will also help the private sector to set out clearly incentives for investment in sustainable land management policies.
Piebalgs said that he hoped the study would “find a broad coalition of partners to give it the further impetus it requires and the impact that the issues deserve” given that “land degradation
is a serious global issue, which has a significant impact on food security, climate change and biodiversity loss”.
In a press release, Janez Potoènik, the European commissioner for the environment, highlighted the benefits of such a study with regard to more sustainable use of resources at global level: “We tend to take soil for granted. But soil is a non-renewable resource so could actually run out or become impoverished if we do not take proper care of it. We are all affected by land degradation, directly or indirectly, but have little idea of the actual costs, so this is a very welcome initiative.”
The unsustainable use of land (resulting from demographic changes, unsustainable consumption and production patterns and growing pressure on water sources, exacerbated by climatic changes and drought) is the reason for their constant worsening in soil around the world.
In order to address the problems there is a need for more coherent policies worldwide and for measures in affected countries to address the issue at an early stage.
The initiative has the support of the European Commission, the German Federal Government and the secretariat of the UN Convention Combating Desertification. The task now is to expand the initiative and establish a sound political, financial and administrative foundation for its work.
This initiative is the counterpart to the EU reports which have been published on the cost of climate change and the economic value of biodiversity. The initiative is open to contributions from governments and the private sector, from multilateral and bilateral donors, and from foundations and development organisations. Cooperation has been sought with NGOs, international businesses, financial institutions, farmers and agricultural associations, universities and research institutions to ensure that it can be an independent and cross-sectoral scientific assessment. (AN/transl.fl)