On Thursday 23 November, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Jessika Roswall, presented MEPs with the “mixed” conclusions of COP16 on desertification, which was held in Riyadh at the end of 2024.
“The parties were unable to reach a compromise on the main item on the agenda - an instrument to deal with drought”, warned the European Commissioner from the outset. However, a number of successes have been achieved, according to the latter, with decisions adopted on “land tenure, migration linked to desertification, land degradation and drought, and the prevention, reduction and reversal of agricultural land degradation”.
This was the first time in the Convention’s history that the degradation of agricultural land had been addressed, insisted Ms Roswall. Finally, agreement was reached on increasing the Convention’s core budget, “after a 10-year freeze”.
Following in the footsteps of Jessika Roswall, who pointed out that at least 62% of the EU’s soil has degraded, the MEPs encouraged the European Commission to make progress in the fight against desertification. “Desertification is a daily problem in Cyprus, Spain and Italy, but also in the heart of Europe”, said Martin Hojsík (Renew Europe, Slovak).
MEPs stressed the harmful effects of desertification and soil degradation on agricultural yields and European food security. “In some regions of Slovakia, farmers have lost up to 40%”, said Mr Hojsík. For his part, Pär Holmgren (Swedish), speaking on behalf of the Greens/EFA, added that an increasingly arid climate brings with it the risk of “terrible floods”, such as those seen in Valencia in 2024, where the soil was “so dry and hard that it could no longer absorb water”.
For this reason, the S&D and The Left called on the EU to “encourage the adoption of these regenerative agricultural practices”, “to defend the implementation of the Law on the Restoration of Nature” (Marta Temido - S&D, Portuguese) and to combat “the voracity of multinational agribusiness” (Catarina Martins - The Left, Portuguese).
Speaking on behalf of the EPP, Cristina Schneider MEP said that solutions could only be found “with our farmers, not against them”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)