The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) began on Monday, December 2, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On the occasion of the opening, the UNCCD, in partnership with the European Commission’s scientific research center, published a Global Drought Atlas. According to this 175-page document, record droughts around the world are becoming the norm, requiring radical changes.
The year 2024 has been the hottest ever recorded on Earth, with devastating droughts from Morocco to Namibia, including Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. According to this Global Drought Atlas, 55 million people are directly affected by droughts each year, making it one of the most costly and deadly global risks. However, these dramatic events, which have intensified in recent years due to climate change, have never been a priority for world leaders.
After the last COP Desertification in Abidjan in 2022, experts already lamented that commitments to tackle droughts were not commensurate with the challenges. Two years later, the world has never faced as much drought as it does now, and Africa remains one of the main victims of these high temperatures.
African states, aware of this situation, are pushing for the creation of a binding drought protocol at the COP in Riyadh. However, Western states do not seem convinced. Yet, the urgency is clear. By 2050, three out of four people worldwide will be affected by droughts. According to the Atlas, droughts are “one of the most costly and deadly global risks” each year.
Furthermore, droughts cost nearly 300 billion euros annually worldwide, the UN warned on Tuesday, December 3, the second day of COP16, in another report titled “The Economics of Drought: Investing in Nature-Based Solutions for Drought Resilience.” The United Nations is calling for urgent investments in nature-based solutions, such as reforestation.
Source: RFI
