President of Republic Calls On GGW’s Partners To Accelerate Field Program
On 9 May in Abidjan, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, delivered an important speech at the fifteenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD). He noted that current data indicate that land degradation has reached alarming proportions worldwide. He added that this situation makes economies more vulnerable, undermines food security, and weakens people’s resilience.
His Excellency indicated, in this context, that the Great Green Wall (GGW) constitutes a flagship program that aims to put 100 million hectares of degraded land back into the production circuit. Here he appealed to the GGW’s partners to examine with the Member States of the initiative the means likely to accelerate the implementation of the field program.
Here is the full text of that speech:
“Excellency Mr. President and dear brother Alassane Ouatara, the President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire;
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of State and Government;
Excellency the Chairman of the African Union Commission;
Excellency Mr. Abdullah Shahid, the Chairman of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly;
Excellency Ms. Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group;
Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen;
I would like, first of all, to offer my condolences to President Alassane Ouattara and the people of Cote d’Ivoire following the death of Mr. Amadou Soumahoro, the Speaker of the Ivorian National Assembly, and to thank my brother and friend, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, the President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, for the warm welcome and the generous hospitality and to salute the quality of the brotherly relations of cooperation which unite our two States and our two brotherly people.
I would also like to salute my compatriot, the Executive Secretary, His Excellency Ibrahim Thiaw, and congratulate him for the excellent organization of this 15th session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen;
Available data indicate that land degradation has reached alarming proportions worldwide: up to two out of five hectares are already degraded.
Unless this trend is reversed, humanity is at risk of degradation by 2050, the equivalent of the surface area of South America. Land degradation makes our economies more vulnerable, jeopardizes our food security, and weakens the resilience of our populations. It threatens half of the world economy and one in two people on earth is already affected. Women and children pay an even heavier price for this land degradation.
Amplified by climate change and the effects of the COVID-19, the consequences of land degradation and loss of agricultural production are taking on a dimension never seen before in the world.
Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen;
Drought disrupts societies, amplifies migration phenomena, and exacerbates conflicts and tensions over access to water and fertile land.
My country, Mauritania, like the countries of the Sahel, is bearing the brunt of the effects of several years of drought, leading to deforestation and land degradation.
Thus, the drought has led to a significant loss of productive land, affecting above all the most vulnerable and least resilient populations, particularly small producers and breeders.
Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen;
However alarming it might be, this situation is not inevitable. We can still regain control of our destiny and reverse the situation by working for the restoration of degraded lands, ensuring good governance of natural resources, providing training and information on the fight against desertification, working to mobilize financial resources for the implementation of multi-country projects to combat desertification, and adapting ourselves to variability and climate change.
In this context, the Great Green Wall is a flagship program that aims to put 100 million hectares of degraded land back into the production circuit and promote the extensive use of solar energy in rural areas to preserve food and create local value chains while generating millions of green jobs that will largely benefit young people.
By fixing young people in their lands, and especially by providing them with the means of production and wealth creation, we protect them against the desire for irregular immigration and extremist ideologies. In this way, we also contribute to the food security of our States, whose fragility has been exposed by the recent global crises.
Mauritania is determined to ensure the proper execution of its national component. This is already included in our post-COVID recovery plan. And I appeal here to the partners of the Great Green Wall to examine with the member states of the initiative the means of accelerating the implementation of the field program.
Effective procedures must be sought to shorten deadlines and speed up implementation, both at the level of States and international partners if we want to achieve together the objectives that we have set ourselves for 2030. Strengthening international cooperation is now more necessary than ever. We must individually and collectively invest ourselves in the fight against desertification as we have never done so far. Not only do we need to find more innovative solutions, but also develop more active solidarity.
Thank you “.