The United Nations said that $2.6 trillion is needed over the next 10 years to restore farmland and prevent further expansion of deserts.
Ibrahim Thiaw told a conference in Saudi Arabia that the investments are needed to deal with climate change, increasing droughts and land degradation. Thiaw is executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Thiaw said much of the $1-billion a day needed should come from the private sector, including land owners.
“The bulk of the investments on land restoration in the world is coming from public money. And that is not right,” he said.
“Essentially the main driver of land degradation in the world is food production … which is in the hands of the private sector,” Thiaw said, adding that it provides only six per cent of the money needed to rehabilitate damaged land.
“How come that one hand is degrading the land and the other hand has the charge of restoring it and repairing it?,” said Thiaw.
He said governments are responsible for setting and enforcing good land-use policies and regulations.
The world needs to produce twice as much food on the same amount of land to meet the needs of an increasing population, he said.
