COP16 to combat desertification kicks off in Riyadh

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🗞️ Driving the news: The 16th United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification (COP16) commenced in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 2
• This two-week event highlights global efforts to combat land degradation, drought, and desertification, crucial issues for countries like Saudi Arabia
• The conference follows recent climate and biodiversity COPs in Baku and Cali, emphasizing interconnected challenges

🔭 The context: Desertification, worsened by climate change and poor land management, threatens food security, ecosystems, and livelihoods worldwide
• Experts advocate for stronger collaboration between COPs to address overlapping crises, including global warming surpassing the 1.5°C threshold
• Saudi Arabia, one of the nations most affected, seeks to leverage this platform for concrete solutions

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Land degradation exacerbates biodiversity loss and accelerates climate change, creating a vicious cycle of environmental harm
• Addressing these issues at COP16 is critical to meeting international climate and biodiversity goals, ensuring sustainable development, and protecting vulnerable communities

⏭️ What's next: The Riyadh conference aims to build synergies among COPs and develop actionable strategies to combat desertification
• The outcomes may shape policies for greenhouse gas reductions and ecosystem preservation in regions hit hardest by droughts and land degradation

💬 One quote: “If we don't fight together against increasing droughts and advancing land degradation, we will never achieve the goals we have set ourselves,” - Mauro Centritto, an expert in sustainable plant protection

📈 One stat: At the UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh, the 'Global Drought Atlas' was presented, highlighting that droughts have increased by 29% since 2000 due to climate change and unsustainable land management

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