Question : United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

(a) whether India hosted 14th meeting of Conference of Parties to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 14);
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the agenda of the summit;
(c) the total number of delegates from different countries participated in the summit;
(d) the issues discussed and the outcome of the summit including the benefits for India as a result;
(e) whether the Government has been able to achieve the target of restoring land which are degraded in the country; and
(f) if so, the details thereof along with the other corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a) Yes sir.

(b) The 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 14) to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 14) was hosted by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India. at India Expo Mart Limited, Greater Noida from 2nd to 13th September 2019. India is now Conference of Parties (COP 14) President for the next two years (2019-2021). The fourteenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 14) comprised of the fourteenth meeting of Committee on Science and Technology (CST 14) (agenda annexed at Ia), eighteenth meeting of the Committee to Review the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 18) (agenda annexed at Ib) and

(c) fourteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 14) (agenda annexed at Ic) for your reference.

(d) About 5759 delegates from different countries including India participated in the Conference of Parties (COP 14) summit.

(e) The Conference of Parties (COP 14) had several deliberations and adopted 35 decisions, including on how to implement thematic policy frameworks addressing land degradation, drought, gender, sand and dust storms, desertification, involvement of private sector, migration and land tenure. The Hon’ble Prime Minister made the following announcements among others:
i. Setting up a Centre for Excellence in India at the Indian Council for Forest Research and Education (ICFRE) Dehradun for enhanced South-South Co-operation that aims to share India’s expertise of sustainable land management strategies with other developing countries;
ii. Raise India’s ambition of the total area that would be restored from its land degradation status, from 21 million hectares (stated as Bonn Challenge target) to 26 million hectares between now and 2030;
iii. India’s expertise may offer resources in space and remote sensing technology can be offered to member countries who wish to manage their land degradation programmes through cutting-edge technology.

(f) India has committed to achieve land degradation neutrality status by 2030. As mentioned above, India announced that it will raise its ambition to restore degraded land from 21 million hectares (mha) to 26 mha by 2030.

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