An estimated 15% of the world’s land is threatened with desertification due to rising temperatures, the co-founder of climate-data company, Kayrros, Antoine Rostand has said.
The remarks were made at the 15th session of the conference of the parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) currently underway in Abijan, Cote d’Ivoire.
“Currently over 15% of the world’s land is threatened with desertification as a result of rising temperatures. Lowering the levels of methane – which over a period of 10 years traps 80 times more heat than CO2 – will therefore be a priority,” Rostand said.
“Besides, we no longer live in a world where the consequences of inaction are invisible. Take the Great Green Wall project, launched by the African Union (AU) in 2007. Its goal is to combat desertification by planting forests across Africa from Dakar to Djibouti.
“That’s 8,000 kilometres over 11 countries. And yet that goal has stalled, with just four percent of its 2030 objectives met. We can see in real-time the difficulties of such a project in areas of less than 400mm of rain – a problem that can either get worse or better.
“To make it better we should focus on the kind of advanced analytics that bring greater transparency to environmental data, such as Kayrros’ methane, land use and moisture data provided by satellites, enabling better decision-making by governments and companies. But we have to want to make things better.
“We are dedicated to accelerating the speed and scale of forest protection. We are doing this by developing science-based data products to governments, investors and project developers in order to attract investment in carbon offsets and create an economic alternative to deforestation as well as incentives to reforestation.
“COP-15 is a watershed moment for the future not just of the atmosphere but of land, biodiversity and life itself.”
During COP15, African countries, which are the most affected by desertification, will discuss major climate projects and the contributions they expect from developed countries.
