King Mohammed VI calls for speeding coordinated anti-desertification programs in Africa

King Mohammed VI on Monday sent a speech to the Summit of Heads of State and Government on Drought and Sustainable Land Management,  held in Abidjan.

Here follows the full text of the royal speech, which was read out by the minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, Mohamed Sadiki:

“Praise be to God,

May peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, His Kith and Kin

Dear Brother, Honorable President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire,

Honorable Heads of State and Government,

Distinguished Senior Representatives of International and Regional Organizations,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I should like, first of all, to congratulate my brother, His Excellency Mr. Alassane Dramane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, for the successful organization of this Summit on Drought and Sustainable Land Management, which is being held on the sidelines of the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Our illustrious host’s commendable initiative attests to our firm determination and concrete mobilization to tackle the problem of drought, which constitutes a structural challenge in our African continent, more than anywhere else.

This initiative is also a clear testimony of the Africa which is so dear to me: an entrepreneurial Africa which takes its destiny into its own hands.

Climate change is not some theoretical issue, nor is it a subject for rhetorical debate. It is a harsh, unforgiving reality which is taking a toll because of increasingly frequent, severe and devastating droughts.

The frequency of droughts and the pace of land degradation are indeed a major challenge. Over the past twenty years, these phenomena have impacted more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, causing more than $124 billion worth of economic losses.

In Africa, millions of hectares are threatened by desertification due to the encroaching desert, which in some areas is spreading at a rate of 5km a year. Land degradation is also a multiplier of vulnerabilities.

When environmental security is threatened, that affects food security, human security and, in fact, all matters relating to security in general. Land lost to life is land which compounds insecurity.

As we can all see, areas suffering from extreme environmental degradation are also often areas where conflicts break out, where populations are displaced and where terrorist and separatist groups seek to get a foothold.

Mr. President,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is clear that the climate is changing, that water resources are becoming scarcer, that populations are growing, that cities are expanding, and that agricultural land is shrinking and deteriorating.

However, we are determined to combat the common enemy of desertification through coordinated, solidarity-based action. Several flagship regional initiatives, suited to African realities, are helping to build African resilience to drought.

In this regard, I welcome the Abidjan Initiative, which will be adopted by our Summit. I hope it will constitute a basis for sustained, practical mobilization to turn political commitments into concrete measures.

With that in mind, I call for the establishment of a genuine African alliance against desertification, and for furnishing it with sufficient financial and technological resources to ensure effective action.

Beyond the agreed timeframe of COP15 on desertification, the Abidjan Summit brings in a much-desired logic of action. When it comes to drought and land degradation, we need no further convincing.

Now is the time to speed up the implementation of practical programs in order to combat desertification within the framework of concrete, pragmatic and revamped regional cooperation.

I welcome the fact that the Abidjan Initiative is building on the momentum created by the African Action Summit for continental co-emergence, which I organized in Marrakech on the sidelines of

the COP 22 Conference on Climate Change. Indeed, there is great synergy between the Abidjan Initiative and the three Climate Commissions for Africa that were set up by the 2016

Marrakech Summit Conference: the Congo Basin Commission; the Sahel Region Commission, and the Island States Commission. The Abidjan Initiative is also in line with the Triple A Initiative

(Adaptation of African Agriculture) and the 3S Initiative (Initiative on Sustainability, Stability and Security in Africa).”