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INDIA-COP-PRESIDENCY
India elected COP Presidency for next 2 years
NEW DELHI, Sept 2, 2019 (BSS) – India today took over COP Presidency from China for the next two years at the opening ceremony of the 14th session of Conference of Parties (COP14) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
After his election as COP President, Indian Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar expressed India’s resounding commitment to finding a long-term solution for minimizing the impact of desertification and land degradation.
“India will highlight its leadership in navigating the land management agenda at global level… and will also provide a stage to mainstream sustainable land management in country’s national development policies”, he added.
Acknowledging the importance of holding an International Conference of this nature, he said the key outcomes of COP 14 will facilitate in delivering convergence and synergies among the existing programmes in the field of agriculture, forestry, land, water management and poverty alleviation.
“These will cater the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and focused vision of our Prime Minister’s agenda of “Doubling the Farmer’s Income by 2022”, the minister added.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD Ibrahim Thiaw said, “For the next two weeks we are over six thousand tasked with making life better for the 3 and half billion affected by the degradation of three quarters of our land”.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was adopted in Paris on June 17, 1994 and ratified by 196 countries and European Union.
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