MINISTER HON. MAHENDRA REDDY'S SPEECH ON DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT DAY 2021

Restoration, Land Recovery: We Build Back Better with Healthy Land

Permanent Secretary for Agriculture – Mr Ritesh Dass
Senior Officials of the Ministry
Our partners from Secretariat of Pacific Community and
Wildlife Conservation Society
 
Ladies and Gentlemen
Bula vinaka and a very good morning to you all and a special welcome to our colleagues who are joining us via zoom.
 
Today, we celebrate the World Desertification and Drought day with the theme, highlighting land restoration that will contribute greatly to post COVID 19 Economic Recovery. Investing in land restoration creates job and generates economic benefits that sustain livelihoods at a time when hundreds of millions of jobs have been lost.
 
Today, Land use change, is the primary driver for emerging infectious diseases and the rate of land use conversion is accelerating. Moreover, the foundation for building back better in the face of climate change and the wake of COVID 19 pandemic will be centered upon future land use decisions.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, the good news is, Governments around the world have already initiated policies from UNCCD COP 14 to strengthen all dimensions of an effective enabling environment that could lead to more integrated land use planning, and help us all to be more careful about what we do where, by navigating the inevitable tradeoffs in land use decisions. This approach can result in more strategic land investment that strengthen the links between urban and rural areas, building local and regional resilience to replace what has been lost at the global level.  
 
The ongoing pandemic has evolved into a complex emergency with significant humanitarian, socio economic and security dimensions. The lives of billions around the globe are in turmoil, with the poor, vulnerable and marginalized communities suffering the most and our effort to deliver on the 2030 Agenda is at risk.
 
The UNCCD motto - Healthy Land, Healthy People, is truer today than ever. We need to marshal our efforts and resources to secure rural livelihoods and create green jobs, support community resilience and maintain the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services from the land.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, Fiji complied with the Convention on 26th August 1998 and in acknowledging its aim, focus on targets activities which is implemented by the Land Use section of Ministry of Agriculture together with other agencies such as Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Environment & Waterways, Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Conservation International, Wild Life Conservation Society and WWF.
 
Through this program, the Ministry is spearheading the implementation of Sustainable Land Management which considers Strategic Priority 3 of MoA Strategic Development Plan 2019-2023 - Improve Adoption of Sustainable Resource Management and Climate Smart Agriculture
 
As we celebrate this special occasion, let’s reflect on a Green Recovery from COVID 19 pandemic that will create a resilient economy and deliver strong action on Climate Change. Design policies that would reverse the loss of nature and biodiversity that is slowly creeping in on the foundations of human existence – Let’s Continue to Work Together to Restore Degraded Land.
 
Through this collaboration, we will ensure job creation, sustainable livelihood and food security and at the same time, slow down the impact of climate change by reducing the amount of Carbon in the atmosphere warranting a healthy biodiversity.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, the goal of the 2021 Desertification and Drought Day (DDD) demonstrate that investing in a healthy land is a smart economic decision that drives action to protect and restore natural ecosystem. As such, the Ministry through its Sustainable Land Management activities, focuses in addressing Land Degradation for Rural Villages and Settlement, ensure that changes in land use have limited effect on extinction of native species and Green House Gas Emission.
 
The Ministry also focusses on other challenges such as; ongoing local land competition where Agriculture prime land are used for other purposes, forcing our farmers to move to marginal land and increase unsustainable and intensive farming practices.
 
With a commitment to restore and recover land, the Ministry continues to improve Research and Development on Soil health and promote the use of Mucuna bean, vetiver system technology, Agroforestry farming and evaluation of resistant crop and vegetable varieties.  Enhanced technical advisory services on good land and animal husbandry practices that strengthens Land Based restoration.
 
The Ministry will continue to support the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration that will provide, entrepreneurial youths working in ecosystem restoration with tools that will enable them to succeed. Through this program, the Ministry supports Navuso Agriculture Technical Institute on training to become good land users. Engage with relevant Ministries, NGO’s and private partners in enforcing restoration of degraded land in Fiji. The Ministry is also part of the National Ridge to Reef project, working closely with Ministry of Forestry, SPC, and Conservation International in creating awareness, establishing demonstration plots, orchard planting and identifying degraded land for restoration  to six target catchment areas - Wadina/Rewa, Ba, Tuva in Viti Levu and Tunuloa, Labasa catchement in Vanualevu.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, to conclude the Ministry of Agriculture as the National Focal Point for UNCCD in Fiji, calls on all members of our community to treat land as a valuable   natural capital, prioritize its health and push hard to restore degraded land.
 
On that note, I wish everyone a Happy International Desertification and Drought Day and stay safe.
 
Thank you, Vinaka vakalevu and Dhaanvayaad