The focus of UNCCD's Conference of the Parties (COP) is tackling land degradation and desertification by bringing countries together to act on targets toward the goal of land degradation neutrality (LDN). One area that is significantly impacted by land degradation is food security, which highlights the important relationship of food, land and people.
An article by Mongabay covers how food security fit at COP 17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and why it is so important to include it in conversations about land and people. The article features UNU-EHS researcher Alejandra Ramos Galvez, who spoke on the role that urban areas and cities play in land degradation through food demand.
"We need cities capable of producing their own food; if we import everything from other areas, we fail to see the degradation that process might be causing. Projections indicate that by 2050, nearly 80% of the population will live in cities, so this link could become even more significant," said Ramos Galvez.
She strongly emphasized the need for urban development to go hand in hand with land and resource management. At the same time, she offered urban gardens and hanging gardens as practical steps to start alleviating food demand that puts a strain on rural land.
To read the full article in Spanish here.
