Heads of state from several African countries gathered in Ivory Coast, to try to take concrete action against the rapid degradation of land and respond “to the climate emergency in the continent.

The African leaders are meeting at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which addresses issues just as crucial at a time when the UN estimates that 40% of the land is degraded in the world.

President of the host country, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara at the opening of the COP15 said “our summit is held in a context of climate emergency that severely impacts our land management policies and exacerbates the phenomenon of drought.

“Our people are pinning a lot of hope on us. We have no right to disappoint them. Let’s act quickly, let’s act together to give a new life to our lands!”, he said.

Other African leaders in attendance are Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari and others.

The leaders took turns to speak on specific areas regarding environmental degradation in the continent. President Bazoum noted that “the agricultural yields that are decreasing year after year”, while President Tshisekedi pointed to “the lengthening of the dry seasons” and “the advance of the Sahara and Kalahari deserts” on the continent.

Also, the French President, Emmanuel Macron in a video message commented that “Desertification has the face of more than 3.2 billion people living on degraded lands around the world. There is an urgency to act.

“Desertification and land degradation are not a fatality. These crises are not irreversible and solutions exist,”

In what could be described as a swift reaction to the emergency, President Alassane Ouattara presented the “Abidjan Initiative”, a major program to mobilize $1.5 billion over five years to restore “degraded forest ecosystems in Côte d’Ivoire” and promote “sustainable land management approaches”, hoping to “inspire other countries”.