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Read more When our inner world trembles
The Football World Cup is behind us. The stadiums have returned to silence. But from now on, and during the coming months, other matches begin whose outcome will define much more than a sports championship: the future of biodiversity, fertile lands, and climate stability.
The coincidence could not be more symbolic. This year, for the first time, the tournament was held amid extreme heat waves, hydration breaks, and wildfires that affected players and fans alike. What happened at the World Cup venues was not an anomaly. Rather, it was a reminder that the most important global match is underway and no, we are not winning it.
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, each year the world loses an area of healthy land the size of Egypt, and the consequences are already visible: loss of agricultural productivity, greater vulnerability to droughts and floods, erosion of livelihoods, forced displacements, and instability. The FAO warns that, additionally, every five seconds a forest area equivalent to a football field is destroyed worldwide. As we read this, another playing field disappears.
But this year brings a new opportunity for world leaders to show they are willing to play seriously. The three major United Nations environmental conferences — land and drought, biodiversity, and climate change — will take place in the same political cycle starting this month: August. It is an occasion to accelerate and coordinate the implementation of agreements, as well as the rules and goals we have already adopted.
Over the past decades, the international community has built a robust architecture of commitments. It was agreed that by 2030, forest loss would be stopped and reversed, at least 30% of the planet’s surface conserved, and land degradation neutrality achieved — so that restoration equals or exceeds losses of healthy land. It was also agreed to increase the resilience of countries and communities to increasingly severe and frequent droughts, and to initiate a transition away from fossil fuels. The challenge is no longer identifying what needs to be done, but making it a reality and on time.
To achieve this, we may need to change how we understand international cooperation. The three conventions were created with different mandates and have developed their own institutions, processes, and communities. That specialization has been valuable. But the crises they seek to solve do not respect institutional boundaries.
Biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation share deep causes such as the unsustainable expansion of agricultural and urban frontiers, dependence on fossil fuels, incentives that favor ecosystem degradation, illicit economies, and lack of financing. The causes are common, and much of the solutions are too. Ecosystem restoration, transformation of agri-food systems, and transition to renewable energies are shared levers that drive the goals of the three Rio Conventions and strengthen the resilience of our societies and economies.
We are by no means suggesting merging the three COPs or diluting their mandates. However, we do consider it essential to promote greater coherence in public policies, financing, and land and sea use planning. We need to build shared agendas on the structural drivers of the crises. This year, Brazil, as president of COP30, is promoting two roadmaps to guide countries in their effort to stop and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and to overcome dependence on fossil fuels. These roadmaps open a space for immediate collaboration, in which each convention can contribute years of experience, knowledge, capacities, and resources.
They also highlight the urgency of moving to action. Therefore, what should happen at COP17 on Land and Drought (August 17-28 in Mongolia), COP17 on Biodiversity (October 19-30 in Armenia), and COP31 on Climate Change (November 9-20 in Turkey) is that our leaders, along with other stakeholders, have a frank conversation about what is working and what is not. They should explore the barriers and particular needs of each country and region, and define steps to launch policy, financing, governance, and technology measures that can jointly solve these common challenges.
That conversation, however, cannot remain within the walls of the conventions. It needs to extend to other organizations of the multilateral system, to the financial and private sectors, and to civil society and communities that most depend on change.
The true legacy of this conference cycle will not be the thickness of the decisions adopted, but the capacity to move to action, following the paths of science and experience. Because the match is not won in the conference room, but on the field: turning goals into standing forests, recovered soils and grasslands, and communities that do not have to migrate to find water. There is no more time to keep heating up.
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