DATE: 7 April 2021

PLACE: Instagram

COMMITTEE: Environmental Rights 

Humans have altered nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s ice-free land to meet an ever-increasing demand for food, raw materials, highways, and homes. Avoiding, slowing, and reversing the loss of productive land and natural ecosystems is urgent and critical for a rapid recovery from the pandemic and ensuring the long-term survival of people and the planet.

Over the next decade, current commitments from over 100 countries call for the restoration of nearly 1 billion hectares of land – an area nearly the size of China. If we restore this land, we will be able to provide enormous benefits to both people and the environment.

Environmental Rights Committee organised an Instagram Live event on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and had  Nomhle  Senene, a 13-year-old climate and social justice activist, and Jerome Foster II, an 18-year-old activist who is an Environmental Justice Council Member at the White House.