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UNCCD Executive Secretary, Dr Fouad’s key note speech at Africa Union Celebrations

May 29, 2026

Yasmine Fouad

Photo credit: UNCCD

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is honored to be part of this important celebration of Africa Union Day, at a moment when Africa is increasingly shaping its own development and environmental future.

Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 calls for prosperity, sustainability and security for all.

Three months ago, the African Union adopted its 2063 Water Policy Vision and declared 2026 the year of Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.

This is a significant development for Africa that signals the continent’s readiness and willingness to look inwards to its own realities, knowledge and history for solutions.

Africa’s wisdom reminds us that people follow water, and that water follows the land.

This reminds us of a simple but important truth: safeguarding water begins with safeguarding land.

Distinguished guests,

Waterways are the lifelines connecting communities, economies and ecosystems.

But water crises do not begin in our taps … they begin in our soils.

And globally, the pressure on land is intensifying.

Today, up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is already degraded, including up to half of the world’s rangelands, which support nearly two billion people.

And every year, we continue to lose at least 100 million hectares of productive land.

Land degradation alone costs the global economy nearly 900 billion US dollars annually. But the consequences go far beyond economics. Food insecurity rises. Livelihoods are affected. Migration and displacement increase. And the pressure on water systems grows ever more severe.

But there is also reason for hope.

UNCCD is the global platform the world has established to help reverse this trend. Our partnership with the African Union has a long history, and today, in support of the AU Water Policy Vision, we stand ready to deepen this cooperation.

We will work together to strengthen drought early warning systems, advance sustainable land management, restore degraded land at scale, and support integrated water governance.

We are also ready to help mobilize finance and support a restoration economy that empowers Africa’s young innovators and ecopreneurs, who are already transforming how land and water resources are managed across the continent.

I invite you all to join us in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August for UNCCD COP17, where drought resilience and the land-water nexus will feature prominently.

Let me conclude with what gives me hope.

Young people across Africa are informed, engaged and ready to act. Communities are innovating. Governments are stepping forward. And the world is increasingly recognizing that land must be treated as essential infrastructure for water security, resilience and sustainable development.

The images displayed around you testify to the beauty and abundance of our Earth, from wetlands and forests to rangelands and grasslands. These landscapes sustain water, biodiversity and life itself.

And they remind us of a simple truth:

restoring land restores water … and restores hope.

Thank you