Representatives from 196 countries and the European Union will meet in Panama from December 1 to 5 to assess global progress in combating desertification, land degradation, and drought within the framework of the 23rd session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC23).
The meeting will take place as Panama pushes forward with actions to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030. For this objective, it has already identified 31 critical zones and is advancing in reforestation and adaptation programs, especially in the Dry Corridor.
In 2023, Panama experienced the driest year in its history, a situation that affected transit through the Panama Canal and highlighted the vulnerability of global trade routes to local drought phenomena.
The Minister of the Environment, Juan Carlos Navarro, highlighted that Panama will host this year the three main UN environmental conventions, an unprecedented fact that, he said, reinforces the call to integrate the agendas of climate, biodiversity, and sustainable land management.
In turn, the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, Yasmine Fouad, warned that Latin America and the Caribbean are undergoing a growing process of land degradation that affects approximately 20% of its surface.
She added that the meeting in Panama is part of a global response to the annual loss of nearly 100 million hectares of healthy lands, and recalled that aridification already affects more than 70% of the planet's territories.
