QNA/New York

Qatar played a prominent role in the launch of the initiative “Global Dryland Alliance”, in recognition of the importance of the development of dry land, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sheikha Alia Ahmed bint Saif al-Thani said.
Addressing a seminar held on the occasion of the “World Soil Day”, Sheikha Alia underlined that the Qatar took remarkable steps towards enhancing food security and reclamation of desert land for agriculture.
Qatar highlighted the paramount importance of the phenomenon of desertification and soil erosion and drought, as one of the most dangerous phenomena of nature that has a serious impact on several aspects of sustainable development, she added.
Qatar’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations hosted the seminar in co-operation with the permanent missions of Italy and Thailand, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as part of the events held at the UN headquarters in New York to mark the World Soil Day under the theme “Soils, a solid ground for life”.
Sheikha Alia said that there is a growing awareness of the importance of sustainable land management, including soil as an important factor to mitigate and adapt to climate change, noting its contribution to economic growth, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security.  
She explained that the State of Qatar recognises that sustainable development goals can not be achieved without addressing desertification and soil erosion and drought, so it made initiatives to highlight the importance of issues related to sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition, and their relationship to water, poverty, health, energy and climate issues.
The FAO presented a report during the seminar on states of soil in the world prepared by a group of soil scientists from 60 countries.
The report stated that the soil is deteriorating rapidly at the global level because of corrosion, the depletion of nutrients, the loss of organic carbon, sclerosis and other threats. However, the report pointed out that it is possible to reverse this trend if countries took the initiative to promote sustainable management practices and apply appropriate technologies.
Permanent Representatives of Italy and Thailand to the United Nations, the Director of the FAO Office in New York representing the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; and Professor Dan Pinnock from the University of Canada, one of the FAO report writers, took part in the seminar.
The seminar also included discussions by a number of specialists in the field of soil and agriculture.