Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Union's Directorate-General for Environment, receives an interview by chinadaily.com.cn and shows support to a tree-planting event of the COP 13. [Photo by Song Tingting/chinadaily.com.cn]

Concerted action and a common framework are needed for the world to combat desertification, said an EU senior official on Sept 10 at the launching of the Belt and Road Cooperative Mechanism to Combat Desertification in Ordos in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, North China.

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Union's Directorate-General for Environment, made the remark when interviewed by chinadaily.com.cn after the launching ceremony, a side event of the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The Directorate-General for Environment is the European Commission department responsible for EU policy on the environment.  

Crespo said the European Union and the European Commission are leading efforts to combat desertification.

"The EU is very active to support countries who are doing efforts to improve the quality of the soil, to fight against climate change, to do reforestation, and to try to stop the degradation of our land," he stated.

The COP 13 is expected to achieve the same goal, said Mr. Crespo.

The great challenge for this COP is to create the Ordos Declaration and a framework of action. Those two outcomes are crucial for a sustainable development goal that is to stop degradation of land by 2030. 

One of the COP 13's tasks is to implement the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" proposed by the United Nations, which promotes realization of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030. 

Crespo also called on all countries and stakeholders to work together on the issue.

"We have to work with many different elements. We have to work in research. We have to reduce emissions and protect the land. We have to work in reforestation." 

He also noted that a wholistic or comprehensive approach, instead of a single solution, is required; it must involve all the policies and all the stakeholders such as countries, academics, farmers, and citizens. 

"We only have one planet, and we are faced with climate change, more and more extreme phenomena, hurricanes, and land degradation.

We need to be conscious that this is a very serious problem. But the good news is that there are solutions and that if we work together, we can solve the problem." 

Crespo also expressed his expectations of the COP 13. 

"It is so important that China is hosting this convention, because it is the first time it is hosting an environmental conference and it can show the leadership to make the world move forward, to take measures, and to stop degradation."

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Union's Directorate-General for Environment, addresses the launching of the Belt and Road Cooperative Mechanism to Combat Desertification on Sept 10, in Ordos in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, North China.[Photo by Song Tingting/chinadaily.com.cn]

Read More:

Belt and Road cooperative mechanism to fight desertification