Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Highlights Its Contributions to Combating Desertification at COP 17
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development is participating in the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, held in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. The Fund is showcasing its contributions to supporting environmentally oriented development projects and its role in financing initiatives that contribute to land reclamation, water resource management, food security enhancement, and addressing environmental and climate challenges.
These efforts are gaining increasing importance amid the expanding global scope of land degradation. Data from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification indicate that land degradation affects up to 40 percent of the world’s land area, with repercussions on food production, water availability, livelihoods, and economic stability.
There is also a pressing need to strengthen financing and investments directed toward land restoration and combating desertification and drought. Addressing these challenges requires mobilizing substantial financial resources and channeling them into viable projects and programs, thereby underscoring the critical role played by development finance institutions in this field.
Within its development activities, the Kuwait Fund prioritizes supporting projects that contribute to restoring degraded lands and enhancing sustainable livelihoods, while ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources, preserving ecosystems, and strengthening resilience to environmental impacts and climate change.
Thamer Al-Filikaawi, Director of the Operations Department at the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, stated that the Fund’s participation in COP 17 reaffirms the importance of development finance in supporting international efforts to combat desertification, land degradation, and related environmental challenges.
Al-Filikaawi added that sustainable development and environmental protection are integrated pathways. Many development projects financed by the Fund in friendly countries extend beyond providing infrastructure and services to encompass the sustainable use of natural resources, land reclamation, and the enhancement of water and food security, as well as improving communities’ capacity to adapt to environmental and climate challenges.
The projects funded by the Fund in several friendly countries, including Egypt, China, Niger, and Tajikistan, reflect the diversity of areas where development work intersects with efforts to combat desertification and land degradation.
