On February 9, 2022 in Abidjan, the Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, reaffirmed the Ivorian government's commitment to fighting desertification.

It was on the occasion of the launch of the activities of the 15th Conference of the Parties on Desertification and Drought (COP15), on 9 February in Abidjan.

“The organization by our country of COP15 is, in fact, the extension of a constant commitment by Côte d'Ivoire in the search for solutions against the degradation of our soils”, declared Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, representing Prime Minister Patrick Achi at this ceremony.

According to the Minister of State, the fight against desertification and drought is a national priority in the choice of socio-economic development policies. He called on States Parties to take the resolution to “guarantee to descendants, a much better world.”

In the opinion of the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Jean Luc Assi, Côte d'Ivoire's commitments are in line with the perspective of achieving the SDG, which aims to “Preserve and restore terrestrial ecosystems, by ensuring their sustainable exploitation, sustainably manage forests, manage forests sustainably, manage forests sustainably, fight against desertification, combat desertification, halt and reverse the process of land degradation and end the impoverishment of biodiversity”.

He said that COP15 will be an opportunity for Côte d'Ivoire and for all countries to raise awareness about solutions and the need to rehabilitate degraded land.

According to the president of the Cop15 organizing committee, Abou Bamba, 60% of agricultural land is degraded in Côte d'Ivoire. This leads to the decline in agricultural productivity and economic growth, as well as the vulnerability of rural women.

From 9 to 20 May 2022, Côte d'Ivoire will host COP15 around the central theme “Restoring degraded land and agriculture of the future”.