Governments are discussing ways required to slow the pace of land degradation affecting more than 3.2 billion people during the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The fortnight-long conference hosted by India kicked off in New Delhi on Monday. Today, over 75 percent of the earth's land area has already degraded and over 90 percent could become deteriorated by 2050, a study by the European Commission estimated.

Such a large scale of land degradation over a sustained period also causes desertification. Developing countries including India, China and sub-Saharan Africa are some of the worst victims of land degradation, facing significant crop losses.

Even with all the technology that we have, we are not able to reverse desertification, Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UNCCD said during the inaugural ceremony of the convention.

"Availability of resources is shrinking due to climate change and land degradation. This leads to conflicts for land," Thiaw said. In the coming years, the UN estimates, the global economy would suffer a loss of nearly 23 trillion U.S. dollars as a result of land degradation.

Overgrazing, urbanization, climate change, excessive use of groundwater, land use, drought and deforestation are the leading causes of land and soil losing its fertility, according to the UNCCD researchers.

Concerned over the issue, the International Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a report released last month warned, the land exploitation is happening at an "unprecedented rate" that would massively impact food production.

Globally, nearly 10 percent of the global population, most of them residing in developing countries, suffers from chronic malnourished. Further land degradation would lead to food shortages, and developing countries would become the worst victims of the crisis.

The UNCCD is urging countries to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) – stopping further land degradation ­– by 2030 by adopting effective land management policies and practices.

Delegates from 194 countries attending the COP14 would set targets and discuss best practices required to achieve the goal.

The conference would build on the decisions taken at COP13 hosted by China in 2017. At the end of fortnight-long discussions, delegates would prepare a joint declaration for land restoration. 

Barron Joseph Orr,UNCCD's lead scientist, said that his expectations from the COP14 are that countries adopt actionable decision to solve the problem of land degradation and drought.