Global awareness can prevent desertification and drought

Each year's global celebration has a unique, novel emphasis that had not been developed previously.

Desertification is not cheap. It has social, cultural, environmental and of course economic costs to reverse what it destroys. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification the scourge of desertification is costing the global economy up to 15 trillion dollars annually, making it urgent to restore degraded land to mitigate climate change.

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution on January 30, 1995, after the day when United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is drafted.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development declares that “we are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations”. Specifically, SDG Goal 15: Life on Land states the resolve of the United Nations and the SDG signatory nations to halt and reverse land degradation.

One third of the planet’s land surface is under the threat of desertification, impacting over 250 million people.Although Africa remains the most affected continent, we are witnessing an alarming shift globally.  

Worldwide, 70 per cent of dry land used for agriculture are already degrading and are increasingly threatened by desertification.

This change is often at the root of political and socio-economic problems, and poses a threat to the environmental equilibrium in affected regions. 135 million people are at risk of being displaced because of desertification and mass migrations are only just beginning.

The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought has been observed since 1995 to promote public awareness relating to the international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought.

This year marks the  25th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Under the theme “Let’s grow the future together” this event provides an opportunity to look back and celebrate the 25 years of progress made by countries on sustainable land management, as well as looking at the broad picture of the next 25 years when hopefully we will achieve land degradation neutrality.

Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry area of land becomes a desert, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change (particularly Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem with far reaching consequences on socio-economic and political conditions.

Whereas a drought is an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply, whether atmospheric (below-average precipitation), surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region and harm to the local economy. Drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world.

Prolonged droughts have caused mass migrations and humanitarian crisis. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low productivity.Drought affect food production and human society, so they are considered a disaster, of natural, supernatural or human cause (which itself could be supernatural causes, malediction, sin, ...).

Hunter-gatherer migrations in 9,500 BC Chile have been linked to the phenomenon, as has the exodus of early humans out of Africa and into the rest of the world around 135,000 years ago. Rituals exist to prevent or avert drought, rainmaking could go from dances to scapegoating to human sacrifices. Nowadays, those ancient practices are for the most part relegated to folklore and replaced by more rational water management.