What is desertification? Experts hope the devastating trend can be reversed
On December 2, countries around the world will meet in Riyadh under the auspices of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, (UNCCD) to discuss how to turn the corner from decline to regeneration.
Here are five things you need to know about desertification and why the world needs to stop treating the planet like dirt to protect the productive land that supports life on Earth.
There is no life without land
Perhaps it is clear that without healthy soil, there can be no life. It feeds, clothes and shelters humanity.
A member of an indigenous group in the Brazilian Amazon, working to reforest.
It provides jobs, sustains livelihoods and is the foundation of local, national and global economies. It helps regulate climate and is essential for biodiversity.
Despite its importance to life as we know it, up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting approximately 3.2 billion people; that’s almost half of the global population.
From the deforested mountains of Haiti, to the gradual disappearance of Lake Chad in the Sahel and the drying up of productive land in Georgia in Eastern Europe, land degradation affects every corner of the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that our future is at stake if our soils are not healthy.
Degraded land
Desertification, the process of land degradation in normally dry regions, is the result of a variety of factors, including climate change and human activities, such as over-farming or deforest.
100 million hectares (or one million square kilometers), equivalent to the area of a country like Egypt, of healthy and productive land are lost every year.
The soil on these lands, which can take hundreds of years to form, is being depleted, often due to extreme weather.
Droughts are becoming more frequent; three out of four people in the world are predicted to face water scarcity by 2050.
Increasing temperatures due to climate change are causing more extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, adding to the challenge of maintaining land productivity.
Loss of land and climate
There is clear evidence that land degradation is linked to broader environmental challenges such as climate change.
A man looks across the desert in Mauritania.
Soil ecosystems absorb 1/3 of human CO22 emissions, the gases that are causing climate change. However, poor land management threatens this vital capacity, further compromising efforts to slow emissions of these harmful gases.
Deforestation, which contributes to desertification, is on the rise, with only 60% of the world’s forests remaining intact, well below what the United Nations calls the “75% safety target”.
What needs to be done? – ‘moonlight moment’
The good news is that humanity has the know-how and the power to revive the land, turning degradation into recovery.
Strong economies and resilient communities can be developed when the impacts of devastating droughts and devastating floods are addressed.
A community in Mexico works together to improve their land.
It is important that the people who depend on the land have the greatest voice in making decisions.
To “bring a great moment for land”, 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land need to be restored by 2030, UNCCD said.
And this has happened to farmers adopting new techniques in Burkina Faso, environmentalists in Uzbekistan planting trees to remove salt and dust emissions, and activists protecting the Philippine capital Manila from weather extremes by regenerating natural barriers.
What can be achieved in Riyadh
Policymakers, experts, the private sector and civil society as well as youth will come together in Riyadh with a range of goals, including:
- Accelerate the restoration of degraded land to 2030 and beyond
- Enhance resilience to increased drought and sand and dust storms
- Restore soil health and scale up food production that benefits nature
- Secure land rights and promote equity for sustainable land management
- Ensure that land continues to provide climate and biodiversity solutions
- Open up economic opportunities, including sustainable land-based jobs for young people
Fast facts: The United Nations and desertification
- Three decades ago, in 1994, 196 countries and the European Union signed up to join the United Nations. convention to combat desertification or UNCCD.
- The Conference of the Parties or COP is the main decision-making body of the UNCCD.
- UNCCD is the global voice on land, where governments, businesses and civil society come together to discuss challenges and chart a sustainable future for land.
- 16th meeting of COP (also known as COP16) is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 2 to 13.
- UNCCD is one of three “Rio Conventions”. along with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This is the result of the historic 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
