Combating Desertification and Drought

The Future of Urbanism: Is the UAE Pioneering it?

By Rabiya Jaffery
According to data from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Arab world is one of the most urbanised areas in the world, with more than 70 per cent of the population of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)--- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-- living in urban areas.

The Right to Life, Liberty, and Land

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Sustainable land management is becoming more important than ever as rates of emissions, deforestation, and water scarcity continue to increase. But what if you don’t have rights to the land? While the impact of agriculture on land is well known, the relationship between land degradation and land tenure seems to be less understood.

Making Communities Drought Resilient

By Desmond Brown
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD’s) Drought Initiative is in full swing with dozens of countries signing up to plan their drought programme.

Gender Gap Made Worse by Land Degradation

By Desmond Brown
In parts of the world where the gender gap is already wide, land degradation places women and girls at even greater risk.

Billions of Dollars Available for Reducing and Reversing Land Degradation

By Desmond Brown
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has debunked the notion that there is no funding available for countries to prevent, reduce or reverse land degradation.

The Silent, Invisible Crisis Destabilising Communities Could be a Subject of Hope

By Desmond Brown
New data show that globally two billion hectares of land—roughly twice the size of China—have been degraded. And of this amount, 500 million hectares are abandoned agricultural lands. 

Desertification, Land Degradation and Climate Change Go Hand in Hand

By Desmond Brown
The link between desertification, land degradation and climate change is among several issues occupying the attention of the 197 Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for the next three days.

What The Mountain Taught the Mouse

By Vijay Prashad
(Tricontinental) - In June 1931, the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci wrote a letter to Giulia Schucht, who lived in Moscow and with whom he had two children. One of the children – Delio – had taken an interest in literature, with a particular fascination for fantasy literature. This gave Gramsci, locked in a fascist prison, the opportunity to recall a story from his village on the island of Sardinia.

Bringing Greener Pastures Back Home

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
One month on since the Global Compact for Migration was approved, civil society has highlighted the need to turn words into action, supporting those who have been displaced or forced to migrate as a result of environmental degradation.

Eat Plants, Save the Planet

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
While the modern agricultural system has helped stave off famines and feed the world’s 7 billion residents, the way we eat and produce food is posing a threat to future populations’ food security.

Q&A: 17 Percent of the Problem, but 30 Percent of the Solution

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
From expansive evergreen forests to lush tropical forests, the Earth’s forests are disappearing on a massive scale. While deforestation poses a significant problem to the environment and climate, trees also offer a solution.

A Salty Dilemma

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
As the threat of water scarcity increasingly grows, many have turned to the Earth’s plentiful oceans for a solution. However, this has created a new risk threatening public and environmental health: brine.

Media Advisory: How much land is degraded globally?

By UNCCD Press Release
The first global assessment of land degradation based on Earth observation data reported by governments will be presented and reviewed at the Seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 17) to be held on 28-29 January 2019 in Georgetown, Guyana.

Q&A: Creating an African Bamboo Industry as Large as China’s

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
The bamboo industry in China currently comprises up to 10 million people who make a living out of production of the grass. But while the Asian nation has significant resources of bamboo — three million hectares of plantation and three million hectares of natural forests — the continent of Africa is recorded to have an estimated three and a half million hectares of plantations, excluding conservation areas.

Over Half of the World’s Tropical Forests Have been Destroyed, Say Conservationists

By Rabiya Jaffery
Biodiversity conservationists have revealed that at least 10 more percent of land than what is currently being used to grow green crops will be required to successfully replace fossil fuels with alternatives derived from natural sources such as biofuel.

Cuba’s Only Semiarid Region Reinvents Agriculture to Survive

By Ivet González
At a brisk pace, Marciano Calamato and Mireya Noa walk along the dry, yellow soil of their farm, where they even manage to grow onions in Cuba's unique semi-arid eastern region.

Using Data to Restore Land

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
A new landmark initiative aims to make quality data and tools available to the international community in order to combat an “existential crisis”: land degradation.

Diversifying Crops to Help Overcome Drought in Brazil

By Mario Osava
Dozens of trucks used to leave São Gonçalo every day, carrying the local agricultural production, mainly coconuts, to markets throughout Brazil, including the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, more than 2,000 kilometers away.

The importance of goats in East Africa’s recovery from drought

By Jeffrey Labovitz
Conflict, insecurity, political unrest and the search for economic opportunities continue to drive migration in the East and Horn of Africa.

Youth in Latin America Learn About Paths to Clean Energy

By Mariela Jara
Young Peruvians plan to take advantage of the knowledge acquired in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast to bring water to segments of the population who suffer from shortages, after sharing experiences in that ecoregion on the multiple uses of renewable energies in communities affected by climatic phenomena.

Water Scarcity and Poor Water Management Makes Life Difficult for Egyptians

By Maged Srour
Local residents in Cairo are becoming concerned and discontent as water scarcity is reaching a critical point in the capital and the rest of the country.
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