Combating Desertification and Drought

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.

Four-Year Drought Forces Cuba to Find Ways to Build Resilience

By Ivet González
Eastern Cuba has suffered drought since time immemorial. But the western and central regions of the island used to be almost free of the phenomenon, until the latest drought that plagued this country between 2014 and 2017.

Climate Change Becomes a Reality Check for the North

By Friday Phiri
“This season, the month of May was particularly hot and dry,” says Leo De Jong, a commercial farmer in Zeewolde, in Flevopolder, the Netherlands. Flevopolder is in the province of Flevoland, the largest site of land reclamation in the world. Here a hectare of land costs up to 100,000 Euros. “At the moment, we are spending between 20,000 and 25,000 Euros per week on irrigation.”

Poverty-Stricken Communities in Ghana are Restoring Once-Barren Land

By Albert Oppong-Ansah
In the scorching Upper East Region of Ghana, the dry seasons are long and for kilometres around there is nothing but barren, dry earth. Here, in some areas, it is not uncommon for half the female population to migrate to the country’s south in search of work, often taking their young children with them.

Scientists Warn of the Imminent Depletion of Groundwater in Chile’s Atacama Desert

By Orlando Milesi
Eighteen national science prize-winners in Chile have called for a halt to the over-extraction of water in the four regions over which the Atacama Desert spreads in the north of the country, a problem that threatens the future of 1.5 million people.

Sousa, a Solar Power Capital in an Increasingly Arid Brazil

By Mario Osava
Sousa, a municipality of 70,000 people in the west of Paraíba, the state in Brazil most threatened by desertification, has become the country's capital of solar energy, with a Catholic church, various businesses, households and even a cemetery generating solar power.

Land Degradation: A Triple Threat in Africa

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Sustainability, stability, and security—the three overlapping issues are an increasing concern among many especially in Africa where land degradation is displacing citizens and livelihoods.

“The Sustainable Bioeconomy, a Path Towards Post-Extractivism”

By Ela Zambrano
Ecuador has decided to move towards a bioeconomy-based development model, “which must be sustainable,” because otherwise "the remedy could be worse than the disease," said the country’s Environment Minister Tarsicio Granizo, who is spearheading this innovative approach.

Chile Has Medicine Against Desertification, But Does Not Take It

By Orlando Milesi
The retention of rainwater which otherwise is lost at sea could be an excellent medicine against the advance of the desert from northern to central Chile, but there is no political will to take the necessary actions, according to experts and representatives of affected communities.

Q&A: Raising the Profile on the Largest Environmental Issue of Our Time

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Land degradation caused by human activities is occurring at an alarming rate across the world, and the cost will be steep if no action is taken.

Experts Decry Exclusion of Africa’s Local Farmers in Food Security Efforts

By Miriam Gathigah
Joshua Kiragu reminisces of years gone by when just one of his two hectares of land produced at least 40 bags of maize. But that was 10 years ago. Today, Kiragu can barely scrape up 20 bags from the little piece of land that he has left – it measures just under a hectare.

Bamboo, A Sustainability Powerhouse

By Ed Holt
A landmark conference bringing more than 1,200 people from across the world together to promote and explain the importance of bamboo and rattan to global sustainable development and tackling climate change has ended with a raft of agreements and project launches.
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