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Friday, September 4, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Combating Desertification and Drought
8.7 Million Species Run Spaceship Earth
The life support system that generates the planet’s air, water, and food is powered by 8.7 million living species according to the newest and best estimate. We know next to nothing about 99 percent of those unique species - except that lots of them are going extinct.OP-ED: Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables and Toxins Driving People from Homes
People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.
EAST AFRICA: Massive Aid Needed to Stave off Disaster
International donors have given more than one billion dollars to ease the famine in Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, but U.N. officials say another billion will be needed to prevent the situation from deteriorating in other areas.
Eleven Million at Risk in Horn of Africa
"I have never seen anything like it. Many mothers have lost three or four children. It's a tragedy out here," Austin Kennan, regional director for the Horn of Africa for Concern Worldwide, told IPS from within the crisis zone.UN: Somalia Is ‘Worst Humanitarian Disaster’
The head of the United Nations refugee agency has described the situation in drought-hit Somalia as the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world, after meeting with those affected at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.Dam Project in Turkey Breeds Controversy
The tranquillity and mystery of this town on the banks of Tigris River will not last long. The millennia-old town will be nearly totally destroyed once the nearby Ilisu dam, built for energy and irrigation, is complete.AFRICA: Eco-Labels “Greenwashing” Forest Exploitation
"Eco-label fatigue" is setting in as green logging certification schemes are undermining proper government management of forest resources while "greenwashing" private ownership of these public resources, critics say.NIGER: Caring for the River, Reaping the Benefits
In anticipation of growing sorghum during the coming rainy season, Hamadou Abdou and his son are busy preparing the soil on the family's farm in Bougoum, a village in the west of Niger.Amazon Drought Accelerating Climate Change
Last year's severe drought in the Amazon will pump billions of tonnes of additional carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, a new report has found.
Dire Development Issues Converge in the Drylands
Few are aware that close to one billion people in over 100 different countries are suffering from or severely threatened by intense desertification. Yet awareness is crucial, for it is human behaviour that has led to the proliferation of hyper- arid, uncultivable drylands over the past few decades.
Restoring Ethiopia’s Forest Cover
Mesfin Mengistu has been growing trees on his two-hectare farm in Menagesha Woreda for years.
Mali Nomads Flee Drought
Nomadic communities in northern Mali's desert regions are facing one of the most serious droughts of the last twenty years.ARGENTINA: Turning Wasteland into Woodland
In Santiago del Estero, one of the Argentine provinces hit hardest by deforestation and desertification, an oasis of native tree species is being created to restore the soil and entice back farmers who were forced to leave their land.
KENYA: Insuring Pastoralists Against Increasing Risks
The droughts in the Turkana region were less severe when she was growing up, says Laura Letapalel, and pastoralists could still find some grass and water for their animals. Now, she laments, the droughts are longer and there is nothing to eat.
MALI: Small Farmers in the Carbon Market
Mohamed Abd Khibé is a caretaker at the acacia nursery in Dialoubé village, part of a project to sequester carbon in trees while simultaneously improving farmers' livelihoods.
ENVIRONMENT: Wildfires Spreading as Temperatures Rise
Future firefighters have their work cut out for them. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds, and record high temperatures set the stage for the worst wildfire in the country's history.DEVELOPMENT: Climate Change Likely to Increase African Hunger Woes
Africa, the continent already most affected by hunger and food scarcity, is likely to see its woes increased due to climate change and the changing rain patterns it provokes, experts and scientists say.
CLIMATE CHANGE: The Rising Tide of Environmental Refugees
Our early twenty-first century civilisation is being squeezed between advancing deserts and rising seas.
Q&A: Desertification and Climate Change Go Hand in Hand
"The entire social fabric of an area is compromised when soils are depleted," says Italian expert Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change.CLIMATE CHANGE: Food Supply Hangs in the Balance
Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more starving people will be part of humanity's grim future without concerted action on climate change and new investments in agriculture, experts reported this week.ENVIRONMENT: Synergies in Fight Against Desertification , Climate Change
Climate change aggravates soil degradation, but sustainable use of land resources can, in turn, mitigate global warming, according to participants at the United Nations conference on desertification in the Argentine capital.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Today, some two billion people depend on ecosystems in dryland areas, with 90 percent of them living in developing countries. But the pace of arable land degradation is accelerating – now estimated at 35 times the historical rate -- impacting biodiversity, availability of clean water and food security, as well as exposing vulnerable communities to the harsh impacts of climate change. As the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) works to improve the living conditions of people in the drylands. IPS looks at local solutions being implemented around the world, from restoring soil productivity and mitigating the effects of drought, to projects that empower communities to manage their dryland resources more effectively.
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