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Tuesday, November 10, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Combating Desertification and Drought
DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: Small is Beautiful, But Big Has Its Place
An impressive crop of sweet potatoes, yams, cabbages, cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes has spelt a good season for Burkinabé farmer Amadou Diallo, who attributes his success to a nearby water storage tank.Q&A: “You Clearly Saw the Horrors of Desertification”
Seven years of working in some of the poorest parts of Benin put Euloge Vidégla in the front lines of the battle against desertification. An agricultural economist by training, he managed the Local Development Support Project (Projet d’appui au développement local, PADEL), mostly in the northern Atacora region, from 1997 to 2004.DEVELOPMENT-CAMEROON: Solar Power Starts Muscling Out Kerosene
For Merline Momo Azeufac, a teacher at Balefock village in western Cameroon, the days of fearing nightfall while correcting pupils' work are over. She's no longer hostage to the poor light provided by kerosene lamps.ENVIRONMENT-SENEGAL: Setting Fire to the Future
It's the season for bush fires in Senegal, and there are once again concerns that vast tracts of fertile land could be set alight, and ravaged.ENVIRONMENT-CHAD: Rats, Where There Once Were Elephants
Leaving the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, isn't what it used to be.ENVIRONMENT: The Niger River in Intensive Care
Stretching over more than 4,000 kilometres, the Niger is West Africa's longest river, and greatly threatened in the country of the same name by environmental degradation that is causing the water course to silt up.ENVIRONMENT-ALGERIA: Fighting Desertification Through Conservation
In May, Algeria will inaugurate a reserve around a small oasis in the south-west where plants and animals are to be protected in the service of a broader goal. Hopes are that the Taghit National Park will help stop the advance of the Sahara Desert, which already stretches across almost all of this North African country.WEST AFRICA: Investments Against Desertification Deliver the Goods
Experts from the Inter-State Committee to Fight Drought in the Sahel (Comité inter Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel, CILSS) are calling on donors to invest further in the fight against desertification in this region, because of the positive economic effects such investment would have.DEVELOPMENT-NIGER: Land Degradation No Match for Speculators
The term "property speculation" may not be the first that comes to mind concerning Niger, a country which is mostly desert. Nonetheless, this is exactly what is happening in the West African state.DEVELOPMENT-COTE D’IVOIRE: Dwindling Rains, Falling Harvests
Every day as he leaves his house for the fields, Ousmane Soro is plagued by questions: "What will become of my harvests for sweet potatoes, sugar cane and mangoes this year? Will I be able to meet my family's needs?"ENVIRONMENT-NIGER: Projects Aplenty to Halt the Desert
For those taking up arms against desertification in Niger, the task at hand must seem daunting.ENVIRONMENT: Plans to Halt Desertification in Africa a Work in Progress
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) requires signatories to create national action plans for dealing with this scourge that allow sustainable development - and encompass participation by communities, amongst others.ENVIRONMENT-CAMEROON: Women Face to Face with Desertification
The village of Ngouma has a population of 538 people, 406 of which are women. Most of the men, especially those who can still work the fields, have left in the face of land degradation and even desertification.ENVIRONMENT: Desertification Gains a Foothold in Rwanda
As recently as 2002, 41-year-old Marie Mutezinka was still able to meet the needs of her four children by farming in Gako, in the Bugesera region of south-east Rwanda.JAPAN: Leading Biodiversity Conservation
A call by the United Nations to restore and protect biodiversity in the world through a global convention is seen as being of particular importance to Japan, a leading importer of natural resources.CLIMATE CHANGE: Deforestation Main Challenge for UNEP
The severe degradation of the environment and its impact on climate change are dominating discussions currently underway at the 24th meeting of the governing council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Kenyan capital.ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Wetlands – To Know Them Is to Cherish Them
Increasing society's knowledge about wetlands and improving coordination between the different public services involved in the conservation of these valuable ecosystems are among Chile's main challenges at the moment, according to experts.BRAZIL: Clean Water – Hold the Salt
Thousands of people in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast are slaking their thirst thanks to a technology that is little used in Latin America: the reverse-osmosis membrane, which desalinises and purifies water. A filter designed by Brazilian experts should be ready in two years.CLIMATE CHANGE: Catastrophes Inevitable, Says New Report
The fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will confirm catastrophic predictions on global warming and its effect on nature and weather cycles over coming decades.ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: Maize Production (Almost) a Success Story
Zambia is poised to have a maize surplus this season but it is still unlikely that the food will reach many of the 58 percent of Zambians that are classified as extremely poor.SOUTHERN AFRICA: Rainy Season Brings Mixed Blessings
This year's rainy season has brought some mixed blessings to farmers and aid agencies operating in Southern Africa, which experienced a spell of drought and famine last year.« 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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