Saturday, September 19, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Combating Desertification and Drought
ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: The Rain Harvester
Colombian lawyer and activist Rodrigo Vivas won the 2006 Sasakawa Prize, awarded annually by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and The Nippon Foundation, for his "rainwater harvest" project, aimed at combating desertification.CHINA: Taklamakan – Desert With No Ocean Underground
When the city of Korla rose from the Taklamakan desert in mid-1950s, it was marvelled as a triumph of human willpower over adverse nature. Thousands of soldiers dispatched by the Chinese communist party put this place on the map in China's far west Xinjiang, by digging 600 km of channels to coax underground water to large collective farms.ENVIRONMENT: Billions Needed to Climate-Proof Africa
Climate change will devastate Africa without substantial help from the world community, according to a new report released at the opening of a major U.N. climate change conference in Nairobi, Kenya Monday.KAZAKHSTAN: Balkhash Lake Turning Into Another Aral?
Lake Balkhash, one of the largest inland bodies of water on Earth, is in danger of turning into an environmental death zone whose impact would be felt throughout Central Asia.ENVIRONMENT: Women’s Expertise Key to Rolling Back Deserts
Empowering and investing in women is the key to combating the effects of desertification and paving the way for rural poverty alleviation in many of the world's least developed countries (LDCs), according to researchers, government policy-makers and United Nations experts.ENVIRONMENT: Advancing Deserts Forcing People to Move
Creeping desertification affects every fifth inhabitant in the world, and it might force some 60 million to migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to northern Africa and Europe by 2020, according to experts.« Previous 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.
The Week with IPS
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
