Combating Desertification and Drought

Chilean Schools Recycle Greywater to Combat Drought

By Orlando Milesi
Children from the neighboring municipalities of Ovalle and Río Hurtado in northern Chile are harvesting rain and recycling greywater in their schools to irrigate fruit trees and vegetable gardens, in an initiative aimed at combating the shortage of water in this semi-arid region.

Food From Thought

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
As the weather continues to change and land becomes degraded, the socio-economic security implications are vast. In an effort to tackle these issues, climate-smart agriculture is quickly gaining traction around the world.

Could the Election of Qu Dongyu as FAO´s General-Director be a Turning-point for Sustainable Agricultural Development?

By Jan Lundius
Agriculture is the bedrock of sedentary human civilization, without it we would have no governments or nations. It was food surplus generated by agriculture that enabled people to live in cities and form regimes able to organize food production in such a manner that some community members could engage in other activities than direct food production and thus give rise to the ideologies, techniques and goods which now constitute and govern our existence.

Looking to the Land in the Climate Change Race

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The international community still has a long way to go to chart a new, sustainable course for humanity. But the upcoming climate change meetings provide a renewed opportunity to tackle climate change head on.

Sharing the Burden of Refugees; the World Can Do Better

By Siddharth Chatterjee
As the world marks World Refugee Day on June 20th to celebrate the strength, courage and perseverance of refugees, a glaring concern remains just how inadequate the global response to the refugee crisis has been.

More Megacities, More Pressure on Forests

By Desmond Brown
With two-thirds of the world’s population projected to be living in cities by 2050, increasing pressure continues to be placed on forests which are being cleared to make way for agricultural production.

Desertification ‘More Dangerous and More Insidious than Wars’

By Desmond Brown
Businesses are being encouraged to follow the lead of the youth to halt desertification, reduce degradation, improve agricultural sustainability and restore damaged lands.

Celebrating 25 years and growing the future together

By UNCCD Media Advisory
(UNCCD) - Monday, 17 June is World Day to Combat Desertification. It will be observed all over the world. Download the message from Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, by clicking on this link: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIJf-5FUg4k&feature=youtu.be>

‘What it Takes to Feed 7.5 Billion People’

By Desmond Brown
Events marking the 25th anniversary of the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the World Day to Combat Desertification opened here Monday, Jun. 17 with a call for urgent action to protect and restore degrading land.

There’s No Continent, No Country Not Impacted by Land Degradation

By Desmond Brown
The coming decades will be crucial in shaping and implementing a transformative land agenda, according to a scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).

South Africa’s First Carbon Farm

By Tim Christophersen
Land restoration could attract large private investments in the fight against climate change over the coming decades, if Governments and the United Nations put the right incentives and conditions in place.

The Implacable Desertification of Planet Earth

By Baher Kamal
Yet another under-reported human-made disaster: the relentless desertification of Planet Earth that may make uninhabitable some regions like the Middle East, endanger food security, aggravate climate crisis, and force more and more millions of people to flee.

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought – “Let’s Grow the Future Together”

By IPS World Desk
One third of the planet's land surface is under the threat of desertification, impacting over 250 million people.

Restoring Our Degraded Planet

By Tim Christophersen
On the 1st of March 2019, we saw one of the rare moments in history when the entire world comes together and agrees on a joint way forward. The United Nations General Assembly recognized the urgent need to tackle the compounded crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss, and passed a resolution to proclaim 2021-2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. With the aim to restore at least 350 million hectares of degraded landscapes by 2030 – an area the size of India – the UN Decade is a loud and clear call to action for all of us. And it is a great opportunity for the UN-REDD Programme and its partner countries to build on 10 years worth of relevant experience with safeguards, impactful policies and measures, and attracting private and public investments.

Land Conservation: A Risky Business

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
In light of land degradation and climate change, the protection of the environment is crucial—but the protection of the very people working tirelessly and with much risk to preserve nature should be just as important.

More dry years ahead for South-East Asia

By PRESS RELEASE
(ESCAP news) – Future scenarios of drought in many parts of South-East Asia may become even more frequent and intense if actions are not taken now to build resilience, according to the latest joint study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

It’s Simple, but Requires Determination

By Monika Weber-Fahr
I am drafting this on International Women’s Day - March 8 - with an eye towards World Water Day on March 22. On International Women’s Day we celebrate progress in gender equality. At the same time, we recognize how much remains to be done: how many women remain excluded from decision-making across many professions. Changing this is urgent. Water – clean and accessible – is getting scarcer at an alarming rate. While working to change this, we cannot afford to exclude women.

Becoming Drought Resilient: Why African Farmers Must Consider Drought Tolerant Crops

By Esther Ngumbi
The latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Report highlighted drought as one of the key factors contributing to the continuing rise in the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa. And in South Africa, the Government’s Crop Estimates Committee announced that the country would harvest 20 percent less maize in 2019 because of drought conditions. 

Smart Tech Will Only Work for Women When the Fundamentals for Its Uptake Are in Place

By Ibrahim Thiaw
Science and technology offer exciting pathways for rural women to tackle the challenges they face daily. Innovative solutions for rural women can, for example, reduce their workload, raise food production and increase their participation in the paid labour market. But even the very best innovative, gender-appropriate technology makes no sense without access to other critical resources, especially secure land rights, which women in rural areas need to flourish.

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.
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