World Day to Combat Desertification & Drought, June 17

The world on June 17 observes the ‘World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought’ to promote awareness to curb increasing land degradation as a vital issue in climatic change as a whole. The World Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The 2008 theme of the Day is ‘Combating Land Degradation for Sustainable Agriculture’.

Considering the impact of ‘desertification’ which directly affects the lives of billion of people worldwide by forcing the rural poor in developing countries from their lands - caused mainly by climate change, inappropriate agricultural policies and practices, deforestation - really a great concern to ensure long term productivity from the drylands.

Desertification affects the poor and marginalised section the most and poverty is largely linked to it, as desertification and drought directly affect the poorest, who depend more on agriculture as prime source of their livelihood. However, over-cultivation or overgrazing too is a cause of the same. Therefore, the Day also promotes sustainable use of land and water.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD is celebrated on June 17 every year since 1994 by 134 Country Parties. It reinforces the visibility and importance of dryland related issues on the international environment agenda. With 134 Country Parties, the UNCCD is an internationally recognised, instrument that seeks to address the problem of land degradation in drylands. India is one of the earliest signatories of the Convention.

India

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has organised a series of regional workshops across the country to generate awareness and to deliberate upon the strategies and mechanism to combat desertification. The first workshop in the series of six workshops began in Chandigarh on Tuesday for the north region. Besides others, officers from central government, state governments of the North Indian states, NGOs and International donor agencies are participating.

About 107.43 mha which is 32.75 percent of India’s total geographical area is affected by various forms and degree of land degradation adversely impacting agricultural productivity of such lands. This is a significant bearing on the livelihood and well-being of millions of people who inhabit these areas. Unsustainable growth and unsustainable consumption patterns are the primary causes of land degradation. More than 110 countries are affected with as much as two thirds of the world’s agriculture lands.