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World loses nearly 1 million square kilometers of land / UN: Why sand and dust storms are getting worse
2023-11-15 13:09:03 / BOTA
The world is losing nearly a million square kilometers of productive land to sand and dust storms exacerbated by human activity, the United Nations' desertification agency said today.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) reported that about two billion tons of sand and dust enter the atmosphere every year, wreaking havoc in large parts of Asia and Africa and causing significant economic damage worldwide.
In a report released during a session in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to review recent progress in reversing land degradation, the UNCCD said at least a quarter of the storms can be attributed to human activities, including mining and overgrazing. pastures.
Land surface losses not only have a material impact on food supplies in some of the world's most vulnerable countries, but also lead to migration, impeding navigation and creating security risks, said Ibrahim Tiau, UNCCD executive secretary.
"It goes beyond individuals," he said. "It affects the whole community."
The UNCCD called for better land management practices to restore damaged land and more efforts to improve early warning systems and build resilience.
Funding efforts to combat desertification and degradation is also a major challenge, Tiau said, noting that only $15 billion was available in 2015-2019 to address problems affecting 126 countries.
He said new incentives and public financial support are needed to encourage the private sector to take better care of the land it uses.
Tiau cited China as one of the success stories in fighting desertification and controlling dust, with long-term land reclamation and a reforestation program helping to reduce sandstorms. But it remains vulnerable to sand coming from Mongolia in the north, where overgrazing and a mining 'boom' have led to the degradation of more than three-quarters of the land, according to a 2021 UN assessment. "We are in a vicious circle where land degradation is driving climate change and climate change is exacerbating land loss globally," he said.
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