Latest news with #WorldDaytoCombatDesertificationandDrought
Yemen Online
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Yemen Online
UN Warns of Desertification Threat to Yemen's Agricultural Lands
Sanaa — The United Nations has issued a stark warning about the accelerating threat of desertification in Yemen, highlighting its devastating impact on agricultural lands and food security across the war-torn country. In a message marking World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized that land degradation is costing the global economy nearly $880 billion annually, and Yemen is among the most vulnerable nations. The UN called for urgent action to restore degraded lands, improve water management, and support smallholder farmers—especially women—who are disproportionately affected by climate change and conflict. Yemen's Minister of Water and Environment, Tawfiq Al-Sharjabi, echoed the concerns during a regional session held in Riyadh, stating that the country loses between 3–5% of its arable land each year due to climate change, deforestation, overgrazing, and mismanagement of water resources. He described desertification as one of Yemen's most pressing environmental crises, threatening sustainable development and deepening the humanitarian emergency. The UN urged governments, donors, and private investors to accelerate funding for land restoration projects, including afforestation, soil rehabilitation, and expanding vegetation cover. The theme of this year's campaign—'Restore the Land. Unlock the Opportunities'—underscores the potential for reversing damage and creating jobs, safeguarding water supplies, and improving livelihoods. With over 17 million Yemenis facing food insecurity and more than 1 million children suffering from acute malnutrition, experts warn that desertification could further destabilize rural communities and worsen displacement trends.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Why must India recognise its open ecosystems?
The story so far: Deserts are often imagined as failures of nature, and barren wastelands in need of redemption. This worldview fuels grand ambitions to 'green' the desert, through afforestation, irrigation schemes, or even climate engineering. This gives way to the idea that deserts are broken ecosystems. So pervasive is this vilification, that land degradation is also known as 'desertification', and June 17 every year is celebrated as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Are deserts important? In truth, deserts are ancient, diverse, and resilient biomes, finely tuned to extremes. They occupy nearly one-third of the Earth's terrestrial surface, and are home to uniquely adapted plants, animals, and human cultures. It is ironic that humans disregard deserts, when several early civilisations were set in desert climates, whether in early Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Indus valley. Indeed, some historians argue that it is these very harsh desert conditions that prompted humans to develop complex societies and technologies that could invent ingenious ways of irrigation to survive in otherwise inhospitable conditions. What about other open spaces? India's relationship with open spaces is full of contradictions. On the one hand, we fetishise them. Real estate ads routinely promise sweeping lawns with names like Savana or Utopia. But when it comes to the country's own vast open natural ecosystems such as grasslands, savannas, scrublands and open woodlands, we have done the opposite. These landscapes have been systematically ignored in policy or worse, actively erased. On official maps, millions of hectares of these ecosystems are classified as wastelands, a term inherited from colonial land-use categories. In policy terms, a wasteland is land waiting to be fixed, often by planting trees, converting it for agriculture or paving it over for industry. What should be protected and stewarded has instead become a target for transformation. India's deserts, grasslands and savannas are home to species found nowhere else: the Great Indian Bustard, the caracal, the Indian wolf etc. These ecosystems also store carbon, not in big trees above ground but rather, deep in the soil. Equally important are the communities dependent on them. Millions of pastoral groups such as the Dhangar, Rabari, Kuruba etc. depend on these ecosystems for grazing. When we fence off grasslands or plant 'forests' on them, it's not just ecology we damage but also livelihoods, mobility, and local knowledge systems. In many cases, pastoralist groups are also stewards of biodiversity and ecosystem health. However, Indian grasslands and pastoralist systems have not received the desired protection and management. What should be the road ahead? Rather than trying to turn deserts into forests, we should study how life thrives without abundance. This is not to say that land degradation should not be addressed. Reversing degradation in drylands requires careful restoration that respects native vegetation, focuses on soil and moisture conservation, and draws from indigenous knowledge of land management. Low-tech solutions like water harvesting, rotational grazing, and protecting natural regrowth often outperform greenwashing projects that aim to plant millions of trees to 'green' the desert. We need policies that recognise ecosystem diversity, reward soil carbon storage, and support pastoralist land use. A functioning desert or savanna, with its intricate food webs, seasonal rhythms, and cultural continuities, is far more alive than a failed monoculture plantation. Perhaps it is time to rename World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought to World Day to Combat Land Degradation, and give deserts their respectable name back. The authors are with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.
Qatar Tribune
26-06-2025
- General
- Qatar Tribune
Doha Desertification Combat Project first phase a grand success, says MoM
The Ministry of Municipality (MoM), represented by the Doha Municipality, announced the success of the first phase of its project to combat desertification and improve the urban landscape as part of the 'Let's Make it More Beautiful' campaign that was launched in early 2025. The campaign coincided with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The ministry said the campaign aims to reduce desert areas within Doha by planting vegetation in urban areas, in line with sustainable development goals, particularly those related to combating desertification. The first phase saw the planting of more than 110,000 seedlings of wind and arid climate resistant plants across a 15,000-meter-long stretch in strategic locations.(QNA) page 2
Qatar Tribune
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Qatar Tribune
MoM completes first phaseof anti-desertification project
QNA Doha The Ministry of Municipality (MoM), represented by Doha Municipality, announced the successful completion of the first phase of its project to combat desertification and enhance the urban landscape, as part of the 'Let's Make it More Beautiful' campaign launched in early 2025. The campaign coincided with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the campaign aims to reduce desert areas within Doha by planting vegetation in urban areas, in line with sustainable development goals, particularly those related to halting land degradation and combating desertification. The first phase saw the planting of more than 110,000 seedlings of wind and arid climate resistant plants across a 15,000-metre-long stretch in strategic locations including Airport Road, Al Jamiaa Street, and the Najma District, using sustainable technologies that are compatible with the local environment. The second phase includes planting a 10,000-metre-long windbreak hedge on several main streets, including Al Messila, the Arab League, Al Khafji, and the entrance to Beach 974. The project also includes preparing the relevant lands for the completion of the hedge planting. The ministry confirmed that the campaign extends over four gradual phases until 2030.
Qatar Tribune
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Qatar Tribune
Municipality ministry announces success of first phase of Doha desertification combat project
DOHA: The Ministry of Municipality, represented by the Doha Municipality, announced the success of the first phase of its project to combat desertification and improve the urban landscape as part of th 'Let's Make it More Beautiful'campaign that was launched in early 2025. The campaign coincided with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the campaign aims to reduce desert areas within Doha by planting vegetation in urban areas, in line with sustainable development goals, particularly those related to halting land degradation and combating desertification. The first phase saw the planting of more than 110,000 seedlings of wind and arid climate resistant plants across a 15,000-meter-long stretch in strategic locations including Airport Road, Al Jamiaa Street, and the Najma District, using sustainable technologies that are compatible with the local environment. The second phase included planting a 10,000-meter-long windbreak hedge on several main streets, including Al Messila, the Arab League, Al Khafji, and the entrance to Beach 974. The project also included preparing the relevant lands for the completion of the hedge planting. The ministry confirmed that the campaign extends over four gradual phases until 2030. Through this project, the ministry seeks to eliminate desert landscapes within the city and enhance environmental sustainability in Doha, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and the state's commitments to environmental conservation.
