World Day to Combat Desertification

Transcript

The 17th of June is World Day to Combat Desertification. This year the theme is Desertification and Climate Change - One Global Challenge.

What is desertification, and why should we care about it? On the official Web site for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification they say:

Desertification is a process of land degradation, partly due to human-induced factors. Activities such as over-cultivation, over-grazing, deforestation and poor irrigation practices are turning once-fertile soils into barren patches of land. It has enormous economic and social costs and can lead to poverty, forced migration and conflict.

Another major contributing factor, however, is climate change. Extreme climatic events such as floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and more drastic in their effects. Severe drought is compounding the existing problem of desertification in the drylands. Two thirds of the world's poor live in these areas and it is they who are suffering most from the double blow of desertification and climate change as they struggle to eke out a living from the land. (June 17: World Day 2007)

For people who live here in Japan, it may be hard to imagine the seriousness of desertification and climate change. But even here we sometimes experience water shortages, and in recent years we've suffered from dust in the air, carried from deserts in northern China. Imagine what it is like for two-thirds of the poor people in the world who have to struggle for existence in places with barren land and not enough water.

For many people in the world, desertification and climate change are life-or-death issues. We all depend on clean air and water and healthy, fertile land, so desertification matters to everyone on our planet.