IPS InterPress Desertification
Desertification could force some 60 million to migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and Europe by 2020. More than 250 million people worldwide directly suffer the effects of desertification, and another 1.2 billion in 110 countries are threatened by this degradation of otherwise arable and habitable land -- caused by climate change and by unsustainable land-use practices like overgrazing, deforestation and burning. IPS offers insights into a phenomenon that is undermining development in Africa and around the world, and which requires the immediate attention of the international community and local peoples alike.
Updated: 22 hours 11 sec ago
ARGENTINA: Turning Wasteland into Woodland
In Santiago del Estero, one of the Argentine provinces hit hardest by deforestation and desertification, an oasis of native tree species is being created to restore the soil and entice back farmers who were forced to leave their land.
Categories: Desertification
KENYA: Insuring Pastoralists Against Increasing Risks
NAIROBI, Feb 4 (IPS) - The droughts in the Turkana region were less severe
when she was growing up, says Laura Letapalel, and pastoralists
could still find some grass and water for their animals. Now, she
laments, the droughts are longer and there is nothing to eat.
Categories: Desertification
MALI: Small Farmers in the Carbon Market
BAMAKO, Jan 16 (IPS) - Mohamed Abd Khibé is a caretaker at the acacia
nursery in Dialoubé village, part of a project to sequester
carbon in trees while simultaneously improving farmers'
livelihoods.
Categories: Desertification
ENVIRONMENT: Wildfires Spreading as Temperatures Rise
WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (IPS) - Future firefighters have their work cut out for
them. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in
Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds,
and record high temperatures set the stage for the worst wildfire
in the country's history.
Categories: Desertification
DEVELOPMENT: Climate Change Likely to Increase African Hunger Woes
BERLIN, Nov 18 (IPS) - Africa, the continent already most affected by
hunger and food scarcity, is likely
to see its woes increased
due to climate change and the changing rain patterns
it
provokes, experts and scientists say.
Categories: Desertification
CLIMATE CHANGE: The Rising Tide of Environmental Refugees
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (IPS) - Our early twenty-first century civilisation is
being squeezed between advancing
deserts and rising seas.
Categories: Desertification
Q&A: Desertification and Climate Change Go Hand in Hand
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 6 (Tierramérica) - "The entire social fabric of an area is
compromised when soils are depleted," says Italian expert
Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is
increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change.
Categories: Desertification
CLIMATE CHANGE: Food Supply Hangs in the Balance
UXBRIDGE, Canada, Oct 2 (IPS) - Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more
starving people will be part of humanity's grim future
without concerted action on climate change and new investments in
agriculture, experts reported this week.
Categories: Desertification
ENVIRONMENT: Synergies in Fight Against Desertification , Climate Change
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 30 (IPS) - Climate change aggravates soil degradation, but
sustainable use of land resources can, in turn, mitigate global
warming, according to participants at the United Nations
conference on desertification in the Argentine capital.
Categories: Desertification
ENVIRONMENT: Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilisation?
WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after
being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the
non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was
largely depleted.
Categories: Desertification
ENVIRONMENT: Desertification - a Macroeconomic Problem
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 24 (IPS) - Understanding desertification as a macroeconomic
problem, with financial, productive, environmental and civil
society aspects, is a major concern for Christian Mersmann, the
managing director of the Global Mechanism of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Categories: Desertification
LATIN AMERICA: Desertification – an Invisible Cancer
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 18 (IPS) - "Desertification is the cancer of the
earth," Argentine geographer Elena Abraham told IPS. "It
is a process of degradation that does not manifest itself in
spectacular ways but furtively advances, and by the time it is
visible there is nothing to be done, and people have to move
away, in search of an alternative."
Categories: Desertification
MALI: Technology Transfer So Slow "We’ll Have to Copy Like China"
BAMAKO, Sep 15 (IPS) - Cars and motorcycles are stuck because of the heavy
rains that have drenched Mali’s capital for the past few days. It
is late afternoon and the water, mud and damaged fruit from
nearby stalls make the journey for those heading home to
celebrate Ramadan even more treacherous.
Categories: Desertification
BRAZIL: When the Arid Northeast Turns Green
NOVA RUSSAS, Brazil, Jul 22 (Tierramérica) - The rain - usually much desired because it is so
scarce - has come in excess this year, destroying many crops. But
in this farming district in far north-eastern Brazil, the impact
of the heavy rainfall was less marked than in the past, thanks to
the diversification of crops and productive activities.
Categories: Desertification
BRAZIL: Courts - the Battleground for Fight Against Paper Mills
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Sep 15 (Tierramérica) - The battle against the wood pulp ndustry has
intensified in the Brazilian courts, especially in
those states
where eucalyptus plantations have expanded the most: Bahia and
Espírito Santo
in the east and Rio Grande do Sul in the south.
Categories: Desertification
Q&A: 'If You Feed the Land, It Will Feed You Back'
BONN, Aug 19 (IPS) - Luc Gnacadja, who took over as Executive Secretary
of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) last October, is a man with a mission - a mission that
goes beyond explaining that his job is not to battle deserts.
Categories: Desertification