On August 16, 2010 has been opened UN-decade campaign against desertification, already affecting a quarter of the earth's surface. The phenomenon is caused by constant changes in climate coupled with the mismanagement of natural resources.
The definition of desertification is currently accepted by the international community is that proposed by the UNCCD (United Nations Convention of Combat Desertification) which defines desertification as: " land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub -humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. The term "land degradation" means reduction or loss, in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, of biological or economic productivity and complexity of non-irrigated cropland, irrigated cropland, the trails, pastures, forests or wooded areas as a result of ' land use or of one or more processes, including processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns. "
I wonder how will the planet Earth a few decades? No one knows with certainty even if the mathematical projections are not striking, it seems that the Earth is destined to shrink to half desert. The phenomenon of desertification has come to threaten 44% of cultivated land, while the total dryland reached 3.6 billion hectares (one quarter of the Earth's surface) where they live 2.1 billion people, ie a human being in three, a one billion at risk survive.
part of the Second International Conference on Climate Change, Sustainability and Development in Semi-arid regions, taking place in Brazil in Fortaleza, the campaign was developed ten years (2010-2020) to counter the advance of deserts. There are three main charges against him, listed by the United Nations Environment: improper agricultural practices, lack of resource management water and climate change. We must not forget to add the significant increase in world population.
The United Nations (UNEP) aims to develop specific community projects, like planting trees or teach ranchers how to better manage the land. The United Nations also wants to specifically recover millions of fertile acres bought in Africa by foreign speculators. Local actions, but must be paid an operation on a global scale.
Especially dramatic is the news coming from Africa from the Sahel zone, on the slopes inariditasi Niger, Mali and Chad. Nowhere, however, is getting to the desertification problem from Latin America to Russia and the U.S..
Along the Mediterranean coast, 30 million hectares of land have already been affected by desertification, a phenomenon that threatens the survival of 6.5 million people. One fifth of the territories subject to desertification in Spain and also Portugal and Greece are seriously affected by the phenomenon which is not immune to even the south of France. Morocco, Tunisia and Libya each lose about 1,000 km 2 of land production each year, half of arable land in Egypt is irrigated less productive due to the salinization of the water used.
Even in Italy the threat is real, especially for our southern regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia are at risk, the situation is particularly serious in the latter, where the danger of desertification concerns as much as 52% of the region, of which 11% already hit. A high risk also Sicily, Puglia and the small islands, if they are not quick to put into practice the changes in energy and environmental policies, forecasts already if not for positive become real problems.
Source: (UNCCD)
