Earth calls for help on World Day to Combat Desertification & Drought

The UN General Assembly formally proclaimed June 17 as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought by its resolution adopted in December 1994. 

The UN announced that the goals of the day are to increase public understanding of the problem, to find solutions, and to improve community engagement and cooperation at all levels to make it easier for countries, especially those in Africa, that are suffering from severe drought and/or desertification to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

In order to achieve the interconnected global goals of gender equality and land degradation neutrality by 2030 and to promote a number of other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN announced that the focus of the 2023 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought will be on women's land rights. This year’s theme seeks to raise awareness of the obstacles that women and girls experience when making decisions about land concerns, as well as the disproportionate impact that desertification, land degradation, and drought have on them. 

The UN headquarters in New York will host this year's celebrations, which will also take place all around the world. 

It is worth mentioning that droughts are caused by the absence of rainfall, resulting in severe water shortages, which might end fatally. Droughts develop gradually, in contrast to other extreme weather phenomena like earthquakes or hurricanes that occur more quickly. However, they may even be more lethal than other weather-related threats, as more people have been impacted by drought over the past 40 years than by any other natural calamity, according to the International Rescue Committee. 

On the other hand, the demand on land resources is growing along with the world's population and economic development. Degradation of the land results from poor land management, which limits the land's ability to provide essential services, including food production, economic value, and ecological and cultural diversity. Desertification, a severe form of land degradation, is associated with both biodiversity loss and climate change, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre stated. 

Jusoor Post talked with Dr. Amin El-Meligi, professor of physical chemistry at the National Research Center in Egypt, about the scientific explanation of the two phenomenon and the impact on the human race. 

“Human interference has caused Mother Earth to suffer from these two disastrous phenomena,” El-Meligi said, adding that “building on agricultural lands and cutting down trees in forests are two main reasons for desertification.” 

He clarified that poor countries depend on cutting down trees in forests (deforestation) as a main source of energy. Through this act, countries in East Asia, South America, the Amazon, and Africa transform forests into waste lands. 

“Deforestation has tragic results on our planet,” El-Meligi asserted, adding that global warming and climate change are due to such destructive human acts. 

“Forests are considered factories of oxygen to maintain a stable climate and absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis,” he noted. 

El-Meligi explained that what is happening in the environment is a “loop.” Emissions are increasing and the Earth’s temperature will have increased 1.5 degrees Celsius very soon despite the UN goal not to exceed this threshold by 2050.

“Solutions must be acted upon to stop this cycle and save our planet,” he advised.