Kierstin Lilly
October 15, 2010
11:25 AM
The United Nations has launched the “Decade for Deserts” and the “Fight against Desertification” for the Asian region. This region has close to 40 percent of land that has been affected by drought and land degradation and also has the largest population afflicted by desertification. "Continued land degradation -- whether from climate change, unsustainable agriculture or poor management of water resources -- is a threat to food security, leading to starvation among the most acutely affected communities and robbing the world of productive land.” These dry lands are home to only one in three people in the world who are now facing serious threats due to the increase of droughts and floods being caused by the land degradation. "Breaking the poverty cycle is a master key in the fight against desertification, land degradation and tempering the impact of drought," said Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)”
I would like this article to go more in depth with this serious situation and inform the reader of why this region has become so vastly affected by drought, land degradation and desertification. It is stated that “it only takes seconds for floodwaters to erode fertile soil, and can take 500 years to recover an inch of that soil.” This shows exactly how dramatic and serious this situation is, not only for the land but for the large population as well. These people are being left with unsustainable agriculture and poor water resources. They are on the edge of starvation and complete poverty. I encourage the United Nations in their efforts of launching the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification but these problems do not just happen over night. It shocks me how often people wait till after something drastic happens, in this case an environmental disaster, to take action towards fixing the problem.
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?key1=2010-10-14%2000:46:18&key2=1
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