World Day To Combat Desertification And Drought Being Observed

Like other parts of the globe, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is being observed on Monday across the globe including Pakistan to highlight the urgent need to curb the desertification process

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jun, 2019 ) :Like other parts of the globe, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is being observed on Monday across the globe including Pakistan to highlight the urgent need to curb the desertification process.

The theme for this year' 2019 is "Let's Grow the Future Together".

The day aims to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification and its unique moment to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality is achievable through problem-solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels.

However, the effort to fight against desertification and drought does not occur only on this day. Many countries had been making a progressive effort in proactively addressing the issue and looking for solutions.

Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations.

Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts.

It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world's land area, are extremely vulnerable to over exploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.

Achieving land degradation neutrality -by rehabilitating already degraded land, scaling up sustainable land management and accelerating restoration initiatives- is a pathway to greater resilience and security for all.

Desertification and the Sustainable Development Goals the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development declares that "we are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations".