It is pertinent that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) chose the theme — ”United for Land. Our Legacy. Our Future” — on World Day to combat desertification and drought which fell on June 17.
According to the UNCCD desertification, land degradation and drought are among the biggest environmental challenges we are currently facing. About 40 per cent of all land area worldwide is already considered degraded.
According to estimates, an equivalent of four football fields is degraded every second. This adds up to 100 million hectares lost every year unless we do something to arrest the damage. Land not only provides 95 per cent of our food needs but also clothes and shelters us and provides livelihood.
Worsening droughts, floods, wildfires, and unforeseen climate events have degraded land in recent years. With the population increasing, and healthy land cover diminishing, there has been a migration of people to safer and habitable places. This has further added to the problem.
According to research released by the UNCCD, severe land degradation is now affecting 168 countries across the world.
According to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, 25 per cent of India’s land mass is undergoing desertification and 32 per cent is undergoing degradation. A preventive and curative approach is what has been advised by experts and the ministry claims efforts are on to address the problem.
According to studies, more than 80 per cent of India’s degraded land is in nine States: Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.