Forest, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity

Photo: CMS Scientific Council Sessional Committee - 2nd meeting in Bonn Credit: Aydin Bahramlouian

UN Conference to Focus on World’s Endangered Wildlife

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN (IDN) – Protecting the world's endangered wildlife from unsustainable tourism, lead poisoning, underwater noise, and the transition to clean energy will be some of the themes at the centre of a major global meeting which kicks off in Manila in less than three months.

More than 120 countries will gather in the Philippine capital for the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS COP12) from October 23 to 28 2017. The meeting will focus on an array of critical issues facing the world’s endangered wildlife shared across international borders. The CMS Secretariat is based in Bonn

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 25 July 2017

Photo: African ministers at the global observance of the World Day to Combat Desertification in Burkina Faso.

African Ministers Keen to Halt Migration of Jobless Youth

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – Senior government ministers from several African countries have emphasized the need for addressing the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa. Ignoring their predicament is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa's interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso,

The Symposium on June 15 examined the threats connected to sustainability, stability and security, namely, conflicts linked to access to degrading natural resources, instability due to unemployment of rural youth and insecurity and the risk of the radicalization triggered by social and economic marginalization and exposure to extremist groups.

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 16 June 2017

Photo: "The way to deliver multiple benefits is Land Degradation Neutrality," says UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Pradeep Monga addressing the 16 May event. Credit; UNCCD.

Connecting the Dots Between Climate and Land

By Jaya Ramachandran

BONN (IDN) – Two important United Nations conventions and civil society representatives availed of the climate conference in Bonn to get together and reflect on how to connect the dots between the challenging agendas on climate and land by deliberating on: “Why land degradation neutrality matters for climate?”

The two conventions with headquarters in Bonn, the capital of post-war West Germany until reunification of two German states in 1990, are the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The city hosts some 20 UN agencies and secretariats meanwhile.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 19 May 2017

Giri Kadurugamuwa – a conservationist, shows how land degradation is damaging a tea plant, making it hollow and fragile: “If you claw at the trunk, it will start to peel off.” Credit: Stella Paul.

Drought Forcing Sri Lanka’s Tea Producers to Seek Greener Pastures

By Stella Paul

RATNAPURA, Sri Lanka (IDN) – The deafening sound of half a dozen rolling machines in the Rilhena tea factory feels like a hard punch on the head, but for factory workers Bihita Madura and Rajakaxmi Chandrakumar this is sweet music.

Their noise-belching, black dust-spewing machine symbolises what matters most: another day at work. “It’s a normal day for us," says Madura, watching Chandrakumar feed a shovel of black tea leaves into the giant rolling machine.

Both in their forties, Madura and Chandrakumar have good reason to be relieved: the Rilhena factory, owned by Khawatte Plantations of tea major Dilmah, is one of the country’s best-performing tea producers. But elsewhere in the country, the industry has been battling a series of problems: drought, dry spells, erratic rain, degrading land, eroding soil, crashing tea prices, low yield, labour migration and closure of factories.

: Stella Paul; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 April 2017

Photo: Club members with some teachers from the schools and teaching assistants from my institution. Credit. Lowana Veal | IDN-INPS

Iceland Shares Land Restoration Expertise with the Needy

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Back in 1907, at a time in which Iceland was already faced with severe land degradation problems caused mainly by overgrazing and logging for firewood, the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) was set up as a governmental agency with the mission of preventing soil erosion and reclaiming eroded land.

Much has been learned in the intervening years and keen to pass on its expertise, SCSI – in collaboration with the Agricultural University of Iceland (AUI) – is now running a United Nations University (UNU) training programme targeting participants from developing countries.

: Lowana Veal; UN INSIDER; 18 February 2017

Photo: Burkina Faso: 20 000 trees are planted to create living hedges. Credit: UNCCD

UN Launches Campaign to Invest in Degraded Lands

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) - The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow rapidly over the past fifteen years – reaching 244 million in 2015, up from 222 million in 2010 and 173 million in 2000.

Behind these numbers, says the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), are the links between migration and development challenges, in particular, the consequences of environmental degradation, political instability, food insecurity and poverty.

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 11 February 2017

Photo: Dr. Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C. (Mexico) Dr. Yury Darman, Director of WWF-Russia Amur Branch (Russia) and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder and Director of Navdanya (India)

UN Honours Three Activists for Biodiversity Protection

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - The United Nations has honoured activists for their relentless commitment to biodiversity protection: India's Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder and Director of Navdanya, Mexico's Dr. Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C., and Russia's Dr. Yury Darman, Director of WWF-Russia Amur Branch.

They received the prestigious MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity at an Award Ceremony on December 2, 2016 in Cancún, Mexico, in conjunction with the high-level segment of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 15 December 2016

Photo: International Workshop on Combating Desertification and Land Degradation. Credit: neaspec.org

Morocco Hosts Africa's Coordinating Office on Desertification

MARRAKECH (IDN) - Morocco has agreed to host the Africa Regional coordination Unit of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) with a view to providing the Bonn-based secretariat with vital support services that the Parties to the Convention need to effectively implement the Convention in Africa.

The announcement to this effect was made on November 14 by Abdeladim Lhafi, Morocco’s High Commissioner for Water and Forests and the Fight against Desertification and Commissioner of the 22nd session of Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Conference (COP22), from November 7 to 18 in Marrakech.

: Bernhard Schell; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 November 2016

In the Liptako-Gourma region, Niger, an area that has experienced large-scale land degradation and water scarcity, a villager takes extra precautions to keep her supply of water clean. Credit: UNDP/Rabo Yahaya

Bold Steps Agreed to Make Land Resilient to Degradation

By IDN-INPS Africa Bureau

NAIROBI (IDN) – A landmark meting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has decided to ramp up global efforts to curb desertification and drought that are projected to force 135 million to migrate in the next 30 years.

The fifteenth session of the Committee of the Review of Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC 15) concluded its three-day meeting on October 20 in Nairobi, Kenya, with the adoption of an outcome aimed at intensifying efforts to combat desertification.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; UN INSIDER; 22 October 2016

Photo: UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut

Land Degradation Aggravating Migration, Warns UNCCD Chief

Interview by Ramesh Jaura with UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut

NEW YORK | BONN (IDN) - "Migration associated with natural resource depletion and climate change is much wider in scale than previously appreciated," Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), has warned in an interview.

"Close to 100% of the irregular migrants crossing from the Mediterranean into Europe are from arid regions," she told IDN, adding: "Climate change will exacerbate land degradation in many regions, with both direct and indirect effects on rural household incomes, increased risks of crop losses and fluctuating commodity market prices. Under these conditions, we can expect an increase in the flow of migrants from drought-prone and degraded areas," she cautioned.