Forest, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity

Photo: Soil erosion is a major problem for Benin's farmers. Nuclear techniques help scientists find its exact causes, so that they can tackle erosion. Credit: E. Fulajtar | IAEA.

Two UN Agencies Reveal High Rate of Soil Erosion in Benin

By Emil Fulajtar and Joanne Liou*

VIENNA (IDN) – Harmless traces from nuclear testing more than half a century ago are helping researchers assess soil erosion rates. In Africa, about 65 percent of the continent's farmland is affected by erosion-induced losses of topsoil and soil nutrients, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Benin is among those countries severely impacted by soil erosion, which poses a major problem for economic development since agriculture represents approximately 35 percent of the country’s GDP and 80 percent of its export income. A recent study applied a nuclear technique to assess rates of soil erosion and support land conservation in Benin.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 14 November 2019

India To Host the UN Conference on Migratory Species

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – Based on an ancient Sanskrit saying, the theme ‘Migratory species connect the planet and together we welcome them home’ will guide the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS COP13) in Gandhinagar, a planned city in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Some 1,500 representatives of national governments, international organizations, scientists, conservation groups and other wildlife experts – together with the associated meetings of the Standing Committee – will discuss the topic from February 15 to 22, 2020.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 09 November 2019

EU Enhances Support for FAO to Benefit ACP States

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN | ACP) – European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, and Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, signed on October 14 a new agreement enabling the EU to provide an additional €9 million to support the UN agency's work in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The funding will boost in particular the efforts of countries in the targeted regions to bring about sustainable changes in agricultural policies and practices to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and natural resources.

: Jaya Ramachandran; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 14 October 2019

Photo: The Hadza people in Manyara. Credit. Edwin Mkendo.

Tanzania’s Hadzabe Win Climate Change Award

By Kizito Makoye

MANYARA, Tanzania (IDN) – At the heart of the Yaeda valley, which sprawls across a wide expanse of plains in Tanzania’s northern Manyara region, live the Hadzabe – a 40,000-year-old tribe who live in the bush. Their livelihoods still depend on hunting and gathering wild fruits, and for many years now, they have shown a great ability in surviving on a few dwindling resources.

Armed with vast knowledge of the country’s flora and fauna, coupled with their inseparable bond with nature, the Hadzabe have until recently lived in a perfect balance between man and the environment.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 October 2019

Photo: People lining up for water at a borehole in Epworth, in southeast Harare, Zimbabwe.Credit: Zinyange Auntony for The New York Times.

Drought Catapults Zimbabwe into a National Disaster

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a new low water mark for Zimbabwe’s troubled economy, two million people in Zimbabwe's capital have now been left without water after the government ran out of foreign currency to pay for imported water treatment chemicals.

Zimbabwe’s capital city shut its main water works on September 26, potentially leaving the city dry and raising the risk of water borne diseases.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 October 2019

UN Reviews the SAMOA Pathway for Most Vulnerable Countries

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Progress made in addressing the priorities of the highly vulnerable small island developing States (SIDS) will draw the focus of the United Nations General Assembly when it conducts a high-level review of the SAMOA Pathway on September 27 as part of the ACTION FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET that kicked off a week earlier at the UN headquarters.

Fifty two countries and territories are presently classified as SIDS by the UN OHRLLS (UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States). 38 are UN members and 14 are non-UN Members or Associate Members of the Regional Commissions.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 24 September 2019

Global Leaders Urged to Make Africa's Great Green Wall a Reality by 2030

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK IDN) – Eminent leaders from business, politics, media, the film and music industries gathered in New York on September 22 to spotlight the 8000 km Great Green Wall – natural wonder of the world across the entire width of the African continent – as a practical, low-cost nature-based solution responding to the global climate emergency. They issued an urgent call on governments, civil society and business to join a growing global movement to make the Great Green Wall a reality by 2030.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 23 September 2019

Photo: Kenyan children planting trees. Source: The African News Journal.

Kenya Must Move Fast to Reverse Deforestation

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Since independence, natural resources in Kenya have been on a fast track to extinction. Today, nearly half of all its forests are gone, resulting in more droughts, floods and other dire consequences for communities, ecosystems, food security and infrastructure.

From 10% of the country covered in forest in 1963, noted Kaluki Paul Mutuku, Youth4Nature Regional Coordinator, Africa Group, only 6% was covered in 2009.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 September 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr Patrick I. Gomes at the first-ever United Nations Trade Forum, organized by UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland, from 9 to 13 September 2019. Credit: Timothy Sullivan (UNCTAD)

ACP Reiterates Call for Urgent Ambitious Climate Action

Viewpoint by Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

The writer is the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Following are extensive excerpts from his presentation at the United Nations Trade Forum from 9-13 September 2019 in the Session ‘Climate Action and Trade’ in Geneva.

GENEVA (IDN) – The ACP Group of States shares with the great majority of well-informed persons, globally, that climate change is the most significant challenge, this century, for the achievement of sustainable development on planet Earth.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 13 September 2019

Photo: Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest, near Manaus. CC BY-SA 2.0

The Emerald Forests Need Not Die

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Belem is the Brazilian city at the mouth of the Amazon. Unlike its slummy counterpart, Kinshasa, at the mouth of the Congo, it’s full of resplendent streets with beautiful nineteenth century houses. It has squares and marketplaces full of cafes, fountains and life.

The large city grew up shipping rubber from the Amazon forest, which begins on its doorstep. This made it wealthy. One can see the beautiful baroque Theatre of Peace, a fluffy pink building where Anna Pavlova danced. On the main square, ornate with pavements of black and white quartz, is the Hotel Grao Para where Xavier Cugat and his orchestra would play and Zsa Zsa Gabor would stop over on her way, by propeller plane, on the slow flight to Rio.