Forest, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity

Over 110 Countries Commit to Halt Land Degradation

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | ORDOS CITY, China (IDN) – Land degradation is one of the planet’s most pressing global challenges. A third of the world’s land is degraded. But the good news is that by the end of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on September 16, 2017 in China's Ordos City, 113 countries had agreed to specify concrete targets, with clear indicators, to reverse degradation and rehabilitate more land.

A new global roadmap to address land degradation was also agreed. The UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is regarded as the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast swathes of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and to reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 16 September 2017

China Hosts A Milestone UN Conference on Land Degradation

By Rita Joshi

BONN | ORDOS CITY (IDN) – A new strategy aimed at achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 will be a major outcome of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which opened in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, on September 6.

This is the first Conference hosted by China out of the three 1992 Earth Summit's Rio Conventions – on biological diversity and Climate Change, according to UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut. The target to be achieved between 2018 and 2030 has indicators to measure change. It provides "an organizing principle that we can all rally behind and achieve a specific change."

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 08 September 2017

Photo: Selous Game Reserve. Credit: UNESO | Evergreen

Tanzania Plans Hydroelectric Plant on World Heritage Site

By Global Information Network

PARIS | NEW YORK (IDN) - "The Selous Game Reserve, covering 50,000 square kilometres, is amongst the largest protected areas in Africa and is relatively undisturbed by human impact," says UNESCO, which decided in 2014 to include it in the List of World Heritage in danger.

Notwithstanding the prominent status given to Selous Game Reserve by including it among world's 54 properties of "outstanding universal value", and much to the dismay of environmentalists, Tanzanian President John Magufuli has invited bids for a 2,100-megawatt hydroelectric plant. The project would more than double the country’s power generation capacity, ending chronic electricity shortages.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 07 September 2017

Photo: A snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan’s Shamshy Wildlife Sanctuary. Credit: SLF Kyrgyzstan / Snow Leopard Trust

Globally Endangered Snow Leopard Draws the Focus

By Sultan Karimov

BISHKEK (IDN) - An elusive denizen of the mountains of Central and South Asia, the snow leopard (panthera uncia) inhabits parts of 12 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Its geographic range, 60 percent of which is in China, runs from the Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan and the Syr Darya through the mountains of Pamir, Tian Shan, Karakorum, Kashmir, Kunlun, and the Himalaya to southern Siberia, where the range covers the Russian Altai, Sayan, Tannu-Ola mountains and the mountains to the west of Lake Baikal.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 26 August 2017

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.