Desertification

ISSUES

Desertification

These fragile zones have to sustain the habitats, crops and livestock of over a third of mankind, 90% of who live in developing countries. This is also the case of a third of the Mediterranean Sea’s European bank and 85% of pasture in the United States.
It is estimated that about 48 billion Euros are lost every year due to soil degradation.
Desertification is now threatening about a billion people. A third of the world's population could be affected in the future. By 2025, two thirds of farmable land in Africa, a third in Asia and a fifth in South America could disappear. In the United States and in Spain, a third of the country is headed for desertification.

NEWS

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CHINA - China has just kicked off an ambitious project to plant a green belt between the country's third and fourth largest...

MAURITANIA - NOUAKCHOTT - Des milliers de Mauritaniens se sont mobilisés samedi à l'appel du gouvernement pour planter 200.000...

BRAZIL - FORTALEZA - Le chef de la Convention de l'ONU contre la désertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, a appelé mercredi les...

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DEBATES

Will the Jordan River Keep on Flowing?

Les Amis de la Terre

The River Jordan has flowed freely for thousands of years, its name immortalized in the Hebrew Bible and its lush upper reaches...

What is the Purpose of the Convention to Combat Desertification?

In response to the severe drought that killed 200,000...

People, deserts and drylands in the developing world

IntroductionThe world's drylands support over a billion...

FOCUS

The desert

It seems paradoxical to evoke desertification in a world where precipitation is going to increase, but it is not so. The scenarios are relatively vague about what will happen to semi-arid regions like the Sahel,...

VIDEOS

12/10/2009	Dans le nord du Burkina-Faso, une région où s’étend le Sahel, la mare...	06/03/2009	Le plateau tibétain du Qinghai - où le fleuve jaune prend sa source - et...
06/03/2009	Amplifiée par le réchauffement climatique et l'exploitation des matières...

GREEN TIPS

Fertilizing the desert

The agricultural engineer, Philippe Ouaki Di Giorno developed the "Polyter" in the 1990s It is a small...

INDICATORS

Arable land
Biocapacity
Desertification risks
Secondary school net attendance ratio
Degraded soils
Ecological footprint

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