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Press
Release..............................
UNESCAP News Services
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12 June 2003
Press Release No: L/16/2003 [SG/SM/8750;
OBV/355]
'DESERTIFICATION IS BOTH A CAUSE AND A CONSEQUENCE OF POVERTY',
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN MESSAGE FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY
Following is the message by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan for the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought,
17 June 2003:
Desertification and drought pose an ever-increasing
global threat. Human activities such as overcultivation, overgrazing,
deforestation and poor irrigation practices, along with climate
change, are turning once fertile soils into unproductive and
barren patches of land. Arable land per person is shrinking
throughout the world, threatening food security, particularly
in poor rural areas, and triggering humanitarian and economic
crises.
All parts of the world are affected. Last year's
drought in Australia was the worst in more than a century, during
which millions of tons of productive topsoil blew away in dust
storms, crippling crop production and exports. Every year in
India, dry spells and deforestation turn 2.5 million hectares
into wasteland, while elsewhere in Asia sandstorms are becoming
a growing threat to the economy and the environment. Some 70
per cent of all land in Mexico is vulnerable to desertification,
prompting 700,000 to 900,000 Mexicans to leave their homes every
year in search of a better living as migrant workers in the
United States. But nowhere is the problem of desertification
more acute than in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of environmental
refugees is expected to rise to
25 millions in the next 20 years.
The theme of this year's observance of the World
Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is "sustainable
water resource management schemes", highlighting the issue
of water scarcity and the need for better water conservation
and management. Since the adoption of the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification nine years ago today, numerous projects
have been initiated, despite limited resources, to address these
and related concerns. At last year's World Summit for Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg, the international community reaffirmed
its commitment to the Convention, and recognized the need to
give it new momentum through greater financial support.
Because the poor often farm degraded land that
is increasingly unable to meet their needs, desertification
is both a cause and a consequence of poverty. Fighting desertification
must, therefore, be an integral part of our wider efforts to
eradicate poverty and ensure long-term food security. Let us
today recommit ourselves to the goals of the Convention, and
to achieving sustainable development for all, including in the
dryland rural areas where the world's poorest people live.
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