Die Konvention der Vereinten Nationen zur Bekämpfung der Desertifikation (UNCCD) (2024)

FAQs

What is the importance of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification? ›

The UNCCD prioritizes human wellbeing, health, and livelihoods through efforts to combat desertification and land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa (UNCCD) is an international convention that focuses primarily on addressing land degradation. The UNCCD has been ratified by 196 states plus the European Union.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), adopted in 1994, is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

Protection of vegetative cover can be a major instrument for prevention of desertification. Maintaining vegetative cover to protect soil from wind and water erosion is a key preventive measure against desertification. Properly maintained vegetative cover also prevents loss of ecosystem services during drought episodes.

Land degradation and desertification can affect human health through complex pathways. As land is degraded and deserts expand in some places, food production is reduced, water sources dry up and populations are pressured to move to more hospitable areas.

Consequences of desertification

Loss of biodiversity by worsening the living conditions of many species. Food insecurity due to crop failure or reduced yields. The loss of vegetation cover and therefore of food for livestock and humans.

The Great Green Wall of China

This project was initiated with the goal that the trees would act like a barrier (a 'green wall', as the name suggests) to combat desertification and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition, aforestation would help to combat soil erosion and slow the pace of desertification.

People displaced by desertification put new strains on natural resources and on other societies nearby and threaten international instability, the 46-page study by the U.N.

By 2045, 135 million people could be displaced as a result of desertification. Over 75% of the Earth's land area is already degraded, and over 90% could become degraded by 2050.

Holistic Planned Grazing, or Management Intensive Grazing (MiG), gives rise to a planned grazing strategy that has been proven to reverse desertification. This practice has worked in many arid and semi-arid regions of world where desertification has occurred.

What are 3 solutions of desertification? ›

One of the most effective ways to combat desertification is efficient water management — saving, reusing treated water, rainwater harvesting, desalination, or direct use of seawater for salt-loving plants. Desertification is defined by the UN as the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas.

Protecting the vegetative cover, which can be a major instrument for soil conservation against wind and water erosion. Integrating the use of land for grazing and farming where conditions are favorable, allowing for a more efficient cycling of nutrients within the agricultural systems.

Among the greatest achievements of the United Nations is the development of a body of international law, which is central to promoting economic and social development, as well as to advancing international peace and security. The international law is enshrined in conventions, treaties and standards.

UNCCD's 197 parties (169 affected by desertification) work together to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought in drylands — the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

Desertification is defined as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities” by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)^*.

The Convention was adopted on 17 June 1994 by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the elaboration of an international convention to combat desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa (established pursuant to resolution 47/188³ of the General ...