Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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- Recently, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change addressed the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15)of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)in Cote d’Ivoire (Western Africa).
- COP 15 is a key moment in the fight against desertification, land degradation and drought.
- It will build on the findings of the second edition of the Global Land Outlook and offer a concrete response to the interconnected challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss.
- The Global Land Outlook (GLO), the UNCCD flagship publication, underscores land system challenges, showcases transformative policies and practices, and points to cost-effective pathways to scale up sustainable land and water management.
- Drought, land restoration, and related enablers such as land rights, gender equality and youth empowerment are among the top items on the Conference agenda.
Desertification
- Land degradation is defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of drylands.
- Land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.
- Loss of soil cover, mainly due to rainfall and surface runoff, is one of the biggest reasons for desertification.
- Cutting forests adversely affect the soil and cause degradation. As urbanization increases, the demand for resources is also increasing.
- Vegetation degradation is defined as, “the temporary or permanent reduction in the density, structure, species composition or productivity of vegetation cover”.
- It results in Badland Topography which itself is an initial stage of desertification.
- Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded.
- Sand encroachment by wind reduces fertility of the soil making the land susceptible to desertification.
- It was found to be responsible for 5.46% of the desertification in India.
- It may exacerbate desertification through alteration of spatial and temporal patterns in temperature, rainfall, solar radiation and winds.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT
