World Day to Combat Desertification celebration

(image source)


World Day to Combat Desertification celebration to take place in Northern Cape

15 June 2010

The Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi will commemorate World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on 17 June in Keimoes, Northern Cape. The celebration will take place under the theme, “Enhancing soils, anywhere, enhancing life everywhere”.

Hosting of the event in the Northern Cape is particularly significant as the province is one of the provinces severely affected by the impacts of land degradation and desertification with the highest proportion of rural households living in abject poverty.

This year’s celebration is significant in that the emphasis is about the close relationship between livelihoods and ecosystem wellbeing as well as soils that are rich in biodiversity. Healthy soils produce life and yet soil health depends a lot on how individuals use their land. Soils determine the country’s food security and how our ecosystems serve us. Our increasing ecological interdependence also means enhancing soils anywhere enhances life everywhere.

The World Day to Combat Desertification has been observed since 1994 to promote public awareness relating to international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought, and the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Northern Cape MEC for Environment and Nature Conservation, Ms Sylvia Lucas will also be in attendance at the celebrations.

Media is invited to the celebration.

Event details

Date: Thursday, 17 June 2010
Time: 09h30 for 10h00
Venue: Keimoes Sports Grounds, Siyanda Region

RSVP:
Peter Mbelengwa
Tel: 012 336 7902
Cell: 076 350 6386
E-mail: Mbelengwap@dwa.gov.za

Thabo Ditseho
Cell: 079 517 2764
E-mail: tditseho@ncpg.gov.za

Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs
15 June 2010

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WASHINGTON, June 16, 2009 –

Around 85 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live in rural areas and are fully dependent on the land for their livelihoods. Most are small scale farming communities reliant on rainfall.

Land degradation, and desertification, a specific type of degradation common in Africa, presents risks to human security by reducing the productivity and resilience of croplands, rangelands and woodlands, as well as the useful life of infrastructure such as reservoirs and canals. It reduces the availability of food, fodder and fuel wood, and compromises critical life-sustaining functions including water filtering, flood control, drought resistance and carbon storage in soil and vegetation. In worst-case scenarios, land degradation also has the potential to trigger conflict over natural resources. When these factors are taken together, land degradation places an unnecessary drag on economic growth. (read more)