Polski
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed on June 17. The holiday was established in 1995 by the UN General Assembly, which publicizes the problem and helps educate more concerned groups. Representatives from countries around the world are deepening their awareness of the need for international cooperation in combating desertification and the effects of drought. The main goal is to implement the provisions in countries severely affected by the disaster. As it turns out, the drought problem has also begun to affect Poland for several years.
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought – “Her Land. Her Rights”
This year’s World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought will be held at UN headquarters in New York, and individual events associated with the holiday will also take place in Fiji, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam.
This year’s event was entitled: “Her Land. Her Rights: Advancing Gender Equality and Land Restoration Goals”(“Her Land. Her Rights: advancing gender equality and land restoration goals”). World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought and its organizers want to focus on women’s rights to inherit and own land in 2023. They are proving essential to achieving the event’s related global goals for gender equality and land degradation neutrality by 2030.
Women around the world play an important role in agricultural production. They ensure food and nutrition security, manage land and natural resources, and participate in building resilience to climate change. Today, nearly half of the world’s agricultural workforce is female, but as many as four out of five landowners are men. In many regions of the world, women are still subject to discriminatory laws and practices. The most visible manifestation of this phenomenon is the restriction of women’s rights to access services, resources, land and control over it. In more than 100 countries, under customary, religious or traditional laws and practices, women still cannot inherit property from their husbands.
Launch of #HerLand campaign – about the vital role of women
Ahead of this year’s Desertification and Drought Day, the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) has launched the #HerLand campaign to showcase examples of successful women managing land sustainably. In this way, the UNCCD wants to encourage support for women’s land rights around the world. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought and the slogan “Her Land. Her Rights” emphasize that investing in women’s access to land and related assets on an equal footing with men is an investment in their future, as well as the future of humanity. The year 2023 is an opportunity for many women to fight for their rights and lead global action for land reclamation and drought prevention.
UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said: “Of all the gender inequalities we experience around the world, the imbalance in women’s access to fertile land remains perhaps the most shocking. In every corner of the world, bridging this particular gender gap remains an unfinished business. That’s why on this year’s Desert and Drought Day, we are mobilizing the international community to support women’s land rights.”
Causes and consequences of global drought
A key problem of the 21st century. is the overexploitation of natural resources. As a result, humanity is experiencing extreme climate change and restrictions on access to water resources. Some 170 countries around the world (including Poland) are threatened by desertification, dehydration and land degradation. The causes of this condition are complex, as it consists of many factors, such as forest fires, heat waves, mass migrations, floods, and rising sea levels.
Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and intermittently dry areas (it does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts). It results in the emergence of such problems as reduced food production, decreased soil fertility, reduced natural resilience of the land and poorer water quality. Dryland ecosystems, which cover more than a third of the world’s land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate human activities, climate change and water mismanagement.
Desertification and drought are among the greatest threats to sustainable development, especially in developing countries, but also, increasingly, in developed countries. Exacerbated by land degradation and climate change, droughts are becoming more frequent and severe. This is a global and serious problem. It is estimated that by 2050. Droughts can affect three-quarters of the world’s population. More than 2.3 billion people already face water shortages. Solving these problems requires concerted action by the international community, especially in Africa. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought aims to draw attention to the problems arising from these phenomena, but above all – to seek solutions and possible ways to prevent tragedies.
Photo source: UN Convention to Combat Desertification
