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OKIsItJustMe

(20,994 posts)
Sat Dec 7, 2024, 02:13 AM Saturday

DW: Why fertile land is turning to desert

https://www.dw.com/en/why-fertile-land-is-turning-to-desert/a-70955221
Why fertile land is turning to desert
Stuart Braun
Published 12/04/2024 Published December 4, 2024 last updated 12/06/2024 last updated December 6, 2024
Four football fields of land degrade into desert every second. That equates to an area almost as large as Ethiopia each year. Could efforts to restore and reforest this arid terrain bear fruit?

Nearly one half of the planet's land mass is on the brink of turning into nonarable desert, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

These already-arid lands are marked by low rainfall yet support 45% of the world's agriculture. Now, extreme drought linked to human-made global heating is helping to transform this area into an infertile wasteland.



The problem is so severe that a United Nations desertification conference (COP16) happening in Saudi Arabia in December is demanding that 1.5 billion hectares of the world's desertified land be restored by 2030. This is the area the UN says could be rehabilitated.

I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about…
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