World Day to Combat Desertification 2009: Conserving land and water = Securing our common future.

The 2009 World Day  to Combat Desertification that falls on Wednesday June 17 represents an opportunity to reinforce the message that desertification is not a fatality, that solutions exist, and that it can be effectively tackled through strengthened community participation and cooperation at all levels.
Country Parties and civil society organizations are invited to organize events to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification to help raise awareness of the problem and to encourage as broad a public as possible to become actively involved in finding solutions.

The statistics speak for themselves: over 250 million people are directly affected by the degradation of the dryland environment, and one billion are at risk; over 110 countries have drylands that are potentially at risk; 70 per cent of drylands used for agriculture are already degraded. In addition, failing policies and climatic change are putting more pressure than ever on the soil. When secure water and food supplies cannot be guaranteed, people frequently migrate to areas where they believe they can find them. It is projected that for the period leading up to the year 2050 there will be 200 million environmentally induced migrants. Read more about here

Lake Victoria Wetlands Under Stress.

By Caroline Achieng, Lake Victoria Sunbirders (Kisumu)

Wetlands provide various socio-economic functions and values to the communities namely: being a home to endemic bird species which can only be found in the swamps along Lake Victoria (for example the Papyrus yellow warbler that is globally threatened, The Papyrus Gonolek, The Carruther’s Cisticola, and the Papyrus Canary). The also act as buffer zones for control of likely floods, as natural filters and as a breeding ground for fish. In addition, wetlands are water reservoirs, while providing income through established cottage industry and nature-based tourism. Read more about the challenges faced by Lake Victoria wetlands

Call for Climate Justice - Repay the Climate Debt

Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) believes that climate change is fundamentally a justice issue. The 53 African countries are responsible for less than 4% of global emissions and have over 15% of the global population. The developed countries have emitted almost three quarters of all historical emissions but they represent less than one fifth of the world’s population. Read more about the Declaration of African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to the 3rd Session of AMCEN on Climate change here>>>>