Land Restoration, Desertification, and Drought Resilience

“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”- Lady Bird Johnson. The build up to World Environment Day has been lukewarm to say the least. Not much attention is paid to matters concerning the environment. Unfortunately, we often take the environment for granted. This narrative must be changed. The United Nations (UN) comments that the world is on the brink of a climate catastrophe and current actions and plans to address the crisis are insufficient. Without transformative action starting now and within this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeply and rapidly in all sectors, the 1.5°C target will be at risk and with it the lives of more than 3 billion people. The UN adds that failure to act leads to intensifying heat waves, droughts, flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise, and famines. Regrettably, this year alone has seen devastating floods in Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, China, Dubai, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar. Wildfires broke out in western Canada and Texas. Cyclones swept islands and nations along the Indian Ocean. The United Nations (UN) states that all over the world ecosystems are threatened. From forests and dry lands to farmlands and lakes, natural spaces on which humanity’s existence depends are reaching a tipping point. World Environment Day is the biggest international day for the environment. The day is observed annually on June 5th. It is a global event led by the United Nations to encourage awareness and action to protect the environment. The day aims to raise awareness about environmental issues and inspire people and governments to take action to protect the planet. According to the UN, drought and desertification are threatening essential ecosystems across the planet, including freshwater ecosystems and soil, the connective tissue that makes all life on Earth possible. World Environment Day is a global platform for inspiring positive change. People from more than 150 countries participate in this United Nations international day, which celebrates environmental action and the power of governments, businesses and individuals to create a more sustainable world. The event has been led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since its inception in 1973. In 2024, World Environment Day is being hosted by Saudi Arabia. History of World Environment Day. What does environment mean? If you mean physical environment, then it is defined as the surrounding conditions and elements with which a living thing interacts. However, apart from the physical, there are other types of elements that make up an environment. They are the chemical and biological attributes. Thus, an environment contains all biotic and abiotic factors that have a role in the survival, evolution, and development of the organism occupying it. The United Nations General Assembly declared June 5 as World Environment Day during the Stockholm Conference in 1972. It was the first world conference to make environmental protection a major issue. The UNEP was established in the same year. World Environment Day was celebrated for the first time in 1973. The first World Environment Day was celebrated in 1973 under the theme 'Only One Earth'. Today, 193 member states are part of the UNEP and mark this day by organizing various programmes. Theme. This year, the theme of World Environment Day is - "Land Restoration, Desertification, and Drought Resilience." According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet's land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world's population. The number and duration of droughts have increased by 29 per cent since 2000 - without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world's population by 2050. The issue of droughts cannot be underestimated. In Jamaica there is scheduled water lock offs daily by the National Water Commission in order to facilitate everyone getting some water. The issue of food security is closely linked to drought. Without rainfall our farmers have a challenging time irrigating their crops. We must also note that without food security political instability is a real problem. The state of our environment sustains life. Climate Change and the Environment. Our actions clearly are intimately linked to the state of our environment. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others. The consequences of climate change include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity. Asia and the Pacific Asia and the Pacific regions are exceptionally rich in biodiversity. Land-use changes and land degradation caused by factors such as extensive agriculture, deforestation and unmanaged urbanization and sprawl, are reducing the biodiversity of many land ecosystems. Healthy soils store massive amounts of carbon, which, if released, would cause a huge spike in planetary warming. Changes in water courses, pollution and unsustainable consumption of water resources are causing water-related stress and reduced aquatic biodiversity. Globally the equivalent of one football pitch of soil is eroded every 5 seconds. Yet, it takes 1,000 years to generate 3 centimetres of topsoil. The Asia and the Pacific region, home to two-thirds of the world’s population, is facing increasing impacts of water stress and land degradation. These are being caused by a number of factors, including population growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization, and a changing climate that is accelerating droughts. The majority of people in Asia and the Pacific live in cities, with increasing urbanization expected to increase the impacts of water stress and urban droughts. Cities produce more than half of global waste and at least 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, which result in polluting waterways and further reducing available freshwater. Environmental Education and Training. As the global community observes World Environment Day it is clear that more emphasis should be placed on environmental education and training. Environmental education should be viewed as a continuous lifelong learning that addresses the complexity of environmental issues and calls for the use of different and innovative educational approaches to teaching and learning. Such training will enable a culture of empowerment for both the young and old in order to enhance greater public participation in decision-making processes regarding the environment. Additionally, our education system must play a critical role in this thrust. We need to encourage our schools to start environmental clubs where there is none and reenergize those existing clubs. It is also critical that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals be included in this discourse. For example, destructive trends in ocean health have not abated. The ocean, the world’s largest ecosystem, continues to be endangered by rising acidification, eutrophication, declining fish stocks and mounting plastic pollution. While there has been some progress in expanding marine protected areas and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing over the years, more concerted efforts and acceleration are urgently needed. Urgent and coordinated global action is needed to continue to advance towards SDG14. SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land); all empathizes the urgent need to mitigate environmental degradation, conserve biodiversity, and foster sustainable use of our natural resources and should be included in any environmental education and training programme. As a society there is an urgent need to reenergize environment clubs in our schools. Furthermore, partnerships must be forged with non-governmental organizations with specific mandates on the environment to assist with our public education campaigns. As we mark World Environment Day, let us recognize the role of the media and journalists. It is imperative also that a collaborative approach be taken in order to ensure sustainable development and environmental protection not only for the present generation but also for future generations. World Environment Day provides for us an opportunity to pause, reflect, and take action to protect our diverse planet. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #WorldEnvironmentDay #GenerationRestoration