National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza Saturday stressed the need for coordinated and stringent measures for combating the looming threat of desertification and drought.
She called for immediate measures for saving the livelihoods, well-being and development of a large number of people around the world.
In her message on the ‘World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought’, being observed today (Sunday) globally under the auspices of the United Nations, Dr Fehmida Mirza said that desertification and land degradation not only affect the earth’s surface but also threatens the livelihoods, well-being and development of a large number of population around the world.
Desertification also induces migration of the population, drought and famine and deepens poverty. She said that if the desertification goes unchecked, it would further deepen the miseries of the masses in the coming years.
She said that this day serves us an opportunity to highlight the growing threat to national and regional stability posed by desertification. She said that the climate change was a contributing factor, but not the only one rendering nearly one third of the world’s cropland to become unproductive and been abandoned in the previous years.
She stressed the need for water conservation, reconsideration of our agricultural practices and a forestation. She said that growing demand for animal feed and bio fuel will put further pressure on these scarce resources if not managed sustain ably.
The speaker said that current global consumption and production patterns were unsustainable, which would consequently aggravate global food crises, desertification, land degradation and periods of drought. She feared that as usual, the poor will be the first victims of the last to recover.
The NA speaker said that for sustainable Development, desertification and land degradation were global problems that require a global response, therefore, world leaders should think for a comprehensive strategy to slow down global warming. In particular, it must provide adequate and predictable financing to support improved land management, more efficient water use and sustainable agriculture.
Dr Fehmida Mirza called upon the federal and provincial agriculture departments to raise awareness amongst the farming community to conserve water and sagaciously use it reconsider agriculture practices and plant more trees to avert the desertification.
World Day to Combat Drought today: The United Nations’ World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought will be observed on Sunday (today) under the theme ‘healthy soil sustains your life: Let’s go land degradation neutral’ across the world, including Pakistan, to highlight the urgent need to curb the process of desertification.
In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.
The assembly acknowledged that desertification and drought were global problems because they affected all regions of the world. The day also aims to strengthen the visibility of the dry lands issue on the international environmental agenda. Individuals and organisations in various countries, such as Australia, Algeria, Canada, China, Ghana and the United States have participated in the day in recent years. Many events focus on educational activities to help combat problems relating to desertification and drought.
