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UN Urges Early Warning Systems To Combat Desertification
Nairobi (AFP) Oct 17, 2005 More than 250 million people worldwide are directly affected by creeping desertification, the United Nations said Monday, urging the creation of early warning systems to fight the expansion of deserts. At a meeting here, senior officials from the 179 states party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) heard a call for new research into climate change which is believed to be the chief cause of desertification. The convention's secretary general Michel Jarraud urged the development of a data bank "to ensure systematic observation of land degradation in affected areas and to better understand and assess the processes and effects of drought and desertfication." "Research into the causes and effects of climate variations and long-term predictions is essential, with a view to providing early warning capabilities," he said at the seventh conference of UNCCD state parties in Nairobi. The world's 6.3 billion people currently depend on a mere 11 percent of the earth's landmass that has not been affected by desertification, according to the United Nations. Experts fear that chronic food shortages could worsen as deserts eat up the remaining arable land, especially with experts predicting the earth's population will reach 8.2 billion by 2020, it says. "Combating land degradation is an urgent priority in the context of global efforts to ensure food security and livelihood for millions of inhabitants in the world's drylands," Jarraud said. Africa, home to about 800 million people, is greatly affected with 43 percent of the continent considered extreme desert. Since the convention came into force in 1996, only 91 of more than 179 countries party to the convention have fully developed a national action plan to combat desertification. Scientists have said emission of greenhouse gases are to blame for climate changes. Carbon dioxide gases are produced from the burning of coal, oil and gas, mainly in power stations and motor vehicles. These and other so-called greenhouse gas emissions have collected in the atmosphere, raising average global temperatures and sea levels. The emissions threaten to melt the polar ice caps and increase the number and intensity of droughts, floods and storms worldwide. Another UN convention, the Kyoto Protocol, established in February, still lacks backing from key polluters who have refused to ratify the treaty. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
US Faces 'Extreme' Temperature Changes: Study
Washington (AFP) Oct 17, 2005The continental United States will face more extreme temperatures during the next century and worse rainfall along its Gulf Coast which has been ravaged by hurricanes this year, according to a climate study released Monday. |
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