Ashot Vardevanyan, National Focal Point of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Deputy Head to Bioresource Management Agency of Nature Protection Ministry
In 1995, the United Nations General Assembly June 17 the "World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought" to promote public awareness of the issue, nevertheless, desertification can be effectively tackled, that solutions are possible.
Through proper land management and planning it’s possible not only to reduce desertification and drought consequences, but also to prevent them.
About 1.5 billion people in the world have direct dependence on arid land areas in the world, which is the only way to earn their livings. Over 110 countries are experiencing problems with desertification and soil degradation.
The objectives of the 2014 WDCD are to:
1. Increase the attention given to land and soil within climate change adaptation
2. Mobilize support for sustainable land management
3. Call for the inclusion of land and soil and their significance in food security into national
climate change adaptation policies.
The theme of 2014 World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) is ecosystem - based adaptation.
With the slogan ‘Land Belongs to the Future, Let’s Climate Proof It’, the 2014 WDCD highlights the benefits of mainstreaming sustainable land management policies and practices into our collective
response to climate change.
The issue of combating desertification in the Republic of Armenia has strategic significance and is included in the program of the Republic of Armenia for 2014.
June 16, 2014 at 15:12