Annan stresses global threat to agriculture
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today highlighted the problem of land degradation across the world, which is a major cause of migration and humanitarian crises.
“Human activities such as overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and poor irrigation practices, along with climate change, are turning once fertile soils into unproductive and barren patches of land,” Mr. Annan said in a statement marking a day dedicated to combating desertification and drought.
The UN has pointed out that although the problem is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, it is not restricted to developing countries, with areas such as Australia reporting the erosion of dry topsoil during dust-storms topsoil while in Mexico 70% of all land is vulnerable to desertification, prompting nearly a million Mexicans to leave their homes every year in search of a better living as migrant workers in the United States.
In southern Africa the number of environmental refugees is expected to rise to 25 million in the next 20 years.
Because most of the world’s poorest people live in dryland rural areas they are often trapped in a cycle of becoming poorer because of their environmental factors, while increasing the paucity of the soil in desperate efforts to yield a crop large enough on which to live.
Mr. Annan stressed that tackling desertification through better irrigation and use of water and sustainable agriculture had to be part of the international community’s wider efforts to eradicate poverty and ensure long-term food security.
