The UN 'High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land degradation and Drought' was held recently.
- The Prime Minister of India delivered a keynote in the capacity of the president of the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Context
The UN 'High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land degradation and Drought' was held recently.
- The Prime Minister of India delivered a keynote in the capacity of the president of the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
About the UNCCD
- The convention came as a recommendation of Agenda 21.
- It was adopted in 1994 and entered into force in December 1996.
- It is the only internationally legally binding framework set up to address the problem of desertification.
- The Convention is based on the principles of participation, partnership and decentralization.
- The UNCCD has been ratified by 196 states plus the European Union.
- In 2015 parties to the convention adopted Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG Target 15.3) as a primary goal of the UNCCD.
- The core objective of the UNCCD is the goal of achieving land degradation neutrality, where the loss of productive land is balanced by the restoration of degraded land.
Reasons for Land degradation in India
- Wind erosion
- Water erosion (fluvial, meteoric)
- Chemical (natural occurrence of alkaline chemicals, movement of subsoil chemicals (e.g. salinity) to the surface, as well as artificial addition of chemicals, including fertilizers or industrial pollutants)
- Physical (waterlogging, geomorphological changes caused by mining or other activity)
- Direct anthropogenic influences and drivers include:
- Agriculture, and related activities
- Livestock related activities (grazing)
- Biotic pressures (for fuelwood and fodder and MFP)
- Land Use changes (urbanisation, mining, infrastructure, etc.)
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Initiatives of Indian Governments to conserve land
- India pledged to reach land degradation neutrality targets by 2030 as a part of the Convention’s Land Degradation Neutrality Strategy.
- The Delhi Declaration of 2019 called for better access and stewardship over land, and emphasised gender-sensitive transformative projects.
- "National Afforestation Programme (NAP)" for ecological restoration of degraded forest areas Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
- Green India Mission
- Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)
- Nagar Van Yojana
- Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY)
- Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India was also prepared by the Space Applications Centre.
- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC) has developed several location specific bio-engineering measures to check soil erosion due to run-off of rain water.
- Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur has developed sand dune stabilization and shelter belt technology to check wind erosion.
