Combat Desertification – Unlock Opportunities for Environmental Protection

​WORLD DAY to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated on June 17. The theme for 2025 – “Restore the Land. Unlock the Opportunities” – emphasizes one of the most urgent global challenges: restoring 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land and jumpstarting a trillion-dollar land restoration economy by 2030 with nature’s foundation—land—that create jobs, economic opportunities, boost food, give water security and support resilience to climate crisis.

As we reach the midpoint of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), action is more urgent than ever. We have the power to bring land back to life. A restored land is a land of endless opportunities. It’s time to unlock them now.

Desertification, land degradation and drought are among the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts. It’s the dry land ecosystems, which cover over one third of the global area that are overexploited and under inappropriate land use. Restoration aims to reestablish a previous ecosystem with all its functions and services, while rehabilitation seeks to repair specific parts of the systems, in order to regain ecosystem productivity.

Over half of global GDP relies on healthy ecosystems. Yet each year, four times the area of Northeast India is degraded, driving biodiversity loss, increasing drought risk and displacing communities. The ripple effects are global, from rising food prices to instability and migration. But restoring land flips the script. Every rupee invested in restoration can bring back Rs. 2,520 in ecosystem services. Reviving land restores productivity, strengthens water cycles and supports millions of livelihoods.

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According to the UNCCD, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s terrestrial areas are degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population. Land restoration and mitigating the effects of desertification and drought are urgent priorities. The United Nations estimates that 75 billion tons of fertile soil are lost each year due to land degradation.

Drought, meanwhile, is a natural phenomenon that has become more frequent and intense due to climate change. A drought with an event of prolonged period can lead to famine, as people are unable to grow crops, impacting the ecosystem and economy. Drought is among the earliest documented climatic events in human history. Now, drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world.

According to the UN, the number and duration of drought periods have increased by 29 per cent since the year 2000, and if urgent measures are not taken, droughts could affect more than three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050. Currently, 2.3 billion people living in water-stressed conditions and 160 million children are exposed to severe droughts.

Land degradation, desertification and drought are interrelated challenges that have devastating effects on the environment, economy and human communities. The three problems are closely linked but also deserve individual analysis. This issue reduces productivity, which can lead to rising food prices, exacerbating food insecurity and poverty and forcing migration in search of better living conditions.

Healthy land not only provides us with almost 95 per cent of our food but so much more: it clothes and shelters us, provides jobs and livelihoods and protects us from the environmental challenges. Yet, every second, an equivalent of four football fields of healthy land becomes degraded, adding up to a total of 100 million hectares each year.

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Growing world populations, coupled with unsustainable production and consumption patterns, fuel demand for natural resources, putting excessive pressure on land degradation. Nearly three quarters of the Earth’s surface has been altered by humans to meet an ever-growing demand for food, raw materials, highways and homes. Avoiding, slowing and reversing the loss of productive land and natural ecosystems now is both urgent and important for a swift recovery from climate crisis and for guaranteeing the long-term survival of the human and the planet.

Deforestation is the root cause of climate change that triggers drought and desertification. When a degraded ecosystem is no longer capable to recover from a stress period, a downward spiral of desertification may take place. It involves mechanisms such as excessive loss of soil, changes in vegetation, losses in terms of water quality and quantity and changes in the regional climate system.

Indeed, soils contain a lot of carbon which could be released into the atmosphere as a result of desertification, with significant consequences for the global climate system. It is estimated that each year 300 million tons of carbon are lost to the atmosphere from the soil as a result of desertification. This represents about 4% of global emissions from all sources combined.

Actually, we all depend on land; 99.9 % of the calories every human being needs for a healthy life still comes from the land. Land that is healthy and resilient can meet the growing demand for goods and services that support life. The next few decades will be the most critical in restoring land for a sustainable future. The problem is man-made, which means humans are also part of the solution.

Sustainable land management is everyone’s business. A decade of land degradation may create irreversible damage, but a decade of land restoration may bring multiple benefits. Investing in nature-based solutions, specifically land restoration, will allow us to build forward better, greener, healthier, stronger and more sustainability. It has shown that if we continue to abuse nature, waves of crises will cascade across our economies and societies. On the other hand, we can respond decisively when political will, collective action and sustained investment are aligned.

No matter where you live, the consequences of desertification and drought always concern us. The big quantum of deforestation in Manipur like jhum, firewood and poppy plantation etc are going to cinder the state into a red dryland. Frequent wildfires as happening in our state can also contribute to desertification when they affect natural vegetation.

Vegetation and its diversity are instrumental in soil conservation and in the regulation of surface water and climate crisis. The disruption of the interlinked services that are provided by plant biodiversity is a key ​to desertification and its various environmental consequences.

 Therefore, on this day, let’s save our forests and plant more trees during this monsoon to fight degradation and drought for the sake of the future generations.

The author is an Environmentalist, presently working as District Forest Officer, Chandel district, Manipur. The author can be reached at nmunall@yahoo.in

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