Desertification and drought pose great challenges for humanity as they affect both the state of nature and the livelihoods of millions of people in their fight against poverty.
Restoring degraded lands contributes to improving local economies, creating jobs, and mitigating climate change and loss of biodiversity
UGT urges the Government to develop action plans with measures aimed at alleviating the effect of the drought and fighting against desertification
It is June 17, the General Union of Workers and Workers joins the celebration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (whose motto this year is “Restoration. Lands. Recovery”) raising awareness about the importance of combating these serious phenomena. Desertification is the degradation of the land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones due to human activity and climatic variations. This process is due to the vulnerability of dry zone ecosystems (which cover a third of the planet’s surface and a large part of Spain), to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, deforestation, overgrazing and poor irrigation practices are examples of aspects that negatively affect soil productivity.
UGT demands to neutralize soil degradation by searching for solutions through collaboration between society and institutions. It proposes actions such as reforestation, improvement in water management or enrichment and fertilization of the soil through the regeneration of the vegetation cover. All of them have proven to be highly effective both in slowing down soil degradation and in boosting local economies and job creation.
From an environmental point of view, restoration favors the recovery of biodiversity, allows the storage of CO2 Helping to mitigate the effect of climate change, it helps regulate the hydrological cycle and reduces direct contact between wildlife and human settlements, creating a natural barrier against zoonoses such as COVID-19. In this sense, the trade union organization urges the Government to develop action plans with measures to alleviate the effect of the drought, as well as to establish lines of action aimed at the sustainable consumption and management of water. It also considers it essential to approach a Water Pact with a social focus, for which it is essential to analyze the consequences of desertification and drought on employment and on society.
The union indicates that desertification and drought pose great challenges for humanity as they affect both the state of nature and the livelihoods of millions of people in their fight against poverty. Already at the Earth Summit, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, desertification, together with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, were classified as the greatest challenges facing sustainable development. But since then the problem has continued to get worse. Today, more than 2 billion hectares of previously productive land are degraded. Something especially worrying if one takes into account that by 2030 it is estimated that food production will require another 300 million additional hectares of surface.
The funds from the EU Recovery Plan are a unique opportunity and the UGT demands that they allow the National Action Program against Desertification to be promoted and implemented effectively. This will help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 15, which includes the determination to sustainably manage forests, fight desertification, stop and reverse land degradation and stop the loss of biodiversity.
–
