The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) joined forces in 2019, leveraging a combined 65 years’ experience in research on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges.
Scientists argue there is need to act now to preserve the health of land that is under threat owing to the climate emergency and increased degradation.
Land, the major part of the natural capital that generations inherit and pass on to others, is increasingly degraded, a phenomenon that is more costly to correct the longer the delay.
Experts attending the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire called for urgent action to tackle drought, among other threats to land health throughout the world.
The Conference attracted nearly 7000 participants, including heads of state, ministers, and delegates from the Convention’s 196 nations and the European Union.
A ‘readers’ conference’ hosted by SciDev.Net that brought together experts, including Ermias Betemariam, a land-health scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), delved into the need to shift from reactive to proactive drought management as a way to improve land health.
Betemariam, was joined by Isaac Dladla, an environmental management and climate-change expert, who heads the Eswatini Environment Authority as acting executive director, who said failure to act now in combating drought will only add to the cost of addressing the challenge in the future.
‘There is a huge role for the media in educating our citizens not just the leaders,' added Betemariam. 'Everyone needs to know about where our civilizations are heading. We need to know if we are living in harmony with nature otherwise nature will kick us back.’
Reports issued during the Conference included Drought in Numbers 2022, a compilation of drought-related statistics. For example, there has been a 29 percent rise in the occurence of droughts since 2000 and three-quarters of the world’s population are predicted to be affected by drought by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.
World Agroforestry (ICRAF) is a centre of scientific and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. Knowledge produced by ICRAF enables governments, development agencies and farmers to utilize the power of trees to make farming and livelihoods more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable at multiple scales. ICRAF is one of the 15 members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. We thank all donors who support research in development through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund.