By Kim Tae-gyu
The amount of desert and degraded land rises by almost 10 million hectares every year, posing one of the greatest challenges to sustaining life.
The problem has been that the world has failed to agree on how to tackle the problem even though areas equivalent to the size of South Korea become non-arable each year.
Yet, countries are this week set to reach a consensus on a target of cutting the amount of degraded land to zero, according to Korea Forest Service (KFS) Minister Lee Don-koo, Monday.
``Thus far, we could not even set a goal in fighting desertification,’’ Lee told The Korea Times in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
``But we proposed to take up the zero-degradation agenda as our communal goal to achieve by 2030 with participants of this event. We plan to come up with the Changwon Initiative, which will include this objective, Tuesday. It will mark a substantive advance in our struggle to reduce dry lands.’’
Lee added that a host of countries including India, Algeria, Brazil and Argentina had already demonstrated their strong support for the idea to name but a few.
``Some nations complain that the 2030 timeline is overly aggressive. However, a vast majority of them are on the same page as us in recognizing the need of establishing a shared goal,’’ Lee said.
``I am not sure whether or not the Changwon Initiative will have the 2030 deadline but I am pretty sure that it will uphold the common goal, something that previous UNCCD meetings could not achieve.’’
The Changwon conference, which will continue through Friday, is the 10th holding of the biennial meeting. Korea is the first nation to host the meeting in Asia.
More than 6,000 experts including ministers, leaders of international agencies and professors are taking part in the 12-day event _ the largest ever participation.
Approximately a third of the world’s territory is desert and the pace of desertification has picked up of late, particularly in Asia.
In this climate, Lee said that we have to hurry up to address the worrisome situations.
``About 12 million hectares turn into desert or degrade into non-arable land every year across the world. Because China plants trees on some 3 million hectares of desert a year, our yearly loss is around 9 million hectares,’’ the 65-year-old said.
``What we suggest now is to turn the loss to nil over the next two decades through planting more trees in deserts or degraded lands. We need to feel a sense of urgency.’’
The difficulty in attaining the zero-degradation agenda would be lack of funds as most of deserts and dry lands are situated in underdeveloped states including parts of Africa and Asia.
Subsequently, Lee said that developed countries in Europe and North America are required to briskly support the initiative because desertification is not just a local event.
Lee said that is the case for Korea too, as amply shown by yellow dust, carried eastward to Korea and Japan, mostly in spring, originating in the deserts of Mongolia and China.
The airborne particles cause health problems because they contain toxic materials. The Korea Meteorological Administration says that yellow dust storms are now observed more frequently.
Yellow dust storms occurred an average of 3.7 times a year between 1971 and 2000 but the figures have rocketed to more than 10 times per annum in the last decade.
To encourage countries committed to anti-desertification campaigns, the KFS is looking to create a new award, dubbed Land for Life Award.
``Awards would be given to countries, which put forth efforts to prevent desertification. Details on the scheme will be decided later, though,’’ Lee said. ``Qatar, Germany and Korea have promised to financially back the award. I think that more countries would follow suit.’’
In addition, the KFS will sign an agreement with the UNCCD and the United Nations Environment Program to efficiently carry out the uphill battle against desertification.
``The partnership would hopefully be expanded to involve not only government agencies and global institutions but also the private sector. Or a contract among countries would also be possible,’’ Lee added.