ADDRESSING the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at Mongolia in September 2017, the minister for climate change has warned that the rapidly expanding desertification is eating into vast tracks ofrichfertile land, posing a greater risk to the global environmental sustainability, food security and social and economic stability in different countries, including Pakistan. Pakistan has more than 80pc of the land classified as arid and semi-arid.
The country is implementing the second phase of the five-year Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLMP) in desertification-hit districts. The initiative includes the development of comprehensive land use policies, providing training to individuals across the country and helping to develop district and village level land use plans to improve practices at the local level.
In view of the above, afforestation, sustainable animal grazing, rainwater harvesting programmes and monitoring systems could effectively help fight desertification.Initiatives such as use of new techniques to conserve underground water, effective livestock management and protecting local biodiversity can help address the problem of desertification and sustainable land management.
