- Amid the effects of devastating climate change, June 5 has become a key occasion for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- It inspires governments, populations and other organisations to participate in slowing down environmental degradation.
Image: HANDOUT
Today is World Environment Day, a United Nations global event that has become increasingly important since it was set aside 52 years ago, in 1973, to raise awareness on the protection of the planet.
Amid the effects of devastating climate change, June 5 has become a key occasion for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
It inspires governments, populations and other organisations to participate in slowing down environmental degradation that is the main culprit in global warming.
This year's theme, ‘Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience’, rings with the urgency to heal and restore Earth's damaged ecosystems under the slogan – Our Land, Our Future, We Are.
At the background of every campaign, by millions of stakeholders globally, to deal with climate change, it goes without saying that numerous challenges, some seeming insurmountable, persist despite concerted measures put forth to combat drivers of environmental degradation.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), 2019, the major human drivers of desertification interacting with climate change are the expansion of croplands, unsustainable land management practices and increased pressure on land from population and income growth.
Clean, healthy and productive land which is critical to food security and economic growth can only be realised if the ambitious targets set in the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, that came into force on November 4, 2014, are accelerated and implemented with global unison.
With more than 40 percent global land degradation, this year’s theme calls for concerted efforts from governments and the private sector to save the earth.
Droughts continue to ravage developing nations and it is believed more than three quarters of the global population will be affected by 2050 if no action is taken.
Desertification, in countries like Kenya and others in Sub-Saharan Africa, has partly been associated with loss of biodiversity and human and wildlife conflicts in search of food, water and shelter.
In recent years, human migration has been quite common especially during extreme weather conditions, resulting in global calls for an urgent need to take action to stem growing numbers of climate refugees.
One of the findings cited in varied climate change and environmental symposiums globally is based on research by an international bio-technology firm based in Kenya, Africa Harvest, that has been working with communities in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid regions and some other African countries, to build resilience to the effect of climate change.
The organisation has proved a link between researched and tested best practices and technologies to transform the landscape and economic well-being of the society especially those living in marginalised areas.
This is accelerated through working with research organisations, government and development partners.
To successfully achieve national and global promises on reversing deforestation and land degradation as well as halting desertification and ravaging drought, Africa Harvest has tested the involvement of youth as stakeholders in decision-making and implementation of strategic plans.
One finding indicates that to entice upcoming generations in programmes of climate change, decision makers at the top government levels and institutions need to target youth aged below 35 years who form more than 60 percent populations of most African countries.
Varied research projects in Africa show deforestation could greatly be realised if there are considerable incentives to woo the youthful nations that have the productive potential to afforest and reforest.
Africa Harvest’s scientific research that has been quoted in numerous reports, targets this age bracket to disseminate proven practices and technologies that could transform their economic status.
Commercialising high value trees in a country like Kenya that has more that 80 percent arid and semi-arid lands could significantly turn dry regions into commercial hubs.
Practical research projects by stakeholder organisations working in dry regions of Africa, Kenya included, show young brackets of the population are easy to equip with modern skills, technologies and practices to entice them integrate trees, crops and livestock.
Several environmental restoration reports have been in agreement that adopting agro-forestry systems suitable for various agroecological regions and needs could sustainably mitigate climate change.
In addition, this could unlock potential economic capability for young stakeholders in our arid and semi–arid regions.
The writer is an environmental expert working with Africa Harvest