The World Day to Combat
Desertification, June 17, 2010
| The slogan of this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification is “Enhancing soils anywhere enhances life everywhere”. Therefore in his message on the occasion of 17 June, Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, focused on the importance of soils, their biota, and the ecosystem services they provide. |
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Stressing on the vital but yet not completely investigated soil organisms, Mr Gnacadja mentioned less known facts related to their role for food production and climate regulation. For example he pointed out that soils harbour the larvae of pollinating wasps, beetles, flies and bees. Their contribution to farming alone is extraordinary as according to FAO more than two thirds of crop species that provide 90 percent of the food for 146 countries are bee-pollinated. He also mentioned the little known fact that certain bacteria from the soil are swept up by wind to high altitudes, where ice crystals form around them to make rain.
These facts, along with more widely known ecosystem services of soils such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, decomposition and pest control, pollination, soil moisture retention, drainage, carbon sequestration, and waste recycling make soils a fundamental asset for our survival and well-being. This has its economic dimensions as well. A report of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) in 2009 revealed that the monetary value of ecosystem goods and services provided by soils and their associated terrestrial systems was estimated in 1997 to be 13 trillion US dollars, is said in Mr Gnacadja’s message.
The World Day to Combat Desertification will be celebrated through more than 20 events all over the world. On the occasion of this date, messages of good will were made also by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Mun, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Managing Director of the Global Mechanism. All of them express their concern of soil degradation and soil biodiversity loss, leading to decreased food production, especially in dry-lands. They also stress on the need of timely and adequate actions and synergies among soil protection, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation.