 |
 |
Two-thirds of the African continent is covered by desert and drylands.
Furthermore, arid and semi-arid areas in sub-Saharan desert are expected to increase by 60-90 million hectares due to changing rainfall patterns by 2090, with a resultant cost of US$26 billion by 2060 in aid.
Date: 17 June 2009
Drylands are home to 41% of the Earth’s population: 2 billion people. Desertification is the greatest environmental challenge caused by overgrazing and expansion of cropped areas.
300 million tons of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere due to desertification annually from drylands that contain over a quarter of all organic carbon in the world.
Date: 2005
One third of the population is threatened by desertification caused by climate change. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated “we must reconsider our agricultural practices and how we manage our water resources, with agriculture and livestock raising accounting for 70% of fresh water use and up to 80% of deforestation.”
Source: GLOBAL: Organisations warn of the impact of desertification – International Water Association (IWA)
Date: 19 June 09
Africa might only be able to feed 25% of its population by 2025. Due to increasing desertification and climate change, 2 billion people worldwide are at risk of becoming environmental refugees.
Date: 14 December 2006
According to a study by Christopher Field from Carnegie Institution for Science, severe droughts could affect states from California to Oklahoma in the USA, while heat waves will affect many cities such as Sacramento, CA having heat waves of up to 100 days per year making them uninhabitable.
Source: Droughts ‘may lay waste’ to parts of US – Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent – The Guardian, UK
Date: 26 February 2009
Livestock also directly contribute to habitat change as overgrazing and overstocking accelerate desertification.
Source: Livestock’s Long Shadow – UN FAO
Date: 2006
The Sahara Desert is spreading towards the Mediterranean with an estimated 74 million acres of fertile land lost, with countries losing 1,000 km of land annually. Desertification will have caused 60 million people in sub-Saharan desert to migrate.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is losing 351,000 hectares of rangeland and cropland to desertification each year.
Sand storms had buried 124 villages in Iran in 2002.
“Up to 100 villages have been submerged by windblown dust and sand” in Afghanistan according to a U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) team report.
From 1950 to 1975 an average of 1,560 square kilometers of land were lost to desert each year in China. Between 1975 and 1987, this climbed to 2,100 square kilometers a year. From then until the century’s end, it jumped to 3,600 square kilometers of land going to desert annually.
In Brazil, where some 58 million hectares of land are affected, economic losses from desertification are estimated at $300 million per year.
In Mexico, 700,000 people migrate to other places due to land desertification each year.
Source: Countries Losing War with Advancing Deserts – Global Warming Is Real
Date: 3 August 2006
Source: Yale environment360
Date: 26 June 2009
| Results 21-27 of overall 27 |
|
Livestock Production and Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Download |
|
Plant-Based Diets - A solution to our public health crisis Download |
|
Leaders Preserving Our Future - Insights Paper - WPF - November 2010 Download |
|
Maintaining a Climate of Life - Summary Report Download |
|
Livestock's Climate Impact Download |
|
Livestock & Sustainable Food Download |
|
Reducing Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Through Dietary Change Download |
|
The global cost of biodiversity loss: 14 trillion Euros? - EU Commission (2008) Download |
|
Forests, Fisheries, Agriculture: A Vision for Sustainability (2009) Download |
|
Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 - United Nations (2010) Download |
CLIMATE CHANGEOverview Methane Short-lived Climate Forcers Deforestation Tipping Points Desertification |
WATERWater Shortage |
HUMAN COSTSEnvironmental Refugees |
ECONOMIC COSTSClimate Change Costs |
BIODIVERSITYSpecies Extinction Oceans in Peril |
HOMENEWSEVENTSABOUTREPORTSECO-MOVIESCONTACT US |
Designed by SUNSCRAPERS | Developed by Double O Design | Problems with this page? |
Copyright © 2009 - 2012 WorldPreservationFoundation.org. All Rights Reserved. |
World Preservation Foundation, Strawberry House, Square Drive, GU27 3LW Haslemere |
Climate Change
Environmental Refugees
Water
Species Extinction