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Ecosoc 17
Ecosoc 17
DESERTIFICATION PROBLEM
ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER
TOPIC
Desertification is a phenomenon that ranks among the greatest
environmental challenges of our time. It is a type of land degradation in
which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically
losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused
by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities.
Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity,
were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development
during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Roughly one third of the worlds land
surface is threatened by desertification, or to put in another way,
desertification already affects one quarter of the total land surface of
the globe today.
BASIC DEFINITIONS