United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said that land degradation threatens national and regional security, in a message to mark World Day to Combat Desertification. “Faced with long periods of drought, famine and deepening poverty, many have only one option: flight from the land,” he said, noting that there are already 24 million peopled forced by land degradation to leave their homes and that one-third of the world's cropland has been abandoned in the past four decades. Climate change is one force behind desertification, but “we must reconsider our agricultural practices and how we manage our water resources” with agriculture and livestock raising accounting for 70 percent of fresh water use and up to 80 percent of deforestation, Ban said. Ban also emphasized the unsustainable nature of current global consumption and production patterns, which could lead to further global food crises, similar to that in 2008, as well as continued desertification, land degradation and drought. “As usual, the poor will be the first victims and the last to recover,” Ban said. The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 1994 to proclaim June 17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought in a bid to promote public awareness and international cooperation on the area.
