World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2016

With today being the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCDD) and with our tours mainly focused on Africa, we thought it would be appropriate to share a blog post today in this regard. Africa has historically been impacted by desertification, drought and famine, but with the recent impact of the El Niño climate pattern, many African countries find themselves in an even more dire situation.

Desertification and drought are closely related. Persisting over a lengthy period of time, drought can affect large areas and may worsen environmental, economic and social issues. While drought is controlled by the forces of nature, land degradation is the process of turning fertile land into less or non-productive land through means such as over-exploitation by intensive farming and overgrazing. Which in most cases, is inevitable in Africa. In extreme cases in drylands this is called desertification.

In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought to promote public awareness of the issue, and the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa.

2016 sees World Day to Combat Desertification advocating for the importance of inclusive cooperation to restore and rehabilitate degraded land and contribute towards achieving the overall Sustainable Development Goals.

Fortunately at Nomad, we actively promote international days such as WDCDD and take pride in the planting of Spekboom as part of green seat initiative. We are particularly proud that this drought resistant plant can survive on just 250-350mm of water a year! Now that is something to celebrate on WDCDD!