AU, UN officials call for actions to tackle desertification, land degradation in Africa

Officials and experts from the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) have called for immediate actions to tackle the growing threat of desertification and land degradation across Africa.

The call was made at an experts and partners engagement meeting focusing on the AU Great Green Wall Initiative, held on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Speaking at the event, Mithika Mwenda, executive director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, said African governments need to act swiftly to save the continent from the imminent danger of desertification, driven by climate change, unsustainable utilization of natural resources, and the destruction of forest ecosystems.

Mwenda warned that the Sahara Desert is advancing southward while the Kalahari Desert is advancing northward, a stark reminder of the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

Noting that desertification and land degradation are rapidly expanding in Africa, Louise Baker, managing director of the Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, urged for maintaining the balance between shrinking natural resources and increasing human demands.

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She said global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, arising from unsustainable energy and land use, as well as changes in lifestyles, consumption patterns and production practices across regions.

Harsen Nyambe, director of blue economy and sustainable environment at the AU Commission, highlighted that Africa's land is being degraded at an ever-increasing rate, exacerbating the incidence and frequency of droughts across the continent.

"Measures must be taken to contain the desert from expanding further  and to make sure that the lives of the people living in those areas are protected," Nyambe told Xinhua in an interview.

Launched in 2007, the African-led Great Green Wall Initiative aims to restore the continent's degraded landscapes and improve the lives of millions, with the ambition to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land, sequester 250 million tons of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.