International Year
of Deserts & Desertification (IYDD
2006)
The
United Nations General Assembly, at
its 58th session, adopted resolution
A/Res/58/211 which declares 2006 the
International Year of Deserts and
Desertification. The decision was
taken to help prevent the exacerbation
of desertification around the globe.
The General Assembly invites all countries,
international and civil society organizations
to celebrate the Year 2006 and to
support public awareness activities
related to desertification and land
degradation.
The main objective
of the year is to get the message
across that desertification is a major
threat to humanity, compounded by
both climate change and loss of biological
diversity. Land degradation affects
one third of the planet's land surface
and around one billion people in over
a hundred countries.
While fully addressing
the growing threat that desertification
represents for mankind, the year also
seeks to celebrate the unique ecosystem
and cultural diversity of deserts
worldwide, therefore establishing
a clear difference between the need
to protect deserts as unique natural
habitat and the fight against desertification
as a global sustainable development
challenge. As the main agency for
the year, the UNCCD Secretariat is
launching a unique logo for the year
and inviting stakeholders to make
use of it. The logo is intended to
promote all awareness activities related
to the year, as well as to represent
the dual issues at stake in one single
image: Deserts as natural ecosystems
and the issue of desertification as
a global problem. With UNCCD, the
UN Convention to Combat Desertification,
the international community possesses
a key instrument to deliver the UN
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
that must be met by 2015. The MDGs
are the most comprehensive and ambitious
strategy ever put forward to combat
global poverty.
