Latest version of Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India released

Published: 28th Jun, 2021

The latest version of ‘Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India’ has been released on Desertification and Drought day (17^th June).

Context

The latest version of ‘Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India’ has been released on Desertification and Drought day (17^th June).

It was conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
The event also observed the release of the Coffee Table Book “India Hosting UNCCD-COP 14”.

About

About the Atlas

The atlas is published by Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad.
The Atlas provides the state-wise area of degraded lands for the time frame 2018-19.
It also provides the change analysis for the duration of 15 years, from 2003-05 to 2018-19.
It will help strengthen the envisaged National Action Plan for achieving land restoration targets.

UNCCD-COP 14

India hosted the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in September 2019.
India’s position:India is striving towards achieving the national commitments of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and restoration of 26 Million ha of degraded land by 2030 which focus on sustainable and optimum utilization of land resources.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

It was established in 1994.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations to build
The UNCCD is particularly committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification and land degradation.
The UNCCD secretariat facilitates cooperation between developed and developing countries, particularly around knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable land management.

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