-Down to Earth Land use degradation creates ground for zoonotic disease like COVID-19 as the interaction and physical distance between animals and humans gets closer Land use change, which prepares the ground for zoonoses like the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), should be reversed urgently, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has said. Over 70 per cent of all natural, ice-free land in the world is affected by human use, according to...

-Vikalp.ind.in During the late 1950s when villages near the Kyasanur Forest in Karnataka started to become crowded, farmers began to clear the forest to find new land for agriculture as well as for construction of houses and roads. This brought them to close contact with the primates in the forest. When Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) outbreak took place among monkeys, the virus did not take much time to jump species and...

-The Hindu United Nations-led Conference to Combat Desertification assures ‘neutrality’ by 2030. New Delhi: A two-week long United Nations-led Conference to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) ended with a commitment to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030. Such neutrality is defined by the U.N. as ensuring that enough land is available across the world to ensure a sustainable future. The Delhi Declaration, a consensus document, agreed upon by more than 100 countries “welcomed” the proposed...

-Down to Earth A key paragraph has been proposed for deletion in the draft declaration The Delhi Declaration, to be finalised and released on September 10, 2019, at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) Conference of Parties (CoP) 14, might downplay many issues like the role of the international financial institutions and forest ecosystems. A draft of the Delhi Declaration has been accessed by Down to Earth. The draft is currently...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Underlining the importance of wetlands not only as a source of water but also as ecosystems that prevent land degradation and desertification, the Centre has identified 130 wetlands for priority restoration in the next five years and asked states to submit their respective integrated management plan by October 15. The highest number of such identified wetlands are in Uttar Pradesh (16) followed by Madhya Pradesh (13),...