The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was established in 1994 with the goal of sustainable land management and environmental protection. The theme of this year’s International Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is “Joining hands to manage and use land sustainably: Our heritage – our future”.
According to the United Nations, every second, an area of land equivalent to four football fields is degraded – the total area of land degraded globally every year is about 100 million hectares. Currently, up to 40% of the world's land has been degraded, affecting nearly half of humanity. Faced with this alarming situation, the Secretariat of the Convention to Combat Desertification has called for global participation, to take concrete actions to realize the global commitment to restore 1 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030. At the same time, it contributes to the implementation of other sustainable development goals on climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, food and water security, disaster risk reduction and poverty.
In Vietnam, there are currently about 11.8 million hectares, accounting for about 35% of the total natural land area of the country, being affected by degradation and desertification leading to desertification. According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Quoc Tri, the forestry sector with over 14.8 hectares of forested land, not only plays an important role in economic development; ensuring biodiversity conservation, responding to climate change and protecting the environment, but is also a green strategic solution that contributes significantly to efforts to limit drought and desertification.
The Deputy Minister called on the entire industry to enthusiastically participate in forest protection, tree planting, afforestation, sustainable forest development, contributing to the fight against land degradation, to develop the socio-economy , national security and defense, making our country, every day more "Green - Clean - Beautiful" and richer.
“Today, we are here to contribute a small tree to be planted on the earth's surface, a small action but of great significance and also a message to the future about environmental protection” – Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Tri said.
The Deputy Minister directed that in the coming period, the forestry sector needs to continue to focus on seriously and effectively implementing the Forestry Development Strategy and National Forestry Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050; the Sustainable Forestry Development Program for the period 2021-2025; programs and projects; international commitments on sustainable development, environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, climate change response, greenhouse gas emission reduction, etc. In particular, building and implementing the national action program against desertification for the period up to 2030 and vision to 2050.
Contributing to this meaningful event, the Project "Planting 1 billion trees in the period of 2021 - 2025" has sponsored about 1,000 trees, and presented Hoa Binh province with more than 3,000 forestry seedlings, with the hope that more trees will be planted, contributing to making Vietnam greener and cleaner.
At the end of the ceremony, Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Tri planted trees at the campus of the Forestry University.
In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 of each year as the International Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marking the day of the adoption of the Convention to Combat Desertification. This day aims to raise public awareness around the issues of drought and desertification, and to encourage the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification in countries severely affected by drought and desertification. The Vietnamese Government signed and became the 134th member of the Convention very early (August 19, 1998). Vietnam always strives to commit to implementing the Framework for Action of the Convention as well as the responsibilities of a member country. The Department of Forestry, the unit in charge of implementing the Convention to Combat Desertification, has developed a National Action Program on Desertification Prevention for the period 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030, and a Project to determine voluntary national targets for balancing land degradation for the period 2017 - 2020, with a vision to 2030. |
Comment (0)