To milliarder mennesker har været berørt af tørke siden år 1900. Et FN-møde skal skabe en politisk ramme og målrettet indsats i de 168 lande, som FN vurderer bliver berørt af øget ørkendannelse og jordforringelse – og sult.
NEW YORK, 11 March 2013: Countries need to work together to use their experiences, science and technologies to create formal national preventive policies against droughts, United Nations officials said Monday at the opening of a high-level international meeting designed to make the world less susceptible (sårbar) to the impacts of water scarcity (mangel).
Vandmangel og tørke kommer os alle sammen ved
“Prevention must be our priority,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his video message to the opening of the High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy in Geneva.
“No single nation can insulate (isolere) itself from global shocks. The only way to respond is through cooperation – between countries and among civil society, government and business.”
Organized jointly by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and partners, the five-day meeting brings together policymakers, development agencies and leading scientists and researchers.
“We have the knowledge, we have the experience, and we can reduce the impact of droughts,” said the WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, in his opening remarks.
Australien er det eneste land med en formel tørkepolitik
“What we need now is a policy framework and action on the ground in all countries that suffer from drought,” he added. Australia is the only country with a formal national drought policy.
Droughts have affected the Greater Horn of Africa and the Sahel region, the US, Mexico, Brazil, parts of China and India, Russia and South-east Europe.
In addition, 168 countries claim to be affected by desertification (ørkendannelse), a process of land degradation (jordforrringelse) in the drylands that affects food production and is worsened by drought.
Tørke er den mest hyppige årsag til fødevaremangel
“Drought ranks as the single most common cause of severe food shortages, particularly in developing countries,” said the Special Representative of the FAO Director General, Ann Tutwiler.
More than 11 million people died, and 2 billion have been affected, by droughts since 1900, according to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Læs pressemeddelsen her: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44339&Cr=water&Cr1=#.UUBbqqVsuj4
Læs videre fra:” A main objective of the Geneva meeting…”
