Dominica commemorates World Day

Danly Guye, Environmental Officer at the Environmental coordinating Unit says the theme for this year’s World Day celebrations should serve to remind all that that Climate Change and desertification interact with each other at various levels.

Dominica joins the rest of the international community in commemorating the day under the theme: Desertification and Climate Change’ One Global Challenge’

Mr. Guye called on all Dominicans to contribute to the efforts at fighting land degradation in the Nature Island.“Today 17 June, 2009 is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought and constitutes a unique occasion to remind everybody that desertification can be effectively tackled. They are two major manifestations of the same problem. And together they seriously threaten our ability to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.”

This year’s celebration is very important since the adoption of the 10-year Strategic Plan and Framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention represents a turning point in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) process and recognizes the convention as an instrument to prevent, control and reverse desertification/land degradation and also to contribute to the reduction of poverty while promoting sustainable development. The Convention is the only internationally recognized, legally binding instrument that addresses the problem of land degradation in dry-land.

As a signing member to the Convention, the Commonwealth of Dominica has taken the initiative to address this problem and is in the process of preparing a draft Sustainable Land Management Legislation and National Resource/Land Use Plan through the project “Mainstreaming of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in the Commonwealth of Dominica”. With the cross-sector support, the principles of SLM would be incorporated in the National Physical Planning Division’s data base accessible to the decision makers and National entities.

In his address to the International Community, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization, Mr. Banki Moon, expressed that, “Desertification is not only one of the world’s greatest environmental challenges; it is also a major impediment to meeting basic human needs… It puts at risk the health and well-being of 1.2 billion people in more than 100 countries. Two thirds of the world’s poor live in dry-lands, about half in farm households where environmental degradation threatens the agricultural production on which their livelihoods depend. On this World Day, let us strive to address desertification and climate change in a synergetic fashion, as part of an integrated approach to achieving sustainable development for all.”