Impact of Human Activities on Global Dust Emissions: UNCCD

GS Paper III Environment and Ecology

Context:

Recently, the UNCCD, released policy recommendations during a five-day meeting from November 13-17 in Uzbekistan.

Global Dust Emissions: It reveals that human activities contribute to 25% of global dust emissions. Agriculture stands out as the primary anthropogenic source, impacting ecosystems worldwide.
Alarming Land Loss: The world is losing almost 1 million square kilometres (386,000 square miles) of productive land yearly to sand and dust storms.
Economic Loss: An estimated two billion tons of sand and dust enter the atmosphere every year, wreaking havoc across large parts of Asia and Africa and causing significant economic damage throughout the world.

About United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD):

The UNCCD is one of three Conventions from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Established in 1994
It is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
Members: 197 parties, India became a signatory in 1994 and ratified it in 1996.
Objectives:
- Aims to improve living conditions in drylands.
- Seeks to maintain and restore land and soil productivity.
- Mitigates the effects of drought.

Sand and dust storms are a meteorological phenomenon characterised by strong and turbulent winds lifting an ensemble of small particles to great heights.
They are known to adversely impact human health, the environment, and economies.
These storms pose significant challenges to achieving 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Sources
- Natural: About 75 percent of emissions come from natural sources such as hyper-arid regions, topographic depressions in arid areas and dry ancient lake beds with little vegetative cover.
- Anthropogenic: Anthropogenic factors such as land-use change, agriculture, water diversion, and deforestation contribute to the remaining 25 percent.
Consequences and Challenges:
- Sand and dust storms lower the yields and productivity of crops, trees, pastures, and livestock. However, many of these impacts have not yet been well-quantified, according to the FAO report.
Urgent Need for Policy and Action: The FAO report emphasizes the absence of policies addressing the risks posed by sand and dust storms.

Improved Land Management: Emphasize enhanced practices for restoring damaged land.
Early Warning System Enhancement: Strengthen systems for early detection and response to sand and dust storms.
Financial Support Urgency: Address the significant funding gap, with only $15 billion allocated from 2016-2019.
Private Sector Incentives: Introduce incentives and public funding to encourage responsible land use by the private sector.
Global Collaboration Lessons: Learn from success stories like China while recognizing vulnerabilities to neighboring degraded lands.
Integrated Climate Action: Sustain land restoration efforts as a vital component in mitigating climate change impacts.