World Day against
Desertification Rising together from drought
When the UN chose 17 June to mark World Day against Desertification and Drought in 1995, it made a collective call to responsibility addressed to governments, organisations and individuals.
‘LET’S RISE FROM DROUGHT TOGETHER’
The call of the 2022 Day is precise: the imperative contained in the verb resurrect is meant to emphasise that today, more than ever, we must work to ‘turn from death to life’ the waters and lands exploited by man and/or damaged by climate change if we are to repair the disastrous consequences on people’s quality of life.
One fifth of Italy is at risk of desertification – The regions most at risk are Sicily and Apulia
IMAGE: https://www.tp24.it/
For example, in Italy, in some regions ‘it has not rained for 110 days, and the drought situation is worsening,’ Meuccio Berselli, secretary general of the Po River District Authority, told ANSA. Emergency measures have been requested for 125 municipalities, 100 in Piedmont and 25 in the province of Bergamo, because ‘the snow in the Alps is totally exhausted in Piedmont and Lombardy’ (Source: https://www.rainews.it/articoli)
Photo: https://terraevita.edagricole.it
The call to re-birth is complex: it also urges a work of awareness, of integral transformation of our living, as we find in the value orientations promoted by the Congregation’s Position on Integral Ecology:
We admit our complicity in the perpetuation of dominant dualistic attitudes in relation to the earth. We understand that reconciliation with our earth requires a new identity and behaviour centred on kinship with all creation and the enhancement of human rights for all. Interdependence requires the inclusion of all – non-living and living, non-human and human – without discrimination.”
…IN PRACTICE WE COULD LINK RESURRECTION WITH LIMITATION
…as people and institutions we become more aware of the effects of our behaviour in our daily lives: desertification, drought and climate change are interconnected phenomena and collective cooperation is needed.
URGE TO RISE TOGETHER FOR:
- reduce excessive demand on natural land;
- avoid food wastage;
- reduce water demand for food and industrial production;
- reduce the water footprint on livestock farms;
- balance the demand for animal products;
- prevent forest areas, which protect biodiversity and combat soil degradation and desertification, from being lost due to the conversion of land for agricultural uses, grazing and feed production.