It is celebrated under the slogan “Food. Forages. Fibres. Sustainable Production and Consumption” and aims to highlight the fact that unsustainable production and consumption are one of the main causes of soil degradation and desertification.

The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought has been celebrated every year on June 17 since it was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1995. This day was established with the aim of promoting the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and informing and raising awareness of the importance of this environmental problem.

This year it is held under the slogan “Food. Forages. Fibres. Sustainable Production and Consumption” and aims to highlight the fact that unsustainable production and consumption are one of the main causes of soil degradation and desertification.

Population growth, the increase in the income of the population and the increase in the urban population, the greater demand for land to produce food, fodder and textile fibers, cause an impact on consumption and an increase in production. For this reason, it seeks to raise awareness among the population of the need to change our lifestyle and consumption patterns to live more sustainably and reduce our negative impact on soils.

In Spain, almost 74% of the territory is susceptible to desertification for climatic reasons. We are a country with limited water resources and vulnerable to climate change. Desertification is a major environmental damage, causing loss of biodiversity; reduction of the capacity of ecosystems (specifically soils) to store carbon, which favors climate change; o Loss of natural ecosystems of great landscape and cultural value

For this reason, from the Biodiversity Foundation, aware of the importance of fighting desertification and land degradation, we have supported, through our calls for grants, 25 projects that address this issue, allocating 1.5 million euros for this purpose.

Thus, for example, the New Water Culture Foundation works on ecological flows to make proposals for adaptation to climate change in Spanish basins. These river ecosystems contribute to good environmental status, biodiversity conservation and resilience to climate change, but monitoring plans are required.

Another case is the project being developed by the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya, working on a network for detecting, predicting and monitoring the effects of drought on the structure and biodiversity of Mediterranean shrub formations in the east of the peninsula.