MyNuW

BANGKOK, Thailand -
Desertification represents one of the "greatest environmental challenges of our
times" and, coupled with global warming, could set off mass
migrations of people fleeing degraded homelands, a United Nations report warned
Thursday.

The report called on governments
in arid regions to revise rules on land use to halt overgrazing and
unsustainable irrigation practices. It also urged better coordinated policies to
address the problem of desertification.

"It is imperative that effective
policies and sustainable agricultural practices be put in place to reverse the
decline of drylands," says Hans van Ginkel, a professor at the United Nations University, which
produced the report.

"Addressing desertification is a
critical and essential part of adapting to climate change and mitigating
global biodiversity losses," Van Ginkel said.

The report said about 2 billion
people, a third of the Earth's population, are potential victims of
desertification, which is defined as land degraded by human activities like
farming and grazing.

50 million on the
run?
If the problem is left unchecked, some 50 million people
could be forced from their homes over the next decade, the report said.

The report, the work of more than
200 experts from 25 countries, said policies on preventing desertification are
often inconsistent, frequently not implemented at local levels or inadvertently
fuel conflict over land, water and other resources.

read more here

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19479607/