THURSDAY, 16 MARCH 2006:
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi today, 16
March 2006 launched the International Year
of Deserts and Desertification in Madibaneng,
Sekhunkhune in Limpopo. The event was attended
by local mayors in Sekhukhune, representatives
from various provincial departments, the
Department of Agriculture, Water Affairs
and Forestry, Land Affairs, business community,
civil society and traditional leaders.
The UN General Assembly at its 58th ordinary
meeting declared 2006 the International
year of Deserts and Desertification (IYDD).
The main objective of the IYDD is to get
the message across that desertification
is a major threat to humanity and launch
the fight against it as a global sustainable
development challenge.
Speaking during the launch the Deputy Minister
said, the year seeks to celebrate the unique
ecosystem and cultural diversity of deserts
worldwide, therefore establishing a clear
difference between the need to protect deserts
as unique natural habitats and fight against
desertification as a global sustainable
development challenge.
One of the highlights of the event was
the handing over of a R5 million cheque
to the community of Madibaneng for a soil
rehabilitation project. The project activities
are designed to be sustainable by means
of training the Madibaneng community in
land management, business management as
well as techniques on how to monitor and
follow up the land improvements. Other key
objectives of the project are as follows:
Improve the livestock management and create
a livestock market in the area
Reverse the process of land degradation
through erosion and water run-off, re-vegetation
as well as limited grazing
Limit further erosion in the area
Improve the agricultural production systems
of at least 110 households through irrigation
systems
Create 3 SMME's in the sector of nursery,
fencing and land rehabilitation.
Land degradation affects one third of the
planet's land surface and around one billion
people in over one hundred countries. Land
degradation and desertification projects
and programmes do not happen in isolation
but are integrated with other programmes,
the implementation of the NAP is dependant
upon initiatives and programmes like Working
for Fire (WfW), Working on Fire (WonFire),
Landcare, Community Based Natural Resource
Management (CBNRM), People and Parks and
other trans-boundary initiatives.
Land degradation is obviously not only
about land, it is about the people said
Mabudafhasi. Millions of people are directly
affected by natural resource degradation
and many of them live below the poverty
line. She went on to say that rural communities
depend on these natural resources for survival
yet the capacity of our countrys land, water
and biological resources to sustain its
people is eroding
The IYDD launch will culminate into a roll
out of an annual campaign on desertification
throughout the country.
