28 June 2006
The Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (Dace)
will on 30 June 2006 mark Anti-Desertification Day, so named by the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Five hundred young people
from various youth structures will celebrate with MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu at the
Rethabiseng Community Hall in Bronkhorstspruit. The United Nations General
Assembly has also adopted a resolution declaring the Year 2006 an International
Year of Desertification and Deserts.
Desertification is the process which turns productive deserts into
non-productive deserts as a result of poor land-management. Overgrasing is the
major cause of desertification worldwide. Noting the link between
desertification and poverty, the Landcare Unit of the Directorate of
Sustainable Resource Management (SRM) has this year decided to place these
issues in the public domain. The day's commemoration under the theme "Landcare
Time for Our Youth to Participate" recognises young people as key stakeholders
in accelerating change, as was the case in 1976, the year which led to June
being observed as the national youth month in South Africa.
Communities in South Africa have become aware of the problem of
desertification after experiencing diminishing food production, reduced water
quality and aggravated health problems due to the frequent occurrence of
wind-blown dust. Desertification is not only about deserts, it is also a
process of severe land degradation a series of natural and man-made events that
lead to desert-like conditions characterised by low productivity.
This situation leaves people in affected areas poorer and more vulnerable to
famine. Desertification threatens the livelihoods of many people, especially
subsistence farmers. Gauteng faces problems associated with land degradation in
areas such as Hekpoort, Tarlton and Magaliesburg. Mosunkutu will donate one
hundred indigenous seedlings to the Rethabiseng Community Based Indigenous
Plants Nursery in Bronkhorstspruit on that day. The nursery, co-funded by GDACE
and managed by the local land care youth network was established to cultivate
trees to mitigate land degradation.
Enquiries:
Sizwe Matshikiza
Tel: (011) 355 1316
Cell: 082 778 9996
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng
Provincial Government
28 June 2006
Source: http://www.gpg.gov.za
