ASHENEWS reports that the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has warned that sand and dust storms are now becoming more frequent in some places worldwide
The storms which have always been considered as an under-appreciated problem have become more frequent which should be a cause of worry to nations and governments.
This concern was raised during a five-day meeting which began in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on the 13th and would end on the 17th November noted that sand and dust storms now has impacts far beyond the source regions as an estimated two billion tons of sand and dust now enters the atmosphere every year.
This, according to the experts, is an amount equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza.
The meeting also reflected that the world is currently losing nearly one million square kilometres of healthy and productive land every year which can be estimated as the combined area of five Central Asian nations which include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
UNCCD experts further attribute over 25 per cent of the problem of sand and dust storms to human activities while lamenting the impacts of sand and dust storms on global agriculture, industry, transportation , water and air quality, and human health.
that the health impacts of this development are poorly understood
The UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw noted that sand and dust storms wreak havoc everywhere from northern and central Asia to sub-saharan Africa.
“The sight of rolling dark clouds of sand and dust engulfing everything in their path and turning day into night is one of nature’s most intimidating spectacles.
“Sand and dust storms present a formidable challenge to achieving sustainable development. However, just as sand and dust storms are exacerbated by human activities, they can also be reduced through human actions,” stated Thiaw.
The Technical Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and Chair of the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, Feras Ziadat said that sand and dust storms have affected various aspects of the environment, climate, health, agriculture, livelihoods a d the socioeconomic well-being of individuals.
“Sand and dust storms (SDS) have become increasingly frequent and severe, having substantial transboundary impacts. The accumulation of impacts from sand and dust storms can be significant.
“In source areas, they damage crops, affect livestock, and strip topsoil. In depositional areas atmospheric dust, especially in combination with local industrial pollution, can cause or worsen human health problems such as respiratory diseases.
“Communications, power generation, transportation, and supply chains can also be disrupted by low visibility and dust-induced mechanical failures. The United Nations Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, chaired by FAO, was created in 2019 to lead global efforts to address SDS”, Ziadat said.
The UNCCD is one of three Conventions originated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The other two address climate change (UNFCCC) and biodiversity (UN CBD).
