EarthAction

Dangerous Desertification on the Navajo Nation

    For those of you who missed the First World Forum on Desertification held at the beginning of this month, EarthAction intern Amber provides an important look at a place suffering from drought and desertification here in the United States.

Desert landscape in Arizona, United States, circa 1972. 

   What is desertification? It is a process by which fertile soil nutrients are leached due to topsoil erosion from climatic effects and poor agricultural practices. This process transforms arable land into a dry desert unequipped for the growing of crops and other common agricultural practices. The Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States is the largest area of severely desertified land in North America.

Is Kony 2012 Just a Passing Social Media Fad?

We have all heard the conversations about the role of social media in activism and revolutions. Occupy Wall Street allowed encampments across the globe to connect via Facebook and Twitter and the part social media played in the Arab Spring uprisings has been debated throughout the past year.

This week- there’s something new. Kony 2012, a campaign by Invisible Children to make famous the insidious actions of one Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Watch the video,then read EarthAction interns Christine and Walker's four reasons why this viral campaign isn’t enough to solve Uganda’s conflict and see suggestions for further research.

Read our list and then you be the judge- has Invisible Children brought an important issue to it’s long awaited fame on the internet? Or has it oversimplified a complex issue and cast Westerners as the heroes?

Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army- Photo Credit AP

Reason #1- Killing/capturing/arresting Kony won't solve any problems. YES, absolutely, he should be apprehended, but painting him as the enemy or as the literal "bad guy" is misleading. Even eliminating the LRA entirely wouldn't stop violence in the region, the recruitment of child soldiers, or political instability. For that, we need a fundamental change in government, global economics, a resolution of land disputes, and investments in infrastructure/education (for starters). Framing the issue around "bad guys" is not only simplistic, but outright false. If people believe Kony to be the problem, we aren't going to solve any problems.  

Happy International Women's Day!

Take a look at one of our previous campaigns, Empowering Women to Protect the Land. It's still as relevant today as ever. In many parts of the world, women are on the front lines tending to the land and providing food and resources for their communities. However, desertification is making scarce resources scarcer. Empowering women to take part in conservation and development projects that directly affect their livelihoods can make in big impact on the well-being of their lands and communities. 

A woman from West Bengal in India harvesting her crops. In India, 74.5 percent of rural women are agricultural workers but only 9.3 percent own the land.

(Photo: UN Women/Ashutosh Negi)

Continue reading Empowering Women to Protect the Land.

So Much Depends on So Little

Watch this simple but powerful demonstration by Yukie Hori of the UNCCD about why we must combat desertification.

Highlights from Day 1 & 2 of the World Forum on Desertification

It's day 3 of our free virtual World Forum on Desertification! Today, there will be an exciting discussion on the intersection of desertification and gender, facilitated by Fidaa Haddad of the IUCD (International Union for Conservation of Nature). 

There's still time to participate in today's discussion by heading over to http://theglobalcitizensinitiative.org/.

The past two days have been a great success! Thanks to everyone who has participated. If you missed it, here are some highlights:

The forum kicked off Monday morning with an online webinar, beautifully introduced by EarthAction's founder, Lois Barber. Here is a brief excerpt of her introduction:

"As we look at that beautiful blue marble photograph of the world, we can say, this land is my land. It feeds us, sustains us, provides us with shelter,and a place for our communities, cultures, and spirits to grow. But much of our land is fragile, and in danger of being unable to support life. Especially at risk, are the dry lands that cover over 40% of the Earth's surface, and are home to more than 2 billion people today."

The webinar then featured an interview with Luc Gnacadja, the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD. The interview evokes many bits of food for thought, including this salient point:

"We know nowadays that the majority of the violent conflict in the world is occuring in the drylands. It means that the scarcity of water, the scarcity of productive land, are actually fueling conflict, and making those areas be conflict prone. So not only for food security, but for basic human peace and human security, we need to invest in combatting desertification."

Yukie Hori of the UNCCD secretariat then led a 20-minute Q & A session with participants from around the world. In case you missed it, click here to access a recording ofthe webinar.

In the forums, we asked, "What does desertification mean to you?" One of our participants gave this moving response:

"Desertification has played an important role in my life. I am coming from a place in north-central Mexico drylands where people suffer from desertification and land degradation. They must carry water by their own means, sometimes from distant wells . Last year was the driest in the past 70 years. 100% of their crops were lost and a vast majority of households lost cattle heads out of starvation. Heavily degraded lands characterize their natural landscape. Unfertile soils and rangelands, unemployment, poor access to market, to credit, to proper education, training and a high cost of resources for farm improvement such as seed and equipment cause a disability to make a living in their own villages. In this case migration to big cities or USA becomes the dominant tool for livelihood improvement."

On Day 2, the forum shifted gears to focus on Desertification, Food Security, and Water Scarcity. Here are a few highlighted comments from the discussion:

"According to the Global Drylands Report (2011) drylands become degraded when water and land are used unsustainably. These effects are exacerbated by climate change. Desertification is the primary process by which drylands become degraded, currently affecting 6 million km²."

"Dryland degradation reduces the gross domestic product of some developing countries by as much as 48%. "

"In advocating for setting this target ("Zero Net Land Degradation", a strong endeavour is needed by the UN system and its partners, as well as directly by countries already affected by land degradation to ensure its mainstreaming (in Rio+20 outcomes and beyond) and to explain why this is needed when committing to sustainable land stewardship at the global level." 

"In my opinion, desertification is highly related to the growing number of displaced people. The number of refugees is on the rise, and this is definitely a world phenomenon that all countries must take responsibility for because it is inevitable that these problems will affect everyone on a global scale."

Thanks again to everyone who has participated! Forum discussions are occuring every weekday until next Tuesday. The last webinar will be occuring next Tuesday, March 6 at 8am New York time.

Click here to access EarthAction's Action Kit on Desertification.
Click here to find out how to participate in the rest of this week's Forum. 

February Action Alert - Prioritize Africa's Elephants

• Click here to see a sample letter or e-mail to send to your CITES representative.
• Click here to find out how to take action.
• Click here for more information!  

Why Africa's Elephants?

Despite the international ban on the trade of Elephant Ivory in 1989, it is estimated that every year 38,000 elephants are killed for ivory sales on the black market. 

Poachers sell raw ivory for around $20 per pound. Most of this ivory eventually makes its way to China, where it is resold at $700 per pound—or more. This means that a single tusk from a full-grown bull elephant can fetch upwards of $50,000 on the black market. The poaching of elephants for their ivory tusks requires the death of some of the most beautiful and endangered animals on our planet.

Unless action is taken soon, many of the gains made in recent decades to protect the great elephants of Africa may be undone. In 1989 elephants were initially listed as an Appendix 1 species by CITES (the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna), banning any and all trade of ivory. In 1997 they were downgraded to an Appendix 2 species, allowing the trade of ivory with regulation.

Many nations do not have the capacity to strictly monitor the flow of ivory through their borders, nor are measures in place to effectively monitor the global ivory trade. Disguising illegal ivory as a legal product requires only an artificial aging process.

We must all take action— the fate of one of the world’s most intelligent and majestic creatures is in our hands. Representatives of the CITES Animals Committee are preparing now for an upcoming meeting in March 2012. Their preparation includes deciding how they will vote—and the leadership they will take—on a proposal to move elephants back to Appendix 1 classification where they were placed originally in 1979.

This reclassification would ban all new trade in ivory and allow for strict monitoring of the sale and transport of ivory with the expected result being a dramatic decrease in black market trade. Many countries oppose this change. We must act to make our voices ring louder than theirs and fight to protect Africa's elephants.

TAKE ACTION

CITES representatives from each region of the globe are elected to the Animals Committe to make important decisions regarding the trade of our planet's most precious fauna. Click here to find your region’s CITES representative's phone number, e-mail address and mailing address.

Urge him/her, in preparation for the March 2012 CITES Conference, to do everything in their power to see that your region votes for and plays a leadership role to reclassify elephants and return them to the CITES list of Appendix 1 species
 

APRIL UPDATE:  2011 was declared the most deadly year for elephants since their poaching ban in 1989. While more funds were allocated across the continent to battle the increasing illegal ivory trade, no changes were made at the CITES meeting in March to the protection status of elephants, nor to the trade in ivory. This is not enough. We need to see CITES change the status of Africa’s elephants from Appendix II to Appendix I, where they were originally placed after the 1989 ban. Seeing this reclassification at the next CITES meeting in 2013 will send a global message that all species deserve the utmost protection.

Let them know that you want your region to take action to see that elephants are given the greatest protection possible.

Sign the Petition to STOP the sale of illegal ivory.

MORE TO DO:

Tweet to @EarthAction
Tweet about our alert to your friends.

Share the link to our email alert.

Receive timely action alerts on issues you care about. Join Earth Action as a Member

Your donation will help EarthAction in our ongoing work to protect Africa's Elephants. Click here to make a donation. 

 

Sample Letter or E-mail

Dear Representative,

I am writing to express my concern at the state of protections against the illegal sale of ivory on the black market between Africa and Asia. Traffic, an environmental investigation agency, estimated that in 2011 2,500 elephants were killed around the globe for the poaching of ivory- making 2011 the deadliest year since the ivory ban in 1989.

The difference between 2011 and 1989? The status of elephants as an Appendix II species versus the better protected and strickter initial Appendix I listing. I am urging you as a member of the Animals Committee to give Africa's Elephants priority in your decision making- to stop the slaughter of these majestic animals. 

As a CITES  representative, you are responsible for determining the protections these animals get. Keep elephants in mind in your March 2012 meeting, and fulfil your responsibility to ensure the survival of this species of fauna. 

Thank you for your time and for arguing on behalf of Africa's elephants,

Image Credits: Elephant- Brittany Hock.
Text Credits: EarthAction intern Walker Dunn