Dubai: Two youth groups in Dubai marked World Day to Combat Desertification at Safa Park on Monday by pledging to plant around 200 ghaf trees.
World Day to Combat Desertification is celebrated every year on June 17 to raise awareness about the risks of drought and water scarcity in the drylands and other parts of the globe.
The United Nations General Assembly made the declaration in 1994 to ensure the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in countries that experience serious drought and desertification, particularly in Africa.
Under this year’s slogan “Don’t let our future dry up,” the public is encouraged to collectively act against water scarcity, desertification and drought.
In a simple ceremony under the shade of a big ghaf tree inside Safa Park, members of youth groups Greenhope UAE and Synergy promised to donate ghaf trees to the “Give a Ghaf Tree” programme of Goumbook, a non-profit organisation that advocates eco-friendly practices in the region. The ghaf trees will be planted on October 22 on World Plantation Day.
Goumbook Project Manager Kristien Uytterschaut lauded the youth groups’ efforts, stressing that planting ghaf trees helps carry out the message of preventing desertification. Ghaf trees are indigenous species and the national tree of the UAE which grow to about 25 metres without consuming too much groundwater.
Each year, around 12 million hectares of land — an area thrice the size of Switzerland — are lost due to desertification, according to UNCCD figures. While fertile soil is the most significant non-renewable resource in the planet, it continues to be degraded by human activity and climate change, which inevitably affects 1.5 billion people globally.
