United Nations: With the economic cost of environmental degradation rising to $42 billion per year, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for "decisive" action to protect the planet.
In a message on the occasion of international Day for Biological Diversity, he said the degradation of dry lands, which constitute 40 per cent of the planet's land surface, is having dramatic effects.
These consequences are especially troubling because they are borne disproportionately by the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, he said.
Drylands host eight of the 10 least developed countries in the world, and developing nations are home to the overwhelming majority of the 2 billion people who rely on dry land ecosystems.
"As a result, their decline has far-reaching implications for our efforts to fight poverty, hunger and disease, he said.
"Indeed, significant steps to preserve dry lands will help determine whether we will achieve the Millennium Development Goals," he added, referring to the targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to eliminate or significantly reduce a host of the world's ills.
Annan stressed the need to reverse desertification, a process not only exacerbating poverty but also partly caused by it.
"This year's biodiversity commemoration coincides with the International Year of Deserts and Desertification," Annan said.
"These two complementary observances illustrate the strong links between environmental issues, and highlight the need for a comprehensive and global approach to address these concerns," he added.
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