Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-05-Speech-3-221"
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"en.20070905.22.3-221"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, desertification threatens a quarter of the earth’s land surface, as well as 250 million people and the livelihoods of more than a billion inhabitants in 100 countries because of decreased agricultural and livestock productivity.
Poverty, political instability, deforestation, excessive grazing and bad practices are factors that reduce the productivity of land. I therefore hope that in Madrid, after more than 13 years since the UN Convention to Combat Desertification came into being, the international community will debate a reform of the Convention itself, in order to include measures that make the fight against this phenomenon more effective, especially the draft ten-year strategic plan that is being debated.
Soil erosion, uncontrolled urban development, loss of fertile land, fires, deforestation and the over-exploitation of water resources are some of the causes that explain the impoverishment of a great deal of arid, semi-arid or dry soil, and these causes are carrying us inexorably towards growing desertification of the planet, which we need to try to stop by every possible means.
We also need to remember, as the Members who have already spoken have said, that desertification contributes to climate change, as it causes the degradation of the soil and the loss of vegetation, which is associated with an increase in emissions, therefore it would be very helpful to support reforestation policies in order to re-establish and change conditions in arid areas.
With regard to the European Union itself, I think that it is essential that a European drought observatory be established urgently, something that we have considered several times in this House, as a centre for knowledge, mitigation and monitoring of its terrible effects, especially in southern Europe. Unfortunately, in south-east Spain we are well aware of this problem, therefore I propose that the observatory should be located at the European Environment Agency’s Topic Centre for Land Use in Barcelona, as proposed by the Minister for the Environment, Cristina Narbona, or at the Mediterranean Centre for Environmental Studies or the Centre for Desertification Research, both in Valencia, which have focused their multidisciplinary work on areas associated with desertification, and which have broad international experience.
I think that there is an urgent need for greater involvement from the Community institutions on the subject of desertification, so that the European Union can lead the way in this area in the same way as it is doing in the fight against climate change.
I would like to close by saying that combating this problem is a major challenge, not only from the environmental viewpoint but also from the viewpoint of people and human rights: many people are fleeing their lands because of hunger and poverty, largely caused by desertification."@en1
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