Satellites combat degrading lands As the UN marked World Food
Day earlier this week, international representatives convened in
Korea to discuss ways to curb the loss of productive land to
desertification. Satellites play an important role in the
monitoring and assessment of drylands. Desertification is the
degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas.
It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic
variations because dryland ecosystems are extremely vulnerable
to over-exploitation, inappropriate land use and droughts. This
phenomenon has severely affected the livelihoods of farmers
around the globe, causing food insecurity in many areas.
Satellites have the capability to detect desertification and
have seen active land degradation trends even in Europe.
Findings were presented at the 10th Conference of the Parties to
the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Changwon,
Korea. Held 10–21 October, the event gave representatives an
opportunity to discuss strategies to curb t