On June 17 the World Day to Combat Desertification proclaimed by the UN General Assembly is observed.
The main objective of the day is to raise public awareness on the issue through conference, roundtable discussions, seminars, exhibitions and other events relating to international cooperation to combat effects of drought.
One of the observation’s aims is preservation of soil fertility, as well as removal of degraded lands and their replacement by the same amount of restored agricultural lands.
Desertification is one of the most alarming global environmental processes. It threatens health of more than one billion people. Each year this problem leads to losses of agricultural products valued at USD 42 billion, as well as migration of more than 60 million people from Africa to Europe and the United States.
In Britain on Tuesday it was an auction where for the first time for almost a century the skeleton of an extinct bird dodo was sold. The organizers of the action count that the skeleton will charge an amount from 300 to 500 thousand pounds (370-620 thousand dollars).
Protected environmental zone with the square of more than 1.5 million square kilometers will be located in Ross Sea. The agreement has been signed by European Union and 24 more countries, including Russia.
Since 1907 the population of mammals, fishes, birds, amphibia and reptiles has reduced by almost 60%, as it is said in the report of World Wild Nature Fund.
Finnish researchers who concentrated on the investigation of the north light defined that it is accompanied not only with the great light show but also with specific acoustic fluctuations that can be registered with the help of the specialized equipment.
At the beach Legzira located at the Atlantic coast of Morocco, there was a wreckage of one of two stone arches that used to be the famous sightseeing of the country. The Guardian reports about that.
The delegates of the conference of Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) happened in Republic of South Africa voted for prohibition of international trade in African gray parrots.
The efforts of zoologists, ecologists and significant financial expenses that have been invested in the program of salvation of ounce brought their fruits. Particularly, the predator has been seen more often by the citizens of several provinces of Afghanistan that ounce preferred choosing as its habitat.
The largest in the world kind of apes from the genus of gorillas, particularly, Eastern gorilla residing within the territory of Democratic Republic Congo is on the edge of extinction because of the illegal hunting.
USA will invest $15 million in the program on fight with the climatic change in Central Asia, the head of state department John Kerry claimed at the meeting with ministers of foreign affairs of five Central Asian countries in Washington.
One of the recent colonies of wooly mammoths located at the island of Saint Paul near Alaska died more than five thousand years ago because of lack of drinking water, as it is explained by the scientists.
The experts of travel web-portal Travelbird.nl has defined that the cheapest beach in the world is situated in Vietnam. Cua Dai is located in popular among travelers city Hoi An in the central province of the country Quảng Nam.
The list of UNESCO World Heritage that connects the most significant landmarks of the planet either man-made or natural is reviewed annually. This year at the 40-th session of UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee which ended in Istanbul on the 20-th of July, the list included 21 sites more.
Almost fifty million trees have been planted in Indian state Uttar Pradesh during the 11-th of July. The native land has been greened up by 800 thousand volunteers.