{"id":62970,"date":"2025-12-30T18:06:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=62970"},"modified":"2025-12-30T18:09:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:39:26","slug":"local-fight-desertification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-12-2025\/local-fight-desertification","title":{"rendered":"Water Guardians: A Local Fight Against Desertification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A group of local farmers and volunteers, called <strong>water guardians<\/strong>, are attempting grassroots water restoration in the semi-arid Homokh\u00e1ts\u00e1g region in Hungary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The \u2018Water Guardians\u2019 Initiative<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parts of Central Europe, particularly Hungary\u2019s <strong>Great Hungarian Plain (Homokh\u00e1ts\u00e1g)<\/strong>, are witnessing rapid desertification, driven by climate change, falling groundwater levels, and unsustainable land and water management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The initiative aims to<strong> retain and redistribute water locally<\/strong>, rather than allowing it to drain away unused.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Desertification?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Desertification refers to <strong>land degradation<\/strong> in <strong>arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas,<\/strong> resulting from climatic variations and human activities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a <strong>gradual process of soil productivity loss and the thinning<\/strong> out of the vegetative cover because of human activities and climatic variations such as prolonged droughts and floods.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Desertification is a<strong> worldwide problem<\/strong> directly affecting <strong>250 million<\/strong> people and a third of the earth&#8217;s land surface or over <strong>4 billion hectares.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for the Rise in Desertification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Climate Change:<\/strong> Increasing global temperatures intensify evaporation, reducing soil moisture and drying surface layers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Erratic rainfall patterns, shorter monsoon periods and prolonged droughts weaken vegetation cover and soil regeneration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Declining Groundwater Levels:<\/strong> Excessive extraction of groundwater for agriculture and urban use leads to falling water tables. Further channelisation of rivers and drainage of wetlands disrupt natural flooding and recharge cycles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unsustainable Agricultural Practices:<\/strong> Overgrazing removes protective vegetation cover, exposing soil to wind erosion.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Monocropping and excessive use of chemical inputs degrade soil structure and fertility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Deforestation:<\/strong> Clearing forests for agriculture, infrastructure or mining reduces root systems that bind soil. Also Loss of tree cover increases surface runoff and accelerates land degradation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impacts of Desertification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Environmental Impacts:<\/strong> Decline in biodiversity as grasslands, wetlands and forests degrade. It also leads to increased soil erosion, dust storms and reduced ecosystem services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Impacts:<\/strong> Reduced agricultural yields affect farmer incomes and rural livelihoods leading to rising costs of irrigation, land reclamation and drinking water supply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Social Impacts:<\/strong> Food insecurity and nutritional stress, especially among marginal farmers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate Change:<\/strong> Loss of vegetation reduces carbon sequestration, accelerating climate change. Dry soils intensify heatwaves, creating a vicious cycle of warming and degradation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Steps Taken to Combat Desertification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The UNCCD promotes Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)<\/strong>, aiming to balance land degradation with restoration by <strong>2030.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD):<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>UNCCD was <strong>established in 1994<\/strong> to protect and restore the land and ensure a safer, just, and more sustainable future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is the <strong>only legally binding framework <\/strong>set up to address desertification and the effects of drought.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are <strong>197 Parties<\/strong> to the Convention, including 196 country Parties and the <strong>European Union.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Actions taken by India:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB)<\/strong> is implementing the <strong>National Afforestation Programme (NAP) <\/strong>for ecological restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people&#8217;s participation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aravalli Green Wall Initiative: <\/strong>The initiative aims to expand green cover in a <strong>five-kilometre buffer <\/strong>around the Aravalli range. It covers<strong> 29 districts<\/strong> across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Action Plan to Combat Desertification, 2023<\/strong> is prepared taking due consideration of the country\u2019s commitments for restoration of <strong>26 million hectares<\/strong> of degraded land by 2030.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"acb69d\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156-1024x559.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-62971\" style=\"--dominant-color: #acb69d; aspect-ratio:1.8318737860769414;width:517px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156-1024x559.png 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156-768x419.png 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156-1536x838.png 1536w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-156.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/how-central-europes-water-guardians-are-fighting-desertification\/article70448890.ece#:~:text=The%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A group of local farmers and volunteers, called water guardians, are attempting grassroots water restoration in the semi-arid Homokh\u00e1ts\u00e1g region in Hungary.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> The \u2018Water Guardians\u2019 Initiative <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Parts of Central Europe, particularly Hungary\u2019s Great Hungarian Plain (Homokh\u00e1ts\u00e1g), are witnessing rapid desertification, driven by climate change, falling groundwater levels, and unsustainable land and water management.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The initiative aims to retain and redistribute water locally, rather than allowing it to drain away unused.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-12-2025\/local-fight-desertification\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62970"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62974,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62970\/revisions\/62974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}