Context: The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in its latest report mentions that physical distance between animals and humans has reduced due to land degradation. 

• This has resulted in frequent interactions between both, which is a probable cause for a zoonotic disease like COVID-19. 
• The June 17 is observed as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought globally. This year’s ‘global observance event’ is being hosted by the Korea Forest Service virtually in the wake of COVID crisis. 

Key Highlights of the report

• About 70 per cent of all-natural, ice-free land in the world is affected by human use and report emphasis on an urgent need for the land use pattern to check land degradation. 
• The global economy is heading for a recession and social relations are changing which creates the urgency at the policy and practical levels to slow down and reverse land-use change. 
• Land degradation affects some 3.2 billion people worldwide and This could further rise to 90 per cent by 2050, if not checked. 
• The major cause for land-use change is agricultural land for food, animal feed and fibre and By 2050, over 500 Mha of new agricultural land will be needed to meet the global food demand which may worsen the scenario. 
• It mentions that in the largest-ever global restoration initiative, in the last five years, close to 100 countries have earmarked areas for repair and restoration by 2030 which is around 400 Mha. 

About United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

• Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. 
• The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
• India became a signatory to UNCCD on October 14, 1994, and ratified it on December 17, 1996.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the nodal Ministry for the Convention.

What is Desertification?

• Desertification is the process by which the biological productivity of drylands (arid and semiarid lands) is reduced due to natural or manmade factors. It does not mean the expansion of existing deserts.
• Causes- The major factors responsible for desertification are over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices etc. 

Desertification in India:

• India faces a severe problem of land degradation. About 29.32% of the Total Geographical Area of the country is undergoing the process of desertification/land degradation.
• A 2016 report by the ISRO found that about 29% of India’s land (in 2011-13) was degraded, this being a 0.57% increase from 2003-05.
• At the COP-13, India had committed to restoring 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by the year 2020 and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.
• In eight states—Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh—around 40 to 70 per cent of land has undergone desertification. 
• Loss of soil cover, mainly due to rainfall and surface runoff, is one of the biggest reasons for desertification. It is responsible for 98 per cent of desertification in the country.

Steps taken so far to curb desertification

• Initiatives- “National Afforestation Programme (NAP)” for ecological restoration of degraded forest areas is being implemented by the National Afforestation & Eco-Development Board (NAEB) Division of the MoEFCC.
• There are multiple schemes like Green India Mission, fund accumulated under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Nagar Van Yojana etc which are helping in land conservation.
• MoEF&CC also promotes tree outside forests realizing that the country has a huge potential for increasing its Trees Outside Forest (TOF).
• Improved fire management and improved grazing land can help in land restoration.