(3BL Media) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - June 19, 2012 - Scientists, politicians and civil society groups called world leaders, who will meet at Rio+20 on 20-22 June, to adopt a target to secure healthy soils and to halt land degradation.
The call came during the global observance event of 2012 World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on 17 June in Rio de Janeiro, just a few days before the start of the Rio+20 Conference. The event was held under the theme “Healthy soil sustains your life: LET’S GO LAND-DEGRADATION NEUTRAL”.
“Soil is like blood in our veins – without it nothing on the planet will survive”, said Director of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) Jan McAlpine. Nevertheless, each year globally 75 billion tons of non-renewable fertile soil is lost due to land degradation.
“By 2030, food demand will increase by 50 percent, water by 40 and energy by 35 percent. We need land to meet these needs, but if we go on with business as usual, we will meet none of th