{"id":12246,"date":"2021-03-04T12:09:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T09:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=12246"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:31:26","slug":"unep-launches-a-virtual-journey-through-three-unique-desert-ecosystems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2021\/03\/04\/unep-launches-a-virtual-journey-through-three-unique-desert-ecosystems\/","title":{"rendered":"UNEP launches a virtual journey through three unique desert ecosystems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deserts and drylands are often far from the barren images they are known for. These ecosystems play a vital role in climate regulation \u2013 nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unccd.int\/un-decade-deserts-and-fight-against-desertification-impact-and-role-drylands\">46 per cent of global carbon is stored in drylands<\/a>. Despite the harsh conditions, they are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unccd.int\/un-decade-deserts-and-fight-against-desertification-impact-and-role-drylands\">home to over 2 billion people<\/a>&nbsp;and harbor some of the world&#8217;s rarest biodiversity. Many deserts contain hidden water bodies that sustain several species of flora and fauna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To raise awareness about these unique but often overlooked ecosystems; the United Nations Environment Programme\u2019s (UNEP)\u00a0has launched a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wildfor.life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wild for Life<\/a>\u00a0virtual journey through\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wildfor.life\/desert-journey#\/desert-intro\">three unique deserts<\/a>: the rocky Gobi Desert in Central Asia; Wadi Rum in Jordan and the expansive Sahara Desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The blazing sand dunes in the deserts provide nature-based livelihoods for local communities through eco-tourism. However, climate change, combined with erosion and degradation of surrounding areas is causing these deserts to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sustainable pastoralism, by herding communities, helps\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/papersmart.unon.org\/resolution\/uploads\/k1900781.pdf#overlay-context=node\/233\">combat desertification, land degradation and drought in rangelands<\/a>;\u00a0while conserving biodiversity and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. With\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ipbes.net\/global-assessment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one million species are at risk of extinction<\/a>, biodiversity is a key priority for UNEP. As the world faces the stark reality that none of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbd.int\/sp\/targets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aichi targets<\/a>\u00a0were met and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbd.int\/conferences\/post2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prepares for a new, ambitious post-2020 framework<\/a>, the issue is gaining urgency and international momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The virtual desert journey showcases how these valuable ecosystems contribute to biodiversity \u2013 and the human activities that are threatening their survival. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/news-and-stories\/story\/unep-launches-virtual-journey-through-three-unique-desert-ecosystems\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deserts and drylands are often far from the barren images they are known for. These ecosystems play a vital role in climate regulation \u2013 nearly&nbsp;46 per cent of global carbon&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}