2023-10-24 00:31:04
The Desertification Fresco is an educational game created by the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform and the start-up Sand to Green with the support of the COP15 Desertification Presidency and the participation of the Foxtrot company and the Senegalese Desertification Agency. reforestation and the Great Green Wall.
A coalition of partners led by the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform and the Franco-Moroccan startup Sand to Green are launching the Desertification Fresco, an educational game aimed at raising awareness among the general public of the major challenges of desertification and drought.
The Fresco will be unveiled today as part of the World Food Forum, organized in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), by Alain-Richard Donwahi, President of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
“For too long, desertification and drought have been seen as problems of poor countries. However, desertification now affects more than 168 countries around the world. This phenomenon directly endangers the food security and access to water of millions of people, and strongly contributes to the acceleration of climate change. It is urgent to talk about it and to mobilize,” declares Alain-Richard Donwahi, President of COP15 Desertification.
Inspired by the Climate Fresco, the Desertification Fresco is a fun card game that allows players to better understand desertification and drought. The game focuses on the causes of these phenomena and their multiple consequences: acceleration of climate change, impact on agricultural production and increase in food insecurity, difficulties in accessing water, amplification of migratory phenomena and instability, reduction of biodiversity, etc.
Each card in the game presents key facts and figures on desertification and drought, their causes and consequences. The data used are objective and scientifically verified by the CGIAR or various international organizations, including the Senegalese Agency for Reforestation and the Great Green Wall. The objective for participants is to connect the maps together to understand the causal links between different phenomena linked to desertification.
“At Sand to Green, we fight desertification by restoring degraded land to transform it into arable land. Since the launch of the company, we have seen every day the need to amplify efforts to raise awareness among the general public about this glaring issue of desertification and to promote good practices to protect land. This is why we wanted, with the CGIAR and all of our partners, to launch this Fresco,” explains Benjamin Rombaut, co-founder of Sand to Green.
“At the CGIAR, we believe that collaboration is at the heart of science and innovation. Through cutting-edge science and strategic partnerships, the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact platform – an initiative powered by the Bioversity International Alliance and CIAT – is working to scale water-efficient agricultural solutions to combat land degradation and desertification. Youth-led innovations, such as Sand to Green, play a key role in this effort, thanks to their energy, creativity and systemic approach in the fight against desertification. They are the ones who inherit the responsibility to safeguard our planet for future generations,” adds Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General of the Bioversity International Alliance and CIAT and Director of Partnerships and Advocacy at the CGIAR.
The Desertification Fresco is accessible to all on the site: http:www.desertificationfresk.org/. All maps, as well as detailed instructions, can be downloaded for free. Over the coming weeks, The Desertification Fresco will be presented to NGOs around the world, as well as to the educational community in order to facilitate its use and help different actors to appropriate it and add it to their range of awareness tools.
Desertification and drought are among the most significant environmental challenges of our time
Drought is defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as the degradation of land due to various factors such as climatic variations and human activities. Today, drought is, after floods, the second natural disaster that affects the greatest number of people in the world. More than 168 countries are already affected and nearly 40% of the world’s population lives on degraded lands, with major consequences on access to water and food security.
Since the year 2000, drought episodes across the world have increased by 29%. Yet land degradation continues. It is estimated that an additional 12 million hectares of productive land are degraded each year.
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