With desertification threatening agriculture and ecosystems throughout the world, a new initiative hopes to help curb the spread of land degradation and build resilience to climate change.

The new program, Action Against Desertification is a joint effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the European Union and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Together they have pledged €41million to improve sustainable land management in vulnerable areas to fight hunger and poverty.

The program will support agroforestry and help to create farmer field schools that increase knowledge about actions that can prevent desertification. It will build on the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative which has been supporting local communities across Africa to sustainably manage and restore dryland forests and rangelands.

In the Caribbean and the Pacific, the program will target soil loss and degraded natural habitats by helping local communities adopt improved sustainable land and forest management practices.

Land degradation and desertification have been closely linked with hunger and poverty, and in some cases conflict. Increasing populations and the impacts of climate change place greater pressure on dryland areas, and this can intensify degradation and desertification and put the lives of many at risk.

Read more on the UN News Centre website: In fight against hunger, UN launches initiative targeting threat of desertification