The United Nations General Assembly is dedicating a decade, from 2025 to 2034, to combating sand and dust storms—extreme weather conditions that pose serious environmental, economic, and human risks.
On Wednesday, the main U.N. body adopted a resolution introduced by Uganda's U.N. Ambassador Godfrey Kwoba that seeks to "halt and mitigate the negative effects of sand and dust storms" by leveraging "international and regional cooperation," according to The Associated Press (AP).
Kwoba presented the resolution on behalf of the Group of 77 (G77), a coalition founded in 1964 by 77 developing nations, which now includes 134 developing countries while Beijing has provided political and financial support to the grouping since 1994. The Group is chaired by Uganda.
Newsweek reached out to the G77 for comment via email on Wednesday.
Sand and dust storms (SDS), which occur when strong winds meet bare or dry soil and transport it upward of hundreds of miles, pose serious respiratory risks and environmental threats by destroying crops, harming livestock, and damaging machinery. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification estimates that "334 million people around the world, including 14 percent of the world's children are affected by sand and dust storms."
They most often occur in Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, and China, according to the United Nations Environmental Program, with occurrences in Australia, America, and South Africa.
Newsweek filled out an online media contact form with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification on Wednesday.
The move comes two days ahead of the International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms, on July 12, which the assembly established last year. In June 2023, the assembly agreed that sand and dust storms (SDS) are a "serious global concern" because of their "significant impacts on the environment, health, agriculture, livelihoods, and socio-economic well-being," and decided to raise awareness of their impacts and seek global cooperation to mitigate their effects annually on July 12.
In 2023, the assembly noted that SDS can occur naturally, but are also both an effect of and a contributor to climate change and air pollution, saying, "Climate change is an important potential contributor to future wind erosion and the risk of sand and dust storms, especially the occurrence of more extreme wind events and the movement towards drier climates." It also highlighted that climate change is bringing more amplifying factors like droughts and extreme temperatures, as well as human deforestation and overuse of water.
The U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification estimates that two billion tons of sand and dust enter the atmosphere every year, and over 25 percent of it is due to human activities. That same convention found in a 2022 report that SDS has "increased dramatically in frequency in recent years."
As part of the decade-long initiative adopted Wednesday, the General Assembly said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will promote mitigation practices in affected countries, the AP reported. These efforts include, "sustainable land use management, agroforestry, shelter belts, afforestation/reforestation and land restoration programs," the AP reported.
Newsweek reached out to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization via email for comment Wednesday evening.
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