UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly designated 2025-2034 as the “United Nations Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.”
By adopting a resolution titled “United Nations Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms (2025-2034)” without a vote, the General Assembly dedicated the 10-year period to the fight against those meteorological phenomena.
The General Assembly invited the UN secretary-general to take appropriate steps to plan and organize the activities of the decade at the global, regional and country levels, and said the cost of all activities that may arise from implementation of the resolution should be met from voluntary contributions, including from the private sector.
Introducing the text of the draft resolution on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, the representative of Uganda said sand and dust storms are an issue of international concern, “the costs of which are measured in economic, social and environmental terms.”
The storms increasingly threaten achievement of 11 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, he stressed, adding that the resolution aims to enhance international and regional cooperation to prevent, halt and mitigate their effects.
In a 2022 report, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification said sand and dust storms have “increased dramatically in frequency in recent years.”
It said storms can exacerbate respiratory illnesses, kill crops and livestock, and increase desertification, though documentation of their impact is limited.
The convention estimated that 2 trillion tons of sand and dust enter the atmosphere annually, largely in dry lands and sub-humid regions with little vegetation.
The majority of emissions result from natural conditions, but droughts and climate change exacerbate the issue, it said.
The report estimated that “at least 25% of global dust emissions originate from human activities” like unsustainable land management and water use. — NNN-AGENCIES
