another 5 articles..

Review for the 11th article:

Desertification is defined by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.” Through researches, it is easier to prevent desertification than to reverse it.

The consequences of desertification include
• diminished food production, reduced soil productivity and a decrease in the land’s natural resilience;
• increased downstream flooding, reduced water quality, sedimentation in rivers and lakes, and the siltation of reservoirs and navigation channels;
• aggravated health problems due to wind-blown dust, including eye infections, respiratory illnesses, allergies, and mental stress;
• loss of livelihoods forcing affected people to migrate.

Thus, we must fight poverty of drylands by better management of crops, more careful irrigation and strategies to provide non-farming jobs for people living in drylands.

Review for the 12th article:

There is a fine line between dryland and desert - one which once crossed is hard to return from. It is vastly more cost-effective to prevent dryland degradation than to reverse it. It is therefore essential to focus on policies and technologies that will protect the world’s arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas.
To raise public awareness about desertification, and to help to preserve dryland and desert communities, and the biological diversity on which they depend, the UN General Assembly declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
The degradation of drylands is a growing problem that needs imaginative, collaborative and multi-sectoral action. It is both a result of and a contributor to climate change; it is both the cause and the consequence of poverty. If left unchecked it threatens the future food security of humanity’s steadily growing population and the stability of communities and countries in all regions.

Review for the 13th article:

The year 2007 fits into a pattern of steadily increasing global average temperature, with the eight warmest years on record all occurring in the last decade. The impact of the exceptional warmth in 2007 was especially apparent in the Arctic, where several feedback mechanisms amplify the effect of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Summer sea-ice extent in the Arctic Ocean shrank dramatically to a new low, 23 percent below the previous 2005 record. This opened the Northwest Passage for the first time in recorded history and prompted a scramble to claim large swaths of the newly exposed Arctic.
Intense rainfall events and flooding will only become more common in the future, as climate models show that warmer temperatures will cause a greater share of total precipitation to fall in extreme events. This means that there will be more heavy rainstorms but also more dry periods, producing both more severe droughts and more frequent, more intense floods.
The temperature record for 2007 shows that we have now fully entered into what some are calling a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which human activities are the main driver of the global climate system. The many effects of warmer temperature, which we are already beginning to see, will only become more severe and more costly to society if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut quickly and dramatically.

Review for the 14th article:

In support of the internationally coordinated campaign of research marking a new era in polar science, the International Polar Year has been established for 2007-2008. Coinciding, the theme of World Environment Day 2007 is Melting Ice Hot Topic?. Through the campaign, it will strengthen the resolve of people to act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put in place the medium to longer term strategies necessary to avert dangerous climate change.

Review for the 15th article:

This publication calls for public policies that make the best use of the forestry sector’s carbon profile and carbon cycle. It proposes six key points that those responsible for devising forestry and carbon policies need to know, and it highlights the carbon opportunities and challenges facing the sector.