The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations observance celebrated each year on 17 June.

Its purpose is to raise awareness of the presence of desertification and drought, highlighting methods of preventing desertification and recovering from drought.

Each year’s global celebration has a unique, novel emphasis that had not been developed previously.

Environment Correspondent, Gimalo-Angel Olowogoke takes a closer look.

This year’s theme is, Her Land. Her Rights.

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution on January 30, 1995, after the day when United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was drafted.

Objectives of Desertification and Drought Day are:

1. To promote public awareness of the issue

2. To let people know that desertification and drought can be effectively tackled, that solutions are possible, and that key tools to this aim lay in strengthened community participation and cooperation at all levels.

3. To strengthen implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa.

In this stirring message from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw, we highlight the critical role women play in land restoration and sustainable farming.

Despite facing systemic challenges and owning less than 20% of the world’s land, women contribute significantly to agricultural labor and the global food supply.

Also in his video message, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says women suffer from the lack of food, water scarcity, and forced migration that result from mistreatment of land.

In rural Nigeria, 80 percent of small scale farmers are women.

Yet very few own land — held back by a lack of resources and conservative male attitudes.

Activists are calling for more rights for women farmers, including access to land and credit.

In Ethiopia, with support from the World Bank and others, a program uses small booklets and simple photos to give women a clear hold on their own land.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will reaffirm its commitment with these Desertification and Drought Day 2023 objectives:

1. Raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of desertification, land degradation and drought on women and girls and the barriers they face in decision-making on land issues;

2. Highlight women’s contributions to sustainable land management and broader SDGs;

3. Mobilize global support to advance land rights for women and girls around the world.

Saudi Arabia, a country which has been dependent on its rich oil reserves for several decades, is now on a path of economic diversification.

With Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is proving that the Kingdom could perform well in non-oil private sectors too.

As Saudi Arabia’s private sector expands rapidly, the Kingdom is expected to provide more job opportunities to nationals and foreign talents alike in the coming years.

Giga-projects like NEOM are presenting enormous job opportunities in the construction sector, along with offering employment in various other areas including advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

Spotlight On Construction Sector

According to Grace Najjar, Project Management Institute’s regional managing director for the Middle East and North Africa region, the construction industry is expected to play a crucial role in achieving the goals set forth by Vision 2030, providing immense job opportunities in the future.

She further noted that Saudi Arabia’s construction sector will witness high demand for skilled professionals which include project managers, engineers and architects.

“Over 5,200 projects across Saudi Arabia, with a combined worth of $819 billion, are currently underway, representing 35 percent of all active GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) project values. With such a vast number of projects, there will be a significant demand for skilled professionals in the construction industry, including project managers, engineers, architects and skilled labor,” said Najjar.

She added: “This demand is expected to continue to rise in the coming years, especially as Saudi Arabia and the entire GCC are on a path of economic diversification.”

Earlier in May, a report released by the US-Saudi Business Council noted that the Kingdom’s construction sector saw the value of awarded contracts increasing to $51.3 billion in 2022 — a 35 percent rise compared to the previous year.

“The surge in contract awards continues unabated on the back of a growing economy that was fueled by significant oil revenues and the acceleration of giga-projects following the COVID-19 slowdown,” said Albara’a Alwazir, director of economic research at the USSBC.

Najjar further pointed out that local talent in Saudi Arabia will get ample chance to explore employment opportunities in the construction sector.

“In recent years, there has been a push to develop local talent in Saudi Arabia, including in the construction sector. The government has implemented several initiatives to develop skills and create employment opportunities for Saudis, including the National Transformation Program,” added Najjar

The Red Fort is a historic fortification that served as a main residence of the emperors of the Mughal dynasty, and it is located in Old Delhi of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, that forms the capital city of the Republic of India, New Delhi.

Known also as Lal Qalʿah, was built by one of the most famous Mughal emperors, the fifth Emperor Shah Jahan, on the banks of the Yamuna River, and it served as a residence for the emperors for nearly 200 years.

Taking almost 9 years to construct, the Red Fort was built between 1639 and 1648, and it got its name from the massive walls which are on average 23 meters (75 feet) high that enclose the entire structure with their 2 km (1 mi) in length and have a distinct red color that comes from the red sandstone.

Within the premises of the fortification, there is a complex of palaces and entertainment halls, projecting balconies, baths and indoor canals, geometrical gardens, as well as an ornate mosque, all of which are supposed to represent the imagination of the Mughal creativity.

Still, even though each piece of architecture here contains architectural pieces of typical Mughal buildings, there are some buildings which reflect a fusion of Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions. Spread on about 103 hectares (255 acres), there are so many different things and structures that deserve to be seen in person, which sometimes it is considered that a person needs couple of days in order to see everything.

Among the most famous structures of the fortification are the Hall of Public Audience, commonly referred to as Diwan-i-Am, which which has 60 red sandstone pillars supporting a flat roof. Furthermore, the Hall of Private Audience, commonly referred to as Diwan-i-Khas, is a bit smaller but the pavilion is created with a white marble.

The main entrance, the Lahori Gate, is named as such because it is oriented towards the city Lahore, and the gate we see today was altered during the reign of Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad (Aurangzeb) who added bastions to the side.

In addition, it should be mentioned Delhi Gate, Chhatta Chowk, Naubat Khana, Mumtaz Mahal, Rang Mahal, Baoli, Pearl Mosque also known as Moti Masjid, Hayat Bakhsh Bagh, as some of the other structures that also deserve to be in the spotlight of this grandiose monument.

Fortunately, in 2007 the Red Fort Complex was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving it the proper title of Important Monument to India where every year on Independence Day, which is 15 August, the Prime Minister hoists the Indian flag at the Lahori Gate and delivers a nationally broadcast speech from its ramparts.

In conclusion, considered as a true, quite powerful piece of Indian history that is well known around the world, it also deserves to be preserved in order for the future generations of India to be able to tell the history behind it, which makes them very proud.

Thousands of poppies are creating a spectacle in fields around Crantock, in Cornwall.

The National Trust, which manages the area at West Pentire, has put up signs to keep people on paths and protect the flowers.

Crantock, Lanngorrow in Cornish, dates back to 460 AD when a group of Irish hermits is said to have founded an oratory there.

The older part of the village is huddled around the church dedicated to St. Carantoc, founder of the village.

Langurroc was famously covered up in a sandstorm and may well lie beneath the sand dunes which back Crantock beach.

Home to about 970 all-year round residents, Crantock has grown from 800 people at the 2011 Census. However during the summer months, the village can easily expand to four times its normal population, perhaps more as holiday parks above the village fill up.

Millions of cubic metres of rock have thundered on to a tiny Swiss village, with huge boulders blocking roads – some landing within inches of houses.

The entire village of Brienz, population 70, was evacuated in mid-May, when geologists warned a massive rockfall was imminent.

The rockface immediately above the village, nicknamed “the island”, had been unstable for decades.

But this spring, the rock slippage began to accelerate.

Many Brienzers had expected they would to leave their homes temporarily, but were unhappy the evacuation order had come so suddenly. Days before the order came, they had been told to expect to move some time in late summer.

Instead, they were summoned to an emergency village meeting on 9 May and told they had 48 hours to leave.

In the weeks since, some voiced frustration that the predicted massive rockfall had not happened. They asked why they could not go home when the rocks seemed to be trickling down slowly and harmlessly.

On Thursday night, the mountain answered back and authorities in the eastern canton of Graubünden say the village had a very lucky, narrow escape.

Two-thirds of the loose rock, estimated to measure more than two million cubic metres in total, crashed down.

To the villagers’ relief, helicopters assessing the scene reported no obvious damage to houses, but there is little prospect of going home soon. There is up to a million cubic metres of loose rock still on the mountain above.

The masses just missed the village but left behind a meter-high deposit on the main road near the school building.

The rockfall missed the empty village by a hair, according to a statement from local authorities

Even if the falling rocks do not destroy people’s houses, there is a risk for anyone in the area.

Christian Gartmann, spokesman for the village authorities, told Swiss TV that large boulders crashing into one another as they fell could create rock splinters that hurtled “like cannonballs”, smashing windows and causing serious injuries.

Some wonder whether Brienz’s situation is due to climate change. Switzerland’s Alpine regions are especially sensitive to global warming.

As the glaciers shrink, and the permafrost high in the mountains begins to thaw, the rock becomes unstable.

In fact, the mountain above Brienz has no permafrost, but this spring’s unusually heavy rain, also linked to global warming, was certainly a factor in the evacuation order. The mountainside, sodden with water, began to slip faster towards the valley.

Air pollution in Oxford fell by more than 8% in 2022, according to official figures.

The annual Oxford City Council air quality report examined nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels across 127 locations in the city.

It said the data showed the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in east Oxford and the Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) pilot scheme in the city centre was already having a positive effect.

The official figures were released as Oxfordshire County Council unveiled a £200,000 plan to cut air pollution.

The air quality report found that, although NO2 levels had fallen on average by 8.3% across the city, the legal annual mean objective of 40 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) was exceeded at six locations.

It said St Clement’s Street and The Plain continued to have the highest air pollution levels, with a 10% increase in 2022 to 43µg/m3 but the figure was lower than pre-pandemic levels when 53µg/m3 was recorded 2019.

The council said the LTNs appeared to have an a impact on air quality. In Divinity Road, NO2 levels fell by 33%, from 18µg/m3 to 12µg/m3.

Levels also fell overall in areas included in the ZEZ pilot scheme, according to the report.