Turkey’s capital Ankara is hosting delegates from 195 countries for a conference on tackling desertification on Monday, the minister of forestry and water affairs said in a statement. “With COP12, the UN has gathered to keep the struggle against desertification and soil erosion on the world agenda,” Veysel Eroglu said. As reported by the Journal of Turkish Weekly, the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties aims to address land degradation caused by factors, such as climate change in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. More than 250 million people around the world are affected by desertification that also threatens an additional 1.2 billion in 110 countries. Eroglu said binding decisions are expected to be made to reduce land deterioration that endangers water and food security.
