The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations initiative and it is celebrated annually on June 17^th. This Day is aimed at raising more awareness about both desertification and drought, and it also highlights methods to prevent desertification and how to recover recover from drought.

Desertification, along with climate change linked to human activities, and thus the loss of biodiversity, all these elements were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It is worth noting that two years later, in 1994, the General Assembly established the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). This Convention is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. It was decided with this Convention to declare 17^th June “World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought” also proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on January 30^th, 1995.

Desertification is mainly caused by important climatic variations and human activities and consists in the further degradation of already arid and dry areas. Thus, desertification occurs because the ecosystems of arid lands, being already extremely vulnerable, is subjected to over-exploitation and misuse by humans, soils thus become deserted (desertification does not refer to the expansion of already existing deserts).

Appropriate solutions and tools to combat desertification and drought exist but in order to achieve these important goals it is necessary and fundamental to raise public awareness. It is necessary to let humanity know that desertification and drought can be tackled effectively with the participation and cooperation of the International, regional and local communities at all levels: this represents the most important reason for celebrating this Day.