Saudi Arabia, UNEP Launch World Environment Day Campaigns to Combat Desertification

Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced on Sunday campaigns to combat desertification, restore ecosystems, and strengthen drought resilience. (SPA)

17:35-28 April 2024 AD ـ 20 Shawwal 1445 AH

Saudi Arabia, UNEP Launch World Environment Day Campaigns to Combat Desertification

Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced on Sunday campaigns to combat desertification, restore ecosystems, and strengthen drought resilience. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced on Sunday campaigns to combat desertification, restore ecosystems, and strengthen drought resilience.

These efforts are ahead of global WED celebrations on June 5 in Riyadh. The announcement was made at the opening of Environment Week 2024 in Riyadh. The campaign will run up to its celebration date.

The inauguration of Environment Week 2024 was announced by Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman Alfadley. Environment Week is an annual event that aims to raise environmental consciousness among individuals and is organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture.

During the event, Deputy Minister for Environment Dr. Osama Faqeeha emphasized the shared responsibility in addressing land degradation and combating desertification. The responsibility extends to policymakers, the private sector, and civil society organizations globally, working together to restore agricultural areas, rehabilitate land, and tackle desertification and drought.

Dr. Faqeeha noted that during World Environment Day, Saudi Arabia will shed light on the urgent need for global investments in conserving nature, restoring lands, and striving towards sustainability.

He highlighted the importance of uniting national and international efforts to safeguard and rehabilitate ecosystems across the globe, aiming to fulfill sustainable development objectives.

“Without action, 95% of land on earth could be degraded within the next 30 years, which could spell disaster for humanity and the planet,” said Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, during the launch of the global campaign.

“We have seen how previous campaigns have catalyzed climate action across the globe. This year, we are calling on people - from the grassroots to governments – to help tackle the climate and extinction crisis we face by restoring the ground we depend on for survival,” she added.

Countries worldwide have committed to restoring one billion hectares of land, aiming to protect 30% of land and sea for nature and restoring 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems. Supporting the 2030 Agenda for a sustainable, resilient world, World Environment Day 2024 will boost climate action efforts by gathering support for ecosystem restoration.

Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

FILE - This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)

Asharq Al Awsat

12:09-10 May 2025 AD ـ 13 Thul-Qi’dah 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

12:09-10 May 2025 AD ـ 13 Thul-Qi’dah 1446 AH

Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.
The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry, based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed to appear over a German radar station.
It was not immediately known where the spacecraft came in or how much, if any, of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time that some if not all of it might come crashing down, given it was built to withstand a landing on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet.
The chances of anyone getting clobbered by spacecraft debris were exceedingly low, scientists said.
Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction.
Much of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch. No longer able to resist gravity’s tug as its orbit dwindled, the spherical lander — an estimated 3 feet (1 meter) across — was the last part of the spacecraft to come down. The lander was encased in titanium, according to experts, and weighed more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms).
After following the spacecraft’s downward spiral, scientists, military experts and others could not pinpoint in advance precisely when or where the spacecraft might come down. Solar activity added to the uncertainty as well as the spacecraft’s deteriorating condition after so long in space.
As of Saturday morning, the US Space Command had yet to confirm the spacecraft's demise as it collected and analyzed data from orbit.
The US Space Command routinely monitors dozens of reentries each month. What set Kosmos 482 apart — and earned it extra attention from government and private space trackers — was that it was more likely to survive reentry, according to officials.
It was also coming in uncontrolled, without any intervention by flight controllers who normally target the Pacific and other vast expanses of water for old satellites and other space debris.

Saudi Arabia, UNEP Launch World Environment Day Campaigns to Combat Desertification

Saudi Arabia, UNEP Launch World Environment Day Campaigns to Combat Desertification

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Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

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