Brussels/Rome - The European Union (EU) and FAO in collaboration with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) have launched a €41 million, 4.5-year programme to bolster sustainable land management and restore drylands and degraded lands in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.   

The programme, named Action Against Desertification, is crucial in fighting hunger and poverty, fostering stability and building resilience to climate change in some of the world's most vulnerable areas, the programme sponsors say. 

More than 70 percent of people living in drylands and other fragile ecosystems across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific derive their livelihoods from natural resources. But population growth and climate change put increasing pressure on these ecosystems, exacerbating degradation and desertification of increasingly overexploited lands. [more]