Note to Correspondents

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION ON DESERTIFICATION OPENS AT United Nations HEADQUARTERS

 

A major photo exhibition entitled “The Beauty of Deserts -- The Challenge of Desertification” will open to the public on Thursday, 2 November, in the South Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby.

One of the many events taking place in the context of the 2006 International Year of Deserts and Desertification, the exhibition is being organized by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in collaboration with the Government of Italy and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Selected images by acclaimed German photographer and author of Deserts of the World, Michael Martin, will be on display as well as photographs by winners of the first UNCCD photo contest, and other well known artists and IFAD photographers.  In striking fashion, they depict the day-to-day struggle of people living in the world’s drylands.  Seventy per cent of the drylands are already hit by desertification, affecting 250 million people worldwide directly and nearly 1 billion indirectly.

The exhibition also focuses on some of the most magnificent ecosystems of this world:  the deserts -- unique natural habitats boasting incredibly diverse fauna and, which have been home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations.  Captured on camera is the fragile beauty and proud heritage of the earth’s deserts, which deserve our protection.

The visual experience is complemented by photo captions, providing an informative insight into the global issue of desertification as well as life and survival in the desert.

For further information on this exhibit, contact Joyce Hannah, tel. +49 228 815 2857, send an e-mail to press@unccd.int or visit the website www.iydd.org.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen, tel: 212 963 8531; or Liza Wichmann, tel: 212 963 0089, or visit the website at www.un.org/events/UNART.

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For information media • not an official record