Today the 8th UN conference against desertification starts in Madrid. The conference will be opened by the Spanish Minister for the Environment, Cristina Narbona and Prince Felipe and will take place in the Spanish capital over 2 weeks. It will be attended by around 2000 people including representatives from 200 countries together with ecological groups and members of other NGO’s.

Desertification affects approximately third of the globe and 1,200 million people around the world.

The main objectives of the conference are to achieve concrete policies and look for new ways of financing work against desertification. It also hopes to get new initiatives towards creating a centre on dedicated to the problem of desertification which will have headquarters in Madrid.

The Canary Islands and the Southwest of the Peninsula face the greatest risk from desertification. According to information from the Spanish Ministry for the Environment desertification threatens around 35% of Spanish territory.