80x60 cm
Oil on canvas
2021

Just like water and air, land is a vital resource to humankind. Yet, desertification and land degradation is a one of the most pressing environmental problems we have globally today. This is happening both due to natural processes and climatic variations caused by human activities with long-term failure of balancing human demand for ecosystem services and the amount of services it actually can supply us with. Land mismanagement, population pressure and unsustainable freshwater use just are a few factors, leaving these fertile areas to become increasingly arid and the soil less capable to support crops, livestock and wildlife, generally causing loss in biological productivity. The consequences of our actions are huge, and especially the very poor, rural communities and smallholder farmers a highly affected. Unfortunetaly, it is a common thing for us humans not to be involved in these issues when it is not directly affecting ourselves or our families. While some of us have unlimited access to fresh water both for our bodies and our crops, others are walking miles to reach a small but significant source of useable water. Most of us have heard about it, but does it take us to actually 'see the elephant' to gain the full knowledge, when then it might already be too late?