Home
About WED 2006
International Year of Deserts & Desertification
UN Convention to Combat Desertification
Dryland and Desert
Bangladesh & Desertification
Data
Documents
Sustainable Way of Living
Links
Contact

Desertification

 

Status of Desertification and Implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action to Combat Desertification

 

Report of the Executive Director

Contents:

 

 

 


Executive Summary


1. Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas (drylands) resulting mainly from adverse human impact. It is a widespread but discrete in space process of land degradation throughout the drylands which is quite different from the phenomenon of observed cyclic oscillations of vegetation productivity at desert fringes ("desert expansion or contraction") as revealed by satellite data and related to climate fluctuations. At present desertification directly affects about 3.6 billion hectares-70% of the total drylands, or nearly one quarter of the total land area of the world, and about one sixth of the world's population. These figures exclude natural hyper-arid deserts.


2. At the same time, assessment of the current global status of desertification/land degradation has shown that accurate hard data, which would allow it to be stated with some preciseness to which degree and with what rate desertification is taking place in various parts of the world, are still lacking. This calls for further research and studies to define the magnitude of the problem in all regions and localities and the extent to which man is responsible for the process. The present gaps in knowledge do not, however, provide an excuse for delay in action. The existing data give enough justification to urgent and effective action to control ongoing land degradation in drylands.


3. At present desertification in the drylands manifests itself through:

• Over-exploitation and degradation of 3,333 million hectares or about 73% of the total area of rangelands which are of low potential for human and animal carrying capacity and a low population density but may be intrinsically resilient and might have considerable capacity to recuperate and regain their potential productivity if properly managed;


• Decline in fertility and soil structure leading gradually to soil loss in 216 million hectares of rainfed croplands or nearly 47% of their total area in the drylands, which constitute the most vulnerable and fragile marginal cultivable lands subjected to an increasing population pressure;


• Degradation of 43 million hectares of irrigated croplands amounting to nearly 30% of their total area in the drylands, which usually have the highest agricultural potential and the greatest population densities when well managed.

4. It is recognized that, while combating desertification is vital throughout the drylands within the above three major land use systems, prevention of degradation of lands, which are not affected or only slightly affected by desertification at present but prone to degradation if improperly managed, as well as application of corrective measures and sustaining the productivity of lands that are moderately affected is more economically viable and practically feasible than to rehabilitate severely or very severely degraded lands. Therefore, the prevention of degradation of lands that are not degraded or only slightly degraded and sustaining their productivity is considered as a first priority in combating desertification. The second priority is the application of corrective measures and sustaining the productivity of drylands which are moderately degraded at present. Rehabilitation of severely and very severely degraded drylands and their return to productive use is considered as a third priority action within the total anti- desertification campaign. At the same time, it is further recognized that actual establishment of the priorities should always be site-specific and decided by the authorities concerned depending on the actual situation in the respective countries and localities.


5. In view of the above, in order to stop the advance of desertification in drylands, as a first-priority action at a global scale, it is recommended to undertake relevant preventive measures in:

• 102 million hectares of irrigated non-degraded or only slightly degraded irrigated croplands [70% of their total area in the drylands];


• 242 million hectares of non-degraded or only slightly degraded rainfed croplands [53% of their total area in the drylands];


• 1,233 million hectares of non-degraded or slightly degraded rangelands [27% of their total area in the drylands];.

6. The second priority action will involve implementation of the corrective measures and sustaining the productivity in:

• 34 million hectares of moderately degraded irrigated croplands [23% of their total area in the drylands];


• 183 million hectares of moderately degraded rainfed croplands [40% of their total area in the drylands];


• 1,267 million hectares of moderately degraded rangelands [28% of their total area in the drylands].

7. The third priority action will include rehabilitation of:

• 9 million hectares of severely and very severely degraded irrigated croplands;


• 33 million hectares of severely and very severely degraded rainfed croplands (reclamation of only 70% of these lands might be economically viable due to climate and soil limitations);


• 2,066 million hectares of severely and very severely degraded rangelands (reclamation of only 50% of these lands might be economically viable due to climate and soil limitations).

8. The above considerations determine the main priorities in the implementation of the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), although the actual priorities must be country- specific and may not be the same throughout the world. Furthermore, the dynamic overlap between major land-sue systems must not be overlooked and, to counteract this, an integrated systems approach is emphasized in combating desertification and drylands development taking into account the interdependence of rural and urban societies and policies as well.


9. It is recognized that sustainable socio-economic development and protection of the environment are inseparable pre-requisites of human survival everywhere and in drylands in particular. Environmental protection programmes could succeed if conceived as integrated parts of programmes for socio-economic development. This means that the anti-desertification campaign should be managed as an integral part of socio-economic development of the territories and societies of the drylands.


10. A distinction is made in implementing the PACD in industrialized countries which are able to cope with problem by themselves and developing countries which need substantial external assistance for its solution. In industrialized countries like Australia or USA, development is not dependent on drylands and the problem of desertification can be approached from an economic and technical point of view: how to stop land degradation and to optimize the economic return from drylands. In most developing countries, and in particular in the Sudano-Sahelian Belt of Africa, the natural resource base is the main resource upon which the development process must rely and the social systems interacting with dryland resources make the problem much more complex requiring a holistic approach based on dryland development. Accordingly, for the majority of countries affected by desertification, the PACD is in effect, a Plan of Action for Sustained Dryland Development.


11. In order to achieve the goal of reducing land degradation through dryland development, the strategy is based on identifying and implementing the following actions:

• Social, economic, cultural and political development with emphasis on solving problems of food, poverty, housing, employment, health, education, population pressures and demographic imbalance;


• Conservation of natural resources with emphasis on water, energy, soil, minerals, plant and animal resources in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas;


• Environmental control with special emphasis on protection against decline of soil fertility, soil loss, water, soil and air pollution as well as deforestation.

12. It is recognized that broad based public participation including all sections, both rural and urban, of the affected community including women, indigenous groups and representative NGOs, is most essential for implementing the PACD.

13. To fully implement the PACD, an increased international effort should include strengthening the capabilities of the countries affected, developing countries in particular, to address environmental/developmental issues through assistance in developing appropriate policies, pricing, legislation, institution building, improved natural resource management and accounting, the capacity to use environmental impact assessment and environmental cost-benefit analysis technologies, improved environmental data bases and environmental education and training, and popular participation in implementation, especially at local level.

14. On the basis of experience in implementing the PACD during 1978-1991, it could be stated that the PACD is dealing with a problem that cannot be solved once and for all. It is rather like dealing with a process that will generate new problems to be tackled once the more urgent ones have been dealt with. Therefore, it would be unrealistic to fix a date when the PACD would be fully implemented. However, certain time targets could be set forth, both nationally and internationally, for implementing major preventive, corrective and supporting measures to make the Plan fully operational.

15. The urgency of addressing the global problem of desertification is based on the fact that this process:

(a) socio-economically: constitutes the main cause and mechanism of global loss of productive land resources, causes economic instability and political unrest in areas affected, brings pressures on the economy and the stability of societies outside the affected areas, prevents achievements of sustainable development in affected areas and countries;


(b) environmentally: contributes to loss of global biodiversity, loss of the biomass and bioproductivity of the planet, and global climate change.

16. To achieve the general goal of the PACD, the following set of main environmental/developmental targets can be set for the year 2020:

(a) Preventing further deterioration of the world food security and sustaining productivity of land affected by, or prone to, desertification through the introduction of environmentally sound, socially acceptable and fair, and economically feasible land use systems based on social equity and appropriate technologies;


(b) Protection of non-degraded or slightly degraded lands prone to desertification and reclamation of degraded lands for productive use or their conservation for natural rehabilitation, as appropriate;


(c) Provision of adequate insurance against recurrent droughts and famine in the drylands;


(d) Improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of lands affected by desertification, including health, sanitation and family planning and achievement of the goal of satisfying basic human needs in the extensive areas of world drylands;


(e) Prevention of adverse desertification impact on global climate change and biodiversity including germplasm materials for many crop and fodder plants.

17. For the same period, the following targets for supporting measures are envisaged:

(a) Incorporation of national actions to combat desertification into broader national development policies, plans or programmes;


(b) Mobilization of national, regional and international resources needed for the full implementation of the PACD;


(c) Mobilization and strengthening of national, regional and international institutional capabilities for implementing the Plan;


(d) Introduction of new land use economic and social policies conductive to sustainable development of land and water resources and improvement of land use;


(e) Making land users the main actors in designing and implementing the Plan and ensuring full public participation in anti-desertification campaign;


(f) Development of indigenous national and ecoregional scientific research and technology capabilities;


(g) Co-ordination of current and new national, regional and international sectoral programmes within broader environment/development programmes;


(h) Establishment of a global network of national, regional and international institutional and technical facilities for current operational assessment and continuous monitoring of desertification;


(i) Strengthening of regional programmes and international co-operation in the campaign against desertification;


(j) Provision of free flow of technology on favorable terms to areas affected by, or prone to, desertification;

(k) Improvement of infrastructure in the areas affected by, or prone to, desertification.

18. The following set of practical measures, at national level, to achieve the above targets is recommended:


Preventive, Corrective and Rehabilitation Measures


Recommendation 1: To introduce improved land use systems:

Step 1 - to introduce an integrated approach in the utilization of every piece of land in accordance with its ecological characteristics;


Step 2 - to introduce improved land/water/crop management systems in existing irrigated croplands;


Step 3 - to stabilize rainfed croplands and to introduce improved soil/crop management systems into this land use practice;


Step 4 - to introduce improved rangeland/husbandry management systems based on innovative or adapted indigenous technologies;


Step 5 - to undertake major afforestation/reforestation campaigns;


Step 6 - to undertake, whenever appropriate, major campaigns on stabilization of shifting sands.

Recommendation 2: To develop and introduce appropriate, improved and advanced, socially and environmentally acceptable and economically feasible agricultural and pastoral technologies.


Recommendation 3: To establish adequate communication infrastructure and sufficient processing and marketing facilities.


Recommendation 4: To develop appropriately available water resources and to introduce improved water management systems.


Recommendation 5: To reclaim for productive use or to protect effectively for natural rehabilitation, as appropriate, strongly desertified lands.


Supporting Measures


Recommendation 6: To establish or to strengthen, as appropriate, the national institutional capabilities for implementing the PACD.


Recommendation 7: To launch nationally a major sustained anti-desertification awareness/training campaign.


Recommendation 8: To introduce a "loop model" in the existing or newly established extension service.


Recommendation 9: To finalize the operative large-scale local and national assessment of the current status of desertification.


Recommendation 10: To develop, adopt through appropriate national legislation and introduce institutionally new national environmentally sound and development oriented land use policy.


Recommendation 11: To develop and introduce effective national insurance schemes against recurrent drought and famine.


19. Countries affected by, or prone to, desertification might wish to set their own priorities in implementing their NPACDs. However, it seems logic that a first practical step would be to implement Recommendations 6 and 7 above, within 3-5 years. Recommendations 8, 9, 10 and 11 may take a longer time probably up to the year 2000. Implementation of Recommendations 1 and 2 could start simultaneously on a trial basis. The Plan can thus become fully operational throughout affected areas by around the year 2000. Full scale reconstruction will take longer time probably through the year 2010 by which time Recommendations 1 and 2 could be fully implemented. The stabilization period will take still a longer period probably up to year 2020 by which time Recommendations 3, 4 and 5 would have been implemented.


20. A programme for the implementation of a world-wide direct action to combat desertification may be based on one of the following three options:

i) Implement programmes of direct preventive measures in productive drylands that are not desertified or only slightly desertified (about 30% of productive drylands). Total cost estimate is US $ 1.4-4.2 billion per year. This, however, will not save territories that are moderately desertified from further deterioration;


ii) Implement the above programme plus programme of direct corrective measures in productive drylands that are moderately desertified (areas with 10-25% loss of productivity in croplands and 25-50% in rangelands); total cost estimate is US $ 3.8-11.4 billion per year;


iii) Implement a comprehensive programme of direct measures to combat desertification in all productive drylands (preventive-corrective-rehabilitation); total cost estimate is US $ 10.0-22.4 billion per year.

The above options could be considered as the sort of action priorities that could be adopted both globally and nationally. They could be modified as appropriate within the areas concerned.


21. Sub-regional co-operation on the basis of an eco-geographical concept is advocated using existing structures and promoting co-operation between industrialized and developing countries within the regions.


22. At international level, co-operation is recommended to be strengthened in the following areas: (a) mobilization of financial resources and provision of financial assistance to countries which cannot cope with the problem by themselves; (b) development of appropriate pricing and trade policies; (c) provision of technical assistance to countries in need; (d) development of appropriate anti-desertification technologies and technology transfer to needy countries on favorable terms; (e) monitoring and co-ordination of the anti-desertification campaign at a global level; (f) information exchange; (g) international legislation.


23. It is estimated that current global direct on-site financial loss [income foregone] due to desertification amounts to about US $ 42 billion annually. Indirect off-site and social cost of desertification damage might be 2-3 or even up to 10 times higher.


24. The cost of meeting the minimum objectives of stopping the spread of desertification, that is the cost of urgent direct preventive measures in non-affected but vulnerable or only slightly affected irrigated lands (70% of their total area), rainfed croplands (53% of their total area), and rangelands (27% of their total area), amounts to about US $ 1.4-4.2 billion a year for a 20-Year programme. This should be complemented by the cost of direct corrective measures in moderately affected irrigated lands (23% of their total area) rainfed croplands (40% of their total area) and rangelands (28% of their total area) amounting to nearly US $ 2.4-7.2 billion a year for the same 20-Year programme. Out of this total sum of US $ 3.8-11.4 billion a year, US $ 2.2-6.6 billion a year are needed for financing the actions in 81 developing countries affected by desertification which cannot cope with the problem; half of this sum could, at best, be raised by the countries themselves, while the other half, or US $ 1.1-3.3 billion should come through external assistance.


25. The above indicative figures represent only the cost of direct preventive and corrective measures for protection and sustaining of productive drylands. The total cost of combating desertification, including the cost of full implementation of all recommendations of the PACD, might be several times higher.


26. Past experience showed that the amount of funds spent by the world community during 1978-1991 [approximately US $ 0.5-0.85 billion a year] on direct or supporting actions to combat desertification was far below the amount needed for the implementation of the PACD and for achieving substantial results. Financial assistance to developing countries which are most seriously struck by desertification and have no resources to cope with the problem, was particularly very inadequate. Likewise, existing mechanisms for mobilization of the resources and financing the PACD [DESCON, Special Account] appeared to be inadequate.


27. Financial assistance to developing countries struggling against desertification should be additional, that is over and above regular budgets and conventional extra budgetary resources; it must be predictable, sustainable, and with a degree of automaticity. Net additional financing and technical assistance to developing countries for combating desertification should be provided by the donor community and international institutions, through appropriate new or existing international and regional mechanisms to manage the process of mobilizing and allocating financial and technical resources, on terms which will not further exacerbate debt and trade problems of recipient countries but rather enhance their development process.

 

 

...Top

 

 

 

Introduction


1. More than 6.1 billion hectares, nearly 40 per cent of the Earth's land area, is dryland. Out of this, about 0.9 billion hectares are hyper-arid deserts. The remaining 5.2 billion hectares are arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands, part of which have become desert degraded by man. These lands are the habitat and the source of livelihood for about one fifth of the world's population.


2. It is estimated that about 3.6 billion hectares, or 70% out of 5.2 billion hectares of potentially productive drylands, are presently threatened by various forms of land degradation or, as it is called, desertification, directly affecting the well-being and future of one sixth of the world's population. Recurrent drought is a persistent natural menace in these areas which is accentuated by unbalanced management of natural resources. It was the Sahelian drought of 1968-1973 and its tragic effects on the peoples of the region that drew world-wide attention to the chronic problems of human survival and development in drylands, particularly on the desert margins.


3. The United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 3202 (s-vi) of 1 May 1974 recommended that the international community undertakes concrete and speedy measures to arrest desertification and assist the economic development of affected areas. The Economic and Social Council's Resolution 1878 (LVII) of 16 July 1974 requested all the concerned organizations of the United Nations system to pursue a broad attack on the drought problem. Decisions of the Governing Councils of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emphasized the need to undertake measures to check the spread of desert conditions. The General Assembly then decided, by Resolution 3337 (xxix) of 17 December 1974, to initiate concerted international action to combat desertification and, in order to provide an impetus to this action, to convene a United Nations Conference on Desertification, between 29 August and 9 September 1977 in Nairobi, Kenya, which would produce an effective, comprehensive and co-ordinated programme for solving the problem.


4. The United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) was preceded by extensive global, regional and local studies and consultations involving numerous scientists, decision and policy makers and relevant institutions all over the world.


5. On the basis of carefully collected and analyzed available data, the Conference noted the progressive diminution of biological productivity and decline of human living conditions in many arid regions of the world. This process was evidently due primarily to inappropriate land use, although accentuated by recurrent droughts. It was also evident that it threatens the well- being and socio-economic development of peoples in large areas of the world, particularly in developing countries of Africa, Central, South and South-West Asia as well as Latin America, while at the same time occurring in Australia, North America and in certain parts of Europe. The problem was identified as global in its magnitude.


6. This largely human-induced process of environmental degradation and related socio- economic decline in many drylands was considered as desertification.
7. UNCOD concluded that desertification was of global magnitude and affected adversely large areas and populations in all continents, and adopted the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), which was endorsed by the UN General Assembly that same year as one of the major world programmes.


8. The Governing Council and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme were entrusted with the task of following-up and co-ordinating the implementation of the PACD and assisting Governments in their efforts to implement the PACD at national level. The Inter-Agency Working Group on Desertification (IAWGD) was established within the United Nations in order to assist UNEP in performing its duties. The Consultative Group for Desertification Control (DESCON), to assist in mobilizing resources, and a Special Account to finance the implementation of the PACD were created (the latter was closed in 1990 by GA Resolution 44/172A, para. 8). To assist the Governments of the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa in the implementation of the PACD, a joint venture between UNEP and UNDP was created as part of the activities of the United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO). The major role in implementing the PACD was vested with Governments of countries affected by desertification.


9. Unfortunately, since UNCOD, progress has been modest in implementing the PACD between 1978 and 1991. It was repeatedly stated by UNEP, particularly after extensive assessments of the situation in 1984, 1987 and 1989, that desertification continued to spread. It has become one of the most serious environmental and socio-economic problems of the world, as was also stressed in the report of the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (Our Common Future, 1988). Deep and extreme drought recurring in 1981-1984 and 1990-1991 contributed to the worsening of the situation.


10. The principal causes of failure to implement the PACD in full were considered at several global and regional international fora with the conclusion that:

a) priority was not given to the programmes for combating desertification by implementing and funding agencies, both nationally and internationally, with the result that not enough funds were made available for the implementation of the PACD;


b) developing countries affected by desertification were unable to cope with the problem without major external financial and technical assistance, but the needed assistance was not forthcoming;


c) desertification control programmes were not fully integrated in programmes of socio-economic development and were considered as measures to amend environmental damage only;


d) affected populations were not fully involved in the planning and implementation of programmes for combating desertification;


e) technical means were often sought to solve the problem, while the solutions rested in the socio-political and socio-economic mechanisms.

11. Considering the global problems in the area of environment and development to be included in the agenda of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which will be convened in June 1992 in Brazil, the UN General Assembly, by its Resolution 44/214 of December 1989, included the problem of combating desertification "among those of major concern in maintaining the quality of the Earth's environment and especially in achieving environmentally sound and sustainable development in all countries". By the same resolution, it was further decided that UNCED should "accord high priority to drought and desertification control and consider all means necessary, including financial, scientific and technological resources, to halt and reverse the process of desertification with a view to preserving the ecological balance of the planet".


12. By General Assembly's Resolution 44/172 of December 1989, the Governing Council and the Executive Director of UNEP were invited to "contribute substantially to the discussion on desertification at the conference, inter alia, by undertaking a general evaluation, sufficiently in advance, of progress achieved in implementing the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification". The present report was prepared in response to this invitation as well as to other provisions of the same resolution.


13. In view of the particular severity of the problems in the Sudano-Sahelian region a more detailed report on the situation of desertification and drought in the Sudano-Sahelian countries has been prepared and will be made available by UNSO as a background report.


14. The first draft of this report was prepared in March 1991. Its first part concerning the assessment of the global status of desertification was discussed with experts during inter-agency consultations held at FAO, Rome, at the beginning of April 1991. By the end of the same month, a meeting of high-level UNEP consultants was convened in Geneva to discuss the first full draft of the report. Their comments and suggestions for its improvement were incorporated into the second draft for review by a bigger audience. The costing of anti-desertification measures was extensively discussed by UNEP experts with relevant specialists at FAO and IFAD in June 1991 during a specially organized mission.


15. The financial aspects of the second draft were discussed in July 1991 at the High- Level Meeting of Specialists in World Financing, after which a new third draft was prepared incorporating their comments.


16. The third draft of August 1991 was sent in advance to the members of IAWGD and DESCON for their review and comments as well as to a number of senior consultants. The meetings of IAWGD and DESCON-8 and that of UNEP's senior consultants were held in succession in Geneva on 9-10, 11-12 and 13 September 1991, respectively. The comments and suggestions obtained at these three meetings were incorporated into the fourth draft, which after final in-house revision and clearance by the Executive Director appears as the present report.

 

...Top

 

 

UNCED Part 1 - World Status of Desertification


A. CONCEPT OF DESERTIFICATION


1. The concept of desertification was defined by UNCOD in 1977 as follows:

"Desertification is the diminution or destruction of the biological potential of land, and can lead ultimately to desert-like conditions. It is an aspect of the widespread deterioration of ecosystems, and has diminished or destroyed the biological potential, i.e. plant and animal production, for multiple use purposes at a time when increased productivity is needed to support growing populations in quest of development."

2. This definition was found inadequate and not sufficiently operational when attempts started in different parts of the world to implement various practical recommendations of the PACD and to undertake the quantitative assessment of desertification. A series of definitions was developed by individual scientists, scientific institutions and implementing agencies. A more precise new definition was required, particularly in view of the need to distinguish between desertification and another phenomenon of observed cyclic oscillations of vegetation productivity at desert fringes (desert expansion or contraction) as revealed by satellite data and related to climate fluctuations.


3. Based on special studies and extensive discussions at the Ad-Hoc Consultative Meeting on the Assessment of Desertification, which was convened by UNEP in Nairobi in February 1990, the following definition of desertification was adopted:


"Desertification/Land Degradation, in the context of assessment, is Land Degradation in Arid, Semi-arid and Dry Sub-humid Areas resulting from adverse human impact.


Land in this concept includes soil and local water resources, land surface and vegetation or crops.


Degradation implies reduction of resource potential by one or a combination of processes acting on the land. These processes include water erosion, wind erosion and sedimentation by those agents, long term reduction in the amount or diversity of natural vegetation, where relevant, and salinization and sodication."


4. The last definition was used by UNEP for the quantitative assessment of the status of desertification which was conducted during 1990-1991. The important point is not the exact wording of the definition of desertification but an agreement on a more operationally suitable tool for assessing and combating the problem. This definition sets desertification within the broad frame of global land degradation.


5. The Panel of Senior Consultants, convened by UNEP in Geneva from 25 to 27 April 1991, to discuss the first draft of a revised PACD, considered the desertification concept as well. It was pointed out that the new document should more clearly spell out the likely impacts of natural climatic conditions, particularly of recurrent droughts, on desertification; it would be necessary to note that in certain instances desertification might not only be human-induced but climate-induced as well.


6. The Governing Council of UNEP, at its 16th session in May 1991, also considered this question. By its decision 16/22, it underlined the need for further refinement of the definition of the concept of desertification, taking into account recent findings about the influence of climate fluctuations and about the resilience of soils.


7. As a follow-up to the above considerations and taking into account the results of additional studies and consultation undertaken by UNEP, the following definition was finally adopted for the present assessment of the status of desertification and preparations for UNCED:


"Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting mainly from adverse human impact."


8. Further refinement of the concept and the definition of desertification taking into account possible influence of climate fluctuations and soil resilience, as indicated by the Governing Council of UNEP, may be undertaken in future on the basis of new knowledge acquired in the course of detailed area-specific studies and assessments. However, the present gaps in knowledge do not provide an excuse for delaying the implementation of the PACD as the existing data give overwhelming justification for a need to act urgently and effectively to control the ongoing land degradation in areas affected.


9. The urgency to address the problem of desertification by co-ordinated international action is accentuated by the facts that:

• the time for action is running short as desertification expands threatening new areas and new societies, while anti-desertification measures tend to be long-term and time demanding;


• the cost of anti-desertification measures escalates from year to year because (a) the area affected is growing (b) the degree of the damage is growing, and (c) world prices and costs of rehabilitative measures are growing;


• off-site (and social) costs of desertification will continue to increase as degradation adversely affects land, water and air resources;


• other environmental and economic problems are increasing, tending to distract the attention of society to other urgent needs;


• if the process of desertification is not arrested in the near future, world shortage of food will increase dramatically within a few decades.

10. Whether the process of desertification or its end result is considered, the most obvious symptoms relate to:

• reduction of yield or crop failure in irrigated or rainfed farmland;


• reduction of perennial plant cover and biomass produced by rangeland and consequent depletion of food available to livestock;


• reduction of available woody biomass and consequent extension of distance to sources of fuelwood or building material;


• reduction of available water due to a decrease of river flow or groundwater resources;


• encroachment of sand that may overwhelm productive land, settlements or infrastructures;


• increased flooding, sedimentation of water bodies, water and air pollution;


• societal disruption due to deterioration of life-support systems, societal need for outside help (relief aid) or for seeking haven elsewhere (environmental refugees).

11. The causes of these various forms of ecological degradation and corresponding socio-economic disruption relate to a combination of (a) human exploitation that oversteps the natural carrying capacity of the land resource system and sometimes increased negligence and abandonment of land due to the out-migration of people, (b) inherent ecological fragility of the resource system, and (c) adverse climatic conditions, in particular, severe recurrent droughts. The high degree of land degradation plays a large part in increasing the susceptibility of farming systems to the shocks of drought, as was so clearly seen in the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa during the last three decades. Land resource exploitation acts through land-use operations, among which are : irrigated farming, rainfed agriculture and pastoralism, with a certain contribution from wood cutting, extraction of mineral resources, excessive tourism and hunting game animals, etc. Excessive human pressures on natural resource systems relate to : (1) increase of population and escalation of human needs; (2) socio-political processes that bring pressures on rural communities for orienting their production towards national and international markets; (3) socio-economic processes that reduce the market value of rural products and escalate the prices of basic needs of rural people; (4) processes of national development, especially programmes for expansion of farmlands for production of cash crops, that exacerbate conflicts of land and water use and often reduce areas available to marginalized communities. An overriding socio-economic issue in desertification is the imbalance of power and access to strategic resources between different groups in the society.


12. Desertification is a very distinctive global environmental and socio-economic problem requiring special attention. This process is singled out under the specific term of desertification and distinguished from similar phenomena in other more humid areas of the world because it proceeds under harsh climatic conditions and acts adversely on areas with limited natural resources, i.e. soil, water and vegetation. Naturally, there are extents and degrees, but the end result of degraded and abandoned land is a question of time only, if the process is not arrested.


13. The urgency to address this problem is connected with the fact that desertification:

Socio-economically:

• constitutes the main cause and mechanism of global loss of productive land resources and thus reduces the world capability of providing sufficient food and shelter to growing populations, contributing to the spread of poverty and hunger;


• causes economic instability and political unrest in areas affected, struggle for scarce land and water resources, outward migration in seek of relief and refuge;


• brings pressures on the economy and stability of societies outside areas affected by desertification through escalating need for food aid, growth of environmental refugees, etc.;


• prevents achievement of sustainable development in countries and regions affected and through them, the world as a whole;


• directly threatens health and nutrition status of populations menaced, particularly children.

Environmentally:

• is one element of planetary environment degradation that contributes to climate change, water, air and soil pollution, deforestation, soil loss, etc.;


• contributes to loss of global biodiversity, particularly in the areas which are the centres of origin of major crop species of the world, e.g. wheat, barley, sorghum, maize, etc.;


• contributes to loss of biomass and bioproductivity of the planet and to the exhaustion of global humus reserve, thus disrupting normal global biogeo-chemical turnover and reducing the global carbon dioxide sink in particular;


• contributes to global climate change by increasing land surface albedo, increasing potential, and decreasing actual evapotranspiration rate, changing the ground surface energy budget and adjoining air temperature, and adding dust and CO2 into the atmosphere.

14. Desertification is always a site-specific problem that occurs locally within state boundaries and affects local societies of sovereign states. Therefore, it can only be solved by the peoples themselves. Governments and peoples of localities and countries affected are the primary actors of the anti-desertification campaign. At the same time, as a global problem, desertification needs to be addressed by internationally co-ordinated efforts because:

• it is a problem of global magnitude with major environmental and socio-economic consequences;


• the problem is complex and requires a holistic integrated approach including social, economic, political and technical measures which can only be provided by concerted and co-ordinated efforts of the world community;


• countries most seriously affected by desertification usually are developing countries including least developed ones, which do not have the means of coping with a problem of such magnitude;


• the problem of desertification, most seriously and directly, affects rural areas and populations engaged in various agricultural activities; however, world-wide agriculture needs substantial subsidies to survive and to feed the world; without additional support it would be virtually impossible to cope with the requirements of combating desertification and the related activities of reclaiming drylands.

...Top