THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT

17 June 2000

In principle, there is no reason why earth should not support far more than its present population. But the distribution of good soils and favourable growing conditions does not match that of populations. As land is degraded, the problem gets harder and harder to resolve. Nearly 2 billion hectares of land—an area about the combined size of Canada and the United States—is affected by human-induced degradation of soils, putting the livelihoods of nearly 1 billion people at risk. The major culprits are irrigation-induced salinization, soil erosion caused by overgrazing and deforestation, and biodiversity depletion. The direct cost alone, in terms of annual income lost, has been estimated at more than $40 billion a year.

Each year an additional 20 million hectares of agricultural land becomes too degraded for crop production, or is lost to urban sprawl. Yet over the next 30 years the demand for food in the developing world is expected to double. New land can and will be farmed, but much of it is marginal and, therefore, even more susceptible to degradation. Humanity’s inexorably growing needs demand that we take strong and immediate action to stop—if not reverse—the destruction of our arable land.

By pooling the global wisdom and comparative advantages of its specialised agencies and programmes, the United Nations system can play a key role in the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification, adopted six years ago today.

The Convention stresses that meaningful action to combat desertification and drought can be developed only in cooperation with people in the affected communities. Many governments are working in partnership with non-governmental and community based organizations, giving particular attention to the voice of women in developing their national action programmes.

Today let us all reaffirm our commitment to work harder to overcome the obstacles to sustainable development for all, including the degradation of arid lands and all its consequences—environmental, economic, social and political.