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Governments seek breakthrough for anti-desertification struggle

Geneva, October 2001 – 176 Parties are meeting in Geneva from 1 to 12 October to strengthen the ability of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to boost living standards and political stability in some of the world’s poorest countries.

“Desertification affects the poorest of the poor by destroying the natural resources upon which their livelihoods depend, leading to hunger and the migration of millions of people,” said Hama Arba Diallo, the Convention’s Executive Secretary.

“Recent crises in Mongolia, Afghanistan, and other drought-prone countries demonstrate just how vulnerable people in dryland countries are to political and social instability. The pay-off for investing in efforts to combat desertification today will be fewer refugees and victims of conflict tomorrow,” he said.

The livelihoods of more than one billion people are or will suffer as a result of desertification, and more than 135 million people are at risk of being displaced as a consequence of severe desertification.

Progress under the Convention, which was adopted in 1994 in Paris, has been slowed by a lack of sufficient international funding and by the challenges of reforming domestic institutions and policies in affected countries. Fortunately, there are promising signs that these two key barriers to rapid progress are finding appropriate and timely solutions.

Unlike the climate change, biodiversity, and ozone treaties, the desertification agreement has lacked a predictable source of multilateral funding. Now, however, the Washington DC-based Global Environment Facility is considering adding land degradation (deforestation and desertification) to its current list of four focal areas. The next three-year replenishment of the GEF is presently under discussion, with proposed figures currently in the $3.5 - 5 billion range.

Meanwhile, the Convention has now received some 175 national reports from affected and donor countries alike. These reports make it possible to evaluate progress to date and to identify success stories and best practices. They point the way forward to a global anti-desertification strategy based on international partnerships, mainstreaming desertification policies into national planning, decentralization and land reform, a more resolute involvement of civil society, and a push for more legislative reforms.

The policies and activities described in the national reports include agriculture and livestock development, water conservation, soil management, forestry, sustainable energy, improved land use, wildlife protection, population and health services, poverty alleviation, disaster management, education, and sustainable tourism. Governments are also reforming and strengthening national institutions in order to create an "enabling environment" in which communities can implement the Convention.

Recognizing that poverty is both a cause and consequence of land degradation, many governments have moved quickly to prepare National Action Programmes (NAP) for reversing desertification. These Programmes are the heart of the Convention and constitute the conceptual and legal framework for implementing it at the national and local levels. They also enable affected countries to inform their partners around the world about their efforts to combat land degradation and about their needs for international support.

The meeting will also look ahead to next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development. “The Convention to Combat Desertification is the only international treaty based on Agenda 21,” said Mr. Diallo. “For this reason it could serve as an excellent indicator of progress towards sustainable development at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit.”

Over 2,500 participants are expected to attend COP 5, including several heads of state and government and 50 Ministers. The meeting’s high-level segment will take place from 8 to 10 October. In addition, a high-level panel of leading personalities will be convened to discuss links between environment and poverty, and dozens of politicians from around the world will attend the Fourth Roundtable of Parliamentarians.

Desertification is a major threat on all continents, severely or moderately affecting 110 countries and some 70% of the world’s agricultural drylands. Many countries face growing population pressure, increasing demand on natural resources and the continued marginalization of lower income groups.

What’s more, global warming threatens to worsen the impacts on dryland ecosystems. According to the recent “Climate Change 2001” assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many dryland areas could become even hotter and drier over the 21st century. Added heat stress, shifting monsoons, and drier soils may reduce yields by as much as a third in the tropics and subtropics, where crops are already near their maximum heat tolerance. Mid-continental areas, including vast sections of mid-latitude Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Australia are all expected to experience drier and hotter conditions.

Note to journalists: For more information, please contact Rajeb Boulharouf at (+49-228) 8152806, email rboulharouf@unccd.int or Michael Williams at +41-22-917-8242/8196/8244, +41-79-409-1528 (cell), or michael.williams@unep.ch. See also www.unccd.int.