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Governments report progress in fight against desertification

From Mesoamerica to the Sahel, new policies start to pay off

Bonn, 18 October 2002 - Eight years after the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, governments are starting to report significant successes in the campaign to reverse dryland degradation - although much remains to be done.

"After decades of frustration, today we are seeing more and more success stories from dryland regions around the world," said Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the Convention. "The keys to success are collaboration between international donors and affected countries, and between local communities and their governments."

"The message is clear: give people a chance to help themselves, and they will rise above their current poverty and work hard to restore their environment and their communities to health," he said.

The encouraging signs of progress are contained in 151 national reports that have been submitted to the Convention for review in Rome, Italy, from 11 - 22 November.

Progress is particularly remarkable in Africa, where 29 governments are starting to implement the National Action Programmes that are at the core of the Convention's approach. To take just one example among 53 country Parties, Lesotho in collaboration with the UNCCD and the UNDP has successfully launched a National Environment Youth Corps Project that is simultaneously tackling the problem of high youth unemployment (35-40 percent) while reversing land degradation. Launched in 1996, the project had engaged 2,000 previously unemployed youth in planting 88,000 trees, constructing 5,780 dams and rehabilitating 4,620 hectares of degraded land. This strategy could be repeated and used by other countries as well.

In China, desertification affected land make up 27.9 percent of the land and the net increase of desertification between 1994 and 1999 amounted to 52,000 km, threatening the lives of 400 million people at a direct annual economic loss of US$ 6.5 billion.

The government has responded to the challenge by launching a large-scale anti-desertification campaign. During the Ninth Five-year Plan (1996-2000), action was taken to protect some 230,000 km² of land from water erosion. Vegetation has been planted along 140,000 km of roadway. The land reclamation rate in demonstration zones has increased from 5 to 12 percent, proving the potential of such action. In addition, forest land increased by 1.09 million hectares. As a result, rural poverty at the end of 2000 dropped dramatically to 30 million from what was 250 million in 1978 in project areas.

In Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay and Uruguay are encouraging 'zero tillage,' a traditional technique that reduces erosion. As a result, over a 17-year period in Brazil maize and soybean yields increased by 86 and 56 percent, respectively, and soil erosion fell from 3.4 - 8.0 ton/hectare to 0.4.

Developed countries, too, have shown progress. Portugal has stimulated high levels of public participation through workshops with experts, policymakers, economic actors and citizens on ways to combat desertification. It reports important success in engaging key stakeholders in the formulation of anti-desertification strategies.

Despite these important signs of progress, the problem of desertification is far from being solved. In particular, all regions emphasize the lack of predictable financial resources as a stumbling block to making more rapid progress. Fortunately, governments are expected to agree that the multi-billion-dollar Global Environment Facility (GEF) can start to support anti-desertification programmes in the same way it supports action on climate change and biodiversity.

The national reports are being presented to a meeting of the newly established Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC). Some 400 government representatives will review and assess progress made in implementing the Convention and propose further steps to strengthen the process. The Committee's recommendations will go forward to the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention in September 2003.

The Convention has 185 Parties and is the only legally binding instrument to address the problem of desertification and drought worldwide.

Desertification affects more than 110 countries and a third of the earth's surface. If left unchecked, arable land is expected to shrink by one-third in Asia, two-thirds in Africa and one-fifth in South America, exacerbating food insecurity, economic loss and mass migration from dryland rural areas where the world's poorest reside.

Note to journalists: For more information, please contact Cheemin Kwon at ckwon@unccd.int or (49-228) 815-2847