Currently over 250 million people experience the direct consequences of desertification. Many of them are the world’s most destitute and vulnerable citizens.

2000 participants are expected in Madrid for the eighth international conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which runs from September 3 - 14. Ecologists, representatives from 800 NGOs, and envoys from the 191 countries that ratified the Convention will meet to report on recent developments in the battle against one of the most critical environmental problems of our day.

The UNCCD defines "desertification" as the "degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities." In other words, the term does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts, but to the reduction or loss of productivity of previously fertile lands. The topsoil on those lands gradually loses its nutrients and the crop yield diminishes, sometimes to the point of being completely barren and unproductive. Deforestation, overgrazing, overcultivation and faulty irrigation are some of the major causes of land degradation, while growing populations put further pressure on land and water resources.

The consequences of desertification are devastating and far-reaching. The drop in biological productivity leads to a decline in economic productivity, forcing farmers, and often entire communities, into poverty and compelling many to migrate. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), land degradation causes "an estimated loss of $42 billion a year in agricultural production." It is believed that almost one-third of "the world’s cropland has been abandoned over the past 40 years because erosion has made it unproductive." Eroded lands become more susceptible to flooding which can in turn affect water quality, while during periods of drought people suffer from health problems caused by wind-blown dust.

For several decades the United Nations has been battling to reverse what is one of gravest environmental problems of our day. Starting in the mid-1970s, there were a number of international efforts, but by the early 1990s, various studies showed that, apart from a few localised improvements, overall land degradation had increased. There was a call for a change in tactics. The Convention to Combat Desertification was one of three major conventions elaborated during the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. It is designed to promote action through locally-run National Action Programmes (NAP) funded by local, national and international organisations. The UNCCD website provides a summary of this new approach:

"Drawing on past lessons, the Convention states that these programmes must adopt a democratic, bottom-up approach. They should emphasize popular participation and the creation of an ‘enabling environment’ designed to enable local people to reverse land degradation through self-help. Of course, governments remain responsible for creating this enabling environment. They must make politically sensitive changes, such as decentralizing authority, improving land tenure and systems, and empowering women, farmers and pastoralists."

Although it is easier to prevent desertification than to reverse it, the UNCCD encourages members to develop offensive stategems as well as defensive manoeuvres. The programmes implemented under the aegis of the Convention include reforestation projects, managed grazing methods, sustainable farming techniques, such as crop rotation, and efficient irrigation schemes. And the fight goes on.

UNCCD

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http://greenoptions.com/2007/09/04/the_fight_against_desertification_an_international_meeting