Journal of Arid Environments (1995) 30:115-128

R e n e w

D e s e r t i f i c a t i o n : a g e n e r a l r e v i e w

M. Kassas

Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, 12613 Egypt

(Received 23 December 1993, accepted 12 January 1994)

This review paper provides explanation and global assessment of desertifica- tion as it menaces the world drylands. It shows the differences between drought (a natural hazard) and desertification (degradation of land resources), and quotes an example of management of drought (Syria case study) and an example of management of desertification (case study of U.S.A. drylands). It reviews actions of the world community led by UN (1972-92) in response to droughts and famines that menaced the continent of Africa. This included holding the UN Conference on Desertification (1977), the elaboration of a UN-endorsed plan of action to combat desertification and attempts - - with limited success - - at its implementa- tion. World action in 1992 (UNCED) and in subsequent years (elaboration of an international convention on desertification, June 1994) is described.

Keywords: drought; desertification; land degradation; world drylands; Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD); Agenda 21; desertification convention

Introduction

A G E N D A 21, one of the principal documents of the Uni ted Nat ions Conference on Envi ronment and Deve lopmen t ( U N C E D , 1992), describes desertification as ' land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting f rom various factors, including climatic variations and h u m a n activities'. This s ta tement needs to be explained by further elaborating its three main concepts: (1) the menace (land degradation); (2) the menaced territories (world drylands); (3) the causes (natural and anthropogenic).

Land degradation

Land is shorthand for the terrestrial bio-product ive system that comprises soil, water, plant growth, other biota and the ecological processes that operate within the system. Such a system may produce wood, pasture, crops, etc. Degradat ion means reduct ion (or loss) in the capacity of land to p roduce what the associated h u m a n society expects,

0140-1963/95/020115 + 13 $08.00/0 © 1995 Academic Press Limited

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that is, degradation refers to econorfiic loss and not necessarily ecologic deterioration. Many forms of pastureland degradation (e.g. mesquite and other bush invasion that menaces extensive areas of U.S.A. drylands and reduces grass growth) may not entail soil degradation :or mean ecological degradation.

Two comments may be made. (1) Land degradation relates to land-use systems; four systems prevail (singly or in combination) in the desertification prone territories: use of woodland (cutting, gum tapping, etc.), pastureland, rain-fed agriculture, irrigated farmland (where additional water is available). (2) Terms like 'encroachment of the Sahara' and 'desert creep' (Bovill, 1921; Stebbing, 1937, 1938, 1953) suggest that desert extends its area beyond its natural (climatic) limits onto bordering territories. This perception is valid as regards mobile sand bodies that move from their origin in the desert and overwhelm farmlands and settlements in oases or in lands outskirting the desert. This is only a small part (c. 10%) of the process. Land degradation is initiated in productive farmlands or pasturelands that eventually become less productive or non-productive (desert-like) and thus add to desert territories.

Symptoms of desertification are different in different land-use forms. Deterioration in irrigated farmlands is often related to the rise of water table (water-logging), primarily due to imbalance between excessive irrigation and inefficient drainage. Water-logging often entails salinlzation and other forms of chemical damage of the soil. Degradation of rain-fed farmlands is often manifest as soil erosion, loss of organic matter and depletion of nutrients, compaction and crust formation, and extensive invasion of weeds. Degradation of rangelands includes: reduction of bio-productivity, invasion of non-palatable species including succulents and thorn-bushes, soil erosion, poorer livestock, etc. (Kassas et al., 1991).

Menaced territories (worm drylands)

I~nd degradation is world-wide spread, in drylands and moist lands; desertification refers to degradation of drylands. Drylands are territories where water income (precipitation) is less than the potential water expenditure (evapotranspiration and consumption by plant growth) during part of, or the whole, year. This shortfall is the measure of aridity. Drylands are classified according to this measure (aridity index) into four zones (Worm Ados of Desertificarion, UNEP, 1992): hyper-arid, add, semi- arid and dry sub-humid. Table 1 provides estimates of categories of drylands in world continents. The hyper-arid territories (978 million ha) are natural (climatic) deserts

Table 1. IVor/d drylands in millions of hectares (UNEP/GRID, 199/)

North South World Africa Asia Australia Europe America America total %

Hyper-arid 672 277 0 0 3 26 978 16 Add 504 626 303 11 82 45 1571 26 Semi-arid 514 693 309 105 419 265 2305 37 Dry

sub-humid 269 353 51 184 232 207 1296 21 Total 1959 1949 663 300 736 543 6150 100 % world total 32 32 11 5 12 8 100 % total global

land area 13.1 13.0 4.4 2.0 4-9 3.6 41.0 % continent

area 66 46 75 32 34 31 41

Source: Dregne a a/. (1991).

A REVIEW OF D E S E R T I F I C A T I O N 117

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that are extremely arid (practically'rainless). The arid and semi-arid territories (1571 million and 2305 million ha) are rangelands and rain-fed farmlands, the dry sub- humid territories (1296 million ha) are more bio-productive (woodlands, farmlands and pasturelands). The total area of these world drylands (6150 million ha) is 41% of the total land area of the world. It may be noted that wherever additional water is available, irrigated farmlands prevail even in hyper-arid territories (e.g. oases, Nile valley in Egypt, etc.).

All the above territories are the areas prone to desertification. They are inhabited by some 900 millions. Three agricultural land-use systems prevail: irrigated farmlands, rain-fed croplands, and rangelands. Table 2 summarizes assessment (Dregne et al., 1991) of areas in the six continents that are at least moderately degraded. The extent of damage is highest in the rangelands (3333 million ha = 73% of all rangelands of the menaced drylands), and least extensive in irrigated farmlands (43.1 million ha = 30% of irrigated drylands). World-wide figures are: total agriculturally used dry- lands = 5159.6 million ha, and total damaged area = 3562.1 million ha (69%).

Table 3. Annual average income foregone (in millions of US$)

Continent Irrigated lands Rain-fed cropland Rangeland Total

Africa 475 1855 6966 9296 Asia 7953 4647 8313 20913 Aus~alia 63 544 2529 3136 Europe 474 450 564 1488 N. Amedca 1465 441 2878 4784 S. America 355 252 2084 2691 Total 10785 8189 23234 42308

Source: Dregne et al. (1991).

Table 3 provides an assessment (Dregne et al., 1991) of the economic loss (income foregone/year) due to desertification (at least moderately degraded). These estimates were based on the following figures (1990 prices): $250 per hectare of irrigated land, $38 per hectare of rain-fed cropland and $7 per hectare of rangeland. The total annual loss is $42.3 billions.

Causes

Degradation of agriculturally used drylands relates to a combination of (1) excessive human exploitation that oversteps the natural carrying capacity of the land resource system, and (2) inherent ecological fragility of the system. The driving forces of over- exploitation include: increase in population and escalation of human needs; socio- political processes that coax rural communities to re-orient their production towards home and international markets (change from subsistence economy to commercial economy); economic processes (including the mechanisms of the international market) that depress the market value of rural products and escalate the prices of goods needed by rural people; processes of national development, especially farmland expansion for production of cash crops, that exacerbate conflicts over land and water use .

Fragility of dryland ecosystems is an inherent attribute that relates to a number of ecological features including (Kassas, 1992): (1) Water resources limited (low rainfall) and seasonal (part of the year rainless); (2) Plant cover thin, with notable seasonal variation (does not afford effective protection against erosion), bioproductivity low (carrying capacity limited); (3) rainfall variable (recurrent incidents of drought, and

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consequent reduction of plant growth); (4) softs skeletal (surface deposits showing little development), with low content of organic matter (litter actively oxidized at surface and not incorporated in sub-surface horizon).

Under pristine conditions the natural ecosystem could cope with the incidents of drought that caused failure of plant growth and the fauna dependent on it, with the return of normal rainfall the system could redress the damage. Even with prolonged drought (desiccation), the system may eventually recuperate as the spell ends. But with a combination of (1) the inherent fragility and the natural hazards of drought (or hazards of locust raids) and (2) excessive human pressures (over-cultivation, over- grazing, over-cutting, etc.) the system would be seriously damaged and without corrective interference of society natural processes alone could not redress the damage. This is desertification.

D r o u g h t m D e s e r t i f i c a t i o n

Drought

Drought is generally perceived as the incidence of below average availability of natural water. Below average has a physical aspect, that is, below the long-term mean (normal), and a societal aspect, that is, below the expected volume that would satisfy the needs of agriculture, livestock, domestic use, etc. Manifestations include: annual rainfall less than normal; month/season rainfall less than normal; reduced river flow; reduced groundwater availability.

Incidents of drought prevail in all climate zones of the world, but its impacts are acutely felt in the drylands. Management of drought, similar to management of other natural hazards, comprises three principal elements: an early warning (forecast) mechanism, societal preparedness (society organized and drilled to face the event), and an enabling mechanism that would provide menaced communities with support and relief. Early warning is a key element. FAO and W M O have programmes that provide countries with information derived from meteo-satellite imagery that could be used as rainfall forecast. US-AID initiated a Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) project for Africa. National early warning systems are available in a few countries of Africa (e.g. Ethiopia).

A national early warning system, that could provide early forecast of weather perturbations including incidence of drought (or flood), needs to be linked to a world- wide system. A long term (several months) forecast will need to depen d on tele- connections between world climate anomalies, that is, the likely correspondence between, the phenomena of ENSO (including surface sea temperatures in the South Pacific and in the Southern Oceans) and rainfall in East Africa and other parts of the world, and the likely correspondence between the climatic processes in North Atlantic and those in the Indian Ocean (Glantz et al., 1991). The establishment of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) is a step in the direction of establishing a world-wide mechanism.

Distinction is made between drought (period of 1-2 years with below-average rainfall) and desiccation (dry period lasting for a decade or more) (UNSO, 1992). The often quoted example is the failure of rainfall in the Sahel (Africa) region: for the 25-year period 1965-90 rainfall decline, as compared with the long-term average (1901-92), was between 20 and 40% (Hulme & Kelly, 1993). Drought is an aspect of inter-annual variations that is usual attribute of low-rainfall climate, but protracted drought (desiccation) may herald a degree of climate change.

A case study (Syria) may be briefly presented to illustrate elements of drought management. A series of years with below-average rainfall (1959-61) caused the loss of about 50% of the sheep livestock in the rangeland areas (badia: add and semi-add

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territories): 5,912,000 in 1958, 4,751,000 in 1959, 3,649,000 in 1960, 2,901,000 in i961. In lean years relief and aid were provided by the Government and FAO, WFP, etc. This was a recurrent hazard, and a new scheme (assisted by FAO and World Bank) was eventually established. It depended on a combination of (1) revival of an old reserve system (hema), (2) re-formulating grazing rights of bedouin tribes to bedouin co-operatives, (3) ecologically sound and socially accepted management operations including a credit mechanism that provided support in lean (drought) years. During 1967-80 the following elements were established:

Hema co-operatives 22 sheep and range co-operatives and 10 dairy co-operatives with reserve areas (hema) totalling 1.5 million ha. 54 sheep-fattening co-operatives supported by a network of feed warehouses (with total capacity of 180,000 metric tons) that made feed materials available during drought.

Government cenrres Eight experimental, training and demonstration technical support to the co-operatives.

centres provided extension and

Restoration of water cisterns Two thousand old and neglected cisterns (dating back to Roman times) were cleared and provided water storage and reserve.

National Feed Revolving Fund (NFRF) This credit mechanism supported the whole operation, it received $4.5 millions from Government and $11.5 millions from the World Bank, provided short term low- interest loans to the co-operatives and through them to members.

With this packet of elements, the Syrian steppe rangelands, their livestocks and their pastoralist communities are better able to withstand spells of drought. The essence of this management packet is insurance against natural hazard; insurance is not just providing compensation for loss, it is an enabling mechanism that provides support throughout the crisis of drought.

Desertification

Desertification, as explained earlier, is a process of land degradation. Its management comprises a packet of corrective actions that provide the bases for sustainable development of land-and-water resources. We may quote a case study (Kassas, 1988) of the U.S.A. drylands. The Great Plains region of western U.S.A. (arid and semi-add territories) were menaced by drought during the early 1930s. It became an extensive dust bowl, villages were overwhelmed by sand, deserted farms and ranches were common sights. During the 1950s drought recurred but passed almost unnoticed (NAS, 1976). This raises two questions: (1) what land-use practices that prevailed prior to the 1930s caused the system to be so fragile and so seriously damaged by drought? and (2) what measures were set during 1930-50 that enabled the system to withstand drought with little damage?

In the late 1860s an influx of settlers, chiefly graziers, flowed westward to these poorly administered territories. For some 60 years they practised open ranging and during this long period of unrestricted grazing the rangelands were subject to over- stocking and little management. At the same time, uncontrolled intensive rainfed agricultural practices left the land open to wind and water erosion. By the 1930s the area was so vulnerable that it soon became a dust bowl.

What happened in these territories between 1930 and 1950 provides an example of a package of corrective measures which can be briefly summarized as follows:

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Federal land policy A national conference on land use established the National Land-use Planning Committee of the National Resources Board. The committee estimated that more than 6.5 million acres of the Great Plains had to be returned to grass and that some 16,000 farmers should be relocated. The kind of project surveyed included the Southern Otero Project, where 15,500 sheep grazed on pastures sufficient for only 4000 head. Policy-makers were determined that the carrying capacity should not jeopardize the grass during drought (Hurt, 1986).

The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 This Act set in operation the recommendations made by the John Wesley Powel l Commission (1879) 55 years earlier. It extended the area of a homestead unit and established federal control over numbers of animals and over land use according to land suitability. Under what became the Bureau of Land Management, measures of soil conservation and balance with carrying capacity were implemented. In 1934 the first national survey was made to assess the severity of the erosion problem in the United States. In 1935 legislation established the Soil Conservation Service, a federal agency, as a part of the Depaxtaiient of Agriculture.

Federal financial support Federal funds were set aside for ecological restoration efforts, programmes of farm price support, rural relief and public works. The programme was designed to promote extensive adoption of conservation measures by land owners on a cost-sharing basis with government, whereby the government may pay as much as 80% of the cost of some measures. More than $2 billion was spent by New Deal agencies in the 1930s to keep the plains farmers in business (Worster, 1986). In the years 1935-75 some $15 billion of federal funds were spent on conservation, rehabilitation and subsidies in the menaced areas.

Transportation The railway lines were extended into the arid lands and the highways and trucks followed. These provided a means to transport livestock from summer ranges to winter ranges and to markets. The cross-country transhumance became mechanized.

Cattle breeds The hardy longhorn cattle that were well adapted to long-distance travel were gradually replaced by less hardy but better quality breeds such as Hereford, Brahman and Shorthorn.

Fencing The widespread use of cattle fencing allowed ecologically-sound range management, including deferred grazing and rotation grazing.

Water availability Mechanical innovations provided improved wellpurnps and well-drilling equipment that allowed tapping of aquifers at great depth. Stock watering facilities, miles of pipelines and large storage tanks became common features.

Water Management Large-scale water-management projects included the establishment of several dams (e.g. Grand Coulee, Boulder and Shasta). These provided irrigation for extensive farmlands and allowed for production of fodder and feed materials under irrigation. Irrigated farmland became an integrated part of the livestock-range industry.

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Ecology New sciences of applied ecology (soil conservation, range management, etc) were developed and, through effective extension services, farmers and graziers were provided with advice and vocational ffaining.

This management packet is a combination of: government control (legal instru- ments), government assistance (including federal funds) and guidance (land-use policies), national development schemes (railways, roads, reservoirs), advancements in science and technology and its application, development of natural resources within the framework of an ecologically-sound land use policy, and integration of various uses. Together the actions provided for the sustainable use of land resources, promoted the capacity of the resource ecosystem to withstand the inevitable spells of drought and ensured positive participation of local people.

World act ion 1972-92

Background

UNESCO initiated in 1950 a world-wide arid zone research programme. By the early 1960s, when this major programme came to its end, some 200 arid zone research institutions were active in all regions of the world drylands, 30 volumes of scientific and technical studies were published by UNESCO and several others by national bodies, dryland ecology with all its ramification was set on the world science agenda. In the subsequent international endeavour, the International Biological Programme (IBP) led by ICSU (1964--70), desert biome was one of the principal elements of the Programme. It maintained the interest of the scientific community in dryland studies. All this remained academic.

It was the severe and protracted drought that menaced the Sahel countries of Africa (1968-72) that triggered world-wide concern. Aid and relief resources were rushed in attempt to save people and their livestocks. Governments of menaced countries formed a heads-of-states Inter-State Committee for Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS), the donor community (mostly OECD), formed the Sahel Club to mobilize and co-ordinate assistance to drought-stricken territories, the UN created a United Nations Sahelian Office (UNSO) to co-ordinate the contributions of the UN System. Later drought spread eastward menacing the whole Sudano-Sahelian belt of countries extending from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and the African Horn. By 1984, 20 African countries were in a state of famine.

From 1974 onward the issue of desertification remained on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. On 17 December 1974 by resolution 3337-29 the General Assembly decided to hold a UN Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) in 1977. The UNCOD was held in Nairobi (Kenya): 29 August-9 September 1977. The Conference produced a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), a technically elaborate document: 28 recommendations each detailing actions to be carried out at the national, regional and international levels; the Plan and the associated resolutions of the UNCOD outlined means for follow up, mechanisms for mobilizing financial resources needed for the implementation of the PACD. The UN General Assembly endorsed the PACD and entrusted UNEP Governing Council with the responsibility of 'following up and co-ordinating the implementation of the PACD'.

The PACD: 1977-92

The Plan of Action to Combat Desertification remained the available framework of national and international action during the 15-year period 1977-92. The UN General Assembly received yearly reports from UNEP on implementation of the Plan and the

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world status of desertification. An interim stocktaking assessment was carried out in 1984, a second assessment was carried out in 1991. Both showed that desertification, world-wide, continued to spread and that efforts undertaken since 1977 were too modest to be effective.

The PACD envisaged a series of mechanisms at national and international levels. At national level it was recommended (Recommendation 21 of PACD) that a country prone to desertification should establish a 'national machinery to combat desertifica- tion and drought', e.g. a national desertification commission at the highest level of government. This commission would (1) prepare a national plan of action to combat desertification, (2) arrange for financing the implementation of this plan, (3) monitor progress. Recommendation (No. 22) underlined the importance of integrating the national plan of action to combat desertification into the comprehensive national plans for development.

At an international level the following mechanisms for managing and co-ordinating the international endeavour were established. (1) A small unit within the UNEP secretariate was set, later developed into the Desertification Control Programme Activity Centre (DC-PAC). (2) UNSO was further developed as a UNEP-UNDP joint venture to provide assistance to the Sudano-Sahelian countries in implementing their national plans of action to combat desertification. (3) An Inter-Agency Working Group on Desertification (IAWGD) was established to co-ordinate participation of the UN system in the world actions. Inter-agency co-ordination was also addressed through the UN Administrative Committee on Co-ordination (ACC). (4) The UNEP Governing Council reported annually to the UN General Assembly on progress achieved in implementing the PACD including reporting on the Sudano-Sahel region.

Mechanisms for financing the implementation of the PACD that were envisaged by UNCOD and endorsed by the UN General Assembly and tested in practice included:

(1) A special account within the UN was created in 1978 to receive voluntary donations for financing the PACD. By December 1988 a total of $166,886 had been paid into the account. In December 1989 the General Assembly decided to close it.

(2) The General Assembly (December 1977) authorized the UNEP l~.xecutive Director to convene a consultative group 'to assist in mobilizing resources for the activities undertaken within the framework of implementing the Plan of Action'. A Consultative Group for Desertification Control (DI~.SCON) was convened. During 1978-90 DESCON held seven regular sessions. Members of DESCON were divided as regards the original mandate of mobilizing resources (donor countries maintained their preference to bilateral mechanisms and that DI~,SCON should be a forum for exchange of information, recipient countries kept presenting to DI~.SCON projects requesting financial support). In a sequence of resolutions the General Assembly expanded the mandate of DESCON to include exchange of information. It became clear that financial resources specific to assisting developing countries in their actions for combating desertification remained one of the obstacles that need to be resolved.

(3) The General Assembly in a sequence of tKree resolutions 1977-80 decided to have prepared, by groups of high-level specialists in international financing, studies on means of financing the PACD. The three studies were edited and published in one volume (Ahmed & Kassas, 1987). The third study (1981) included a feasibility study and working plan for the establishment of an independent financial corporation for financing desertification projects. This body would (1) have its own resources that enable it to borrow money from the market, (2) receive aid funds from donors, and (3) through mixing both be able to provide to menaced developing counlwies soft loans to finance their national plans of action to combat desertification. All these studies did not receive the support of donors.

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Concemed by these discouraging results, the UNEP Governing Council (May 1989) requested that an evaluation of the PACD be carried out by a team of external experts. This was done in 1990. The findings may be summarized as follows (for details; see Buonajuti, 1991): (I) The basic principles and objectives of the PACD remain valid; (2) The goal of halting desertification by the year 2000 was unrealistic because both the donors and the menaced countries were not capable of mobilizing the resources necessary for action to be effective; (3) Desertification gave many policy- makers an incorrect perception, the term land degradation would be preferable; definition of desertification needed to be sharpened; (4) The 28 recommendations of the PACD overwhelmed countries that lacked capabilities and resources for its implementation; there was need to prepare guidelines for its implementation at national level; (5) Distinction and interrelationships between drought and deserfifica- tion should be clearly made; (6) Keys to success are: incorporation of national plans of action within national plans of development, co-ordination between governments, donors and international agencies, and more efficient use of available resources.

Towards action

During the 1977-92 period there has been disheartening slowness in effective action for combating desertification. The 1991 world wide assessment (including the World Atlas of Desertification, UNEP 1992) showed that land degradation in the world drylands remained a serious menace. But this period witnessed several trials (with financing mechanism), national surveys, field experiments for combating mobile sands, experiments with tree planting including agro-forestry in drylands, experiments with mobilizing popular support and participation including involvement of societal organizations, etc.

During the late 1980s, it became evident that the way towards effective action needed to be initiated at national level. This requires the national political will that provides the communities in marginal territories, that are prone to hazards of recurrent drought and menaces of land degradation, with their due priority of national attention. Action comprises four principal elements: (1) survey and assessment, (2) planning and design of programmes of action, (3) development of the necessary capabilities (institutions, trained personnel, etc.) and (4) implementation (including monitoring of achievements).

The long and protracted debates in DESCON, UNEP Governing Council, UN General Assembly and other fora, gradually led to outlining the following steps as likely to lead to p6sitive action.

National Plan of Action (NPACD) This technical document will respond to the recommendations of the PACD that are relevant to the ecologic and social set-up in the country. The elaboration of this study should involve national institutions and community groups concerned. Technical assistance for this elaboration may be requested from international bodies and technical institutions in donor countries. During the 1980s UNEP-DC-PAC, UNSO and members of the IAWGD have assisted some 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in elaborating national plans of action to combat desertification.

Integration of NPACD within national development This step is the demonstration of national political will, it will ensure that action to combat desertification will receive its share of national resources. This is a step that is both technical and political.

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Programme of action This is a technical step by which the plan is translated into a packet of projects, each with detailed operation steps, requirements, costs and time-table for implementation. Here, again, technical assistance may be needed.

Round table A donor meeting may be held in the national capital to which donor institutions (bilateral, multilateral, foundations, etc.) are invited. Assistance towards holding the round table may be sought (UNDP, World Bank, Regional Development Banks, etc.). The meeting will review the set of projects, the national resources allocated, and will hopefully help in mobilizing the required additional resources (financial and technical). The round table may consider the national programme for combating desertification of its own, or be broader in scope and consider the national development programme including the desertification projects.

Implementation Implementation will follow. Mechanisms for management and co-ordination will be tailored according to specific needs. These will include monitoring and assessment of achievements and impacts.

A few countries have managed to go, with success, through these steps (e.g. Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, etc.). This seems to be the way of promise, future programmes need to provide for support-- technical and f inancial--of national (and regional) endeavours along these steps. This encouraging success with national plans of action to combat desertification indicates that enough scientific knowledge and technological means are available for implementing programmes of actions. The remaining gaps of scientific and technological knowledge should not remain excuse "for inaction.

World action post-1992

Agenda 21

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992) produced an action oriented document: Agenda 21. It is a comprehensive compedium embracing 40 chapters including Social and Economic Dimensions (section 1, 8 chapters), Conservation and Management of Resources for Development (section 2, 14 chapters), strengthening the Role of Major Groups (Section 3, 18 chapters). The process of drafting this Agenda went through a 2-year preparatory process (Secretariat work supported by consultants and UN-inter-agency meetings, government representatives meeting at sessions of the Preparatory Commit- tee) and intensive review during UNCED. In its final version it represents a world consensus on what needs to be done.

Chapter 12 (Managing fragile ecosystems: combating desetxification and drought) addresses problems that are directly related to our subject. Relevant issues are also addressed in Chapter 3 (Combating poverty) and chapter 14 (Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development). Chapter 12 of Agenda 21 includes six principal programme areas: (A) Strengthening the knowledge base and developing information and monitoring systems for regions prone to desertification and drought, including economic and social aspects of these ecosystems; (B) Combating land degradation through, inter alia, intensified soil conservation, afforestation and reforestation activities; (C) Developing and strengthening integrated development programmes for eradication of poverty and promotion of alternative livelihood systems in areas prone to desertification; (D) Developing comprehensive anti-desertification programmes and

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integrating them into national development plans and national environmental planning; (E) Developing comprehensive droiaght preparedness and drought-relief schemes, including self-help arrangements, for drought-prone areas and designing programmes to cope with environmental refugees; (F) Encouraging and promoting popular participation and environmental education, focusing on desertification control and management of the effect of drought.

Detailed guidelines of these six programme areas are given in chapter 12 of Agenda 21; these details reinforce and sharpen the 1977 PACD to which reference was made earlier. The six programmes, like any environment and development related programmes, comprise three principal compartments: monitoring and assessment (programme A), management and implementing programmes of action (programmes B, C, E), and supporting measures including research, education, national capacities, etc. (programmes D,F). These six programmes provide guidelines for elaboration of national plans of action for (1) management of drought and (2) combating land degradation. Action needs to address concrete situation at local or national level, responsibility of action remains primarily with local or national authority. Technical and financial assistance comes next.

Chapter 12 of Agenda 21 gives estimates of armual cost of a world-wide programme to be implemented during 1993-2000 as follows: Programme area A: US$ 350 millions Programme area B: US$ 6000 millions Programme area C: costs included in chapters 3 and 14 Programme area D: US$ 180 millions Programme area E: US$ 1200 millions Programme area F: US$ 1000 millions

Total (without Programme area C): $8730 millions/year. These cost estimates represent orders of magnitude, and underline the special need for an international mechanism capable of mobilizing and managing these resources. We may here remember that the UNEP (1991) surveys note that 99 countries are prone to menaces of land degradation in drylands; these include 18 countries that have the financial and/ or the technical capabilities to manage their national programmes of action and 81 countries that would require external assistance.

The des~tification convention

The UN General Assembly, in considering reports fTom UNCED (1992), resolved to establish an 'inter-Govemmental Negotiating Committee to Elaborate an Inter- national Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa': INCD. The INCD was set, held its organizational session in New York (26-29 January 1993), its first session in Nairobi (24 May-3 June 1993), its second session in Geneva (13-24 September 1993); other sessions include: New York (17-28 January, 1994), Geneva (21-31 March, 1994), and concluded its work in Paris (June, 1994). The INCD, as it elaborated the Convention considered the following issues.

(1) Action programmes that are often grouped under the generic term combating desertification embrace four classes of distinct, though inter-related, actions: (i) preventive measures that ensure that use of land-and-water resources is sustainable, these are conservation measures that would immunize the productive system against excessive use and subsequent degradation; (ii) corrective measures that redress partly damaged land system and restore its productivity; (iii) rehabilitation measures that aim at reclaiming lost land (severely or very severely damaged); (iv) development of natural resources ofdrylands including extremely arid lands (natural deserts), this would include non-agricultural land uses. Costs and rates of return of investment of these four classes are very different. UNEP (1991) estimates of global annual cost CUSS) of a 20-year

A REVIEW OF DESERTIFICATION 127

programme: (i) 1-4-4.2 billions, (ii) 2.4-7.2 billions, (iii) 6.2-11.0 billions. Th e I N C D in its subsequent sessions (1995), and eventually the Conference of Parties, will need to consider this issue and set limits (which classes) to be addressed by the Convention.

(2) What type of Convention? Is it a framework convention (styled after the U N Framework Convent ion of Climate Change) or an action oriented convention? There are evident differences between the two issues: climate change and desertification. Climate change is an issue that is: (i) still shrouded with uncertainties (including new uncertainties identified in the IPCC report published in 1992 after the climate convention was elaborated), and (ii) damaging impacts of climate change (global warmth) are foreseen as likely to be manifest within 50-75 years. By contrast, desertification is an actual menace that has been in active operations during the past 50 years; it is already undermining the life-support systems of some 900 millions, causing these poverty stricken people to become even poorer; recurrent drought has caused the loss of millions of heads of livestock in the Sudano-Sahel zone of Africa, and has caused the uprooting of millions of people to flee their homelands and to move across political borders (10 million environmental refugees in Africa in 1984-85).

(3) For a convention to be operational, it should have a core of three elements. (i) outlines of action (as set in the 1977 PACD and the 1992 Agenda 21 chapter 12); (ii) institutional arrangement for driving and coordinating world-wide action; (iii) mechanism for mobilizing the financial resources needed to assist the developing countries (particularly in Africa).

(4) The drafting of the Convent ion was completed in Paris in June 1994, was opened for signature in Paris in November 1994 and in New York later. Some 90 countries have signed it by January 1995.

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