Uniting
Conservation, Communities and Sustainable Travel
UNESCO
is co-organizing a major conference from 19 to
21 June in Tunis (Tunisia) on The Future of
Drylands.
'A Major Security Risk':
Hama Arba Diallo doesn't hesitate to
draw a parallel between
desertification and human security.
'It is widely recognized', remarks
the Executive-Secretary of the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD), 'that environmental
degradation has a role to play in
considerations of national security,
as well as international stability'.
Desertification is one of the most
alarming processes of environmental
degradation; it contributes to food
insecurity, famine and poverty, and
can give rise to social, economic
and political tensions that can
degenerate into conflict. Each year,
desertification and drought cause an
estimated US$42 billion in lost
agricultural production. About 41%
of the Earth's surface area is made
up of drylands, home to more than 2
billion people. Between 10% and 20%
of these drylands are degraded or
unproductive.
The sheer scope of the problem led
the UN General Assembly to proclaim
2006 the International Year of
Deserts and Desertification. The
Year's main objective is to drive
the point home that desertification
poses a major threat to humanity, a
threat weighted further under the
scenarios of climate change and
biodiversity loss.
UNCCD is the only internationally
recognized, legally binding
instrument
addressing the problem of land
degradation in dryland rural areas.
Through the Global Mechanism hosted
by the International Fund for
Agricultural Development in Rome
(Italy), the Convention endeavours
to channel much-needed resources to
projects combating the problem,
particu-larly in Africa.
On 17 February, FAO appealed for
US$18.5 million to help farmers,
herders and others hit by drought in
southeastern Ethiopia and suffering
'pre-famine conditions'. With the
economies of pastoralist groups in
Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya also
devastated, some 11 million people
in the Horn of Africa 'are at risk
of food shortages'. In this issue,
we exam-ine plans by Ethiopia to
improve food security and halt
galloping desertification by
develop-ing its water sector within
an ambitious 15-year programme. This
case study is taken from the latest
World Water Development Report,
launched by the United Nations in
March.
UNESCO has a long tradition in
interdisciplinary drylands research
that goes back to the 1950s. Today,
UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere and
International Hydrological
Programmes are pursuing research on
the sustainable management of
dryland ecosystems and their water
resources. Many biosphere reserves
situated in the world's drylands
testify to the fact that
environmental conservation and
sustainable development of drylands
can be mutually beneficial.
UNESCO is co-organizing a major
conference from 19 to 21 June in
Tunis (Tunisia) on The Future of
Drylands. This scientific meeting
will review the current state of
knowledge of dryland ecosystems and
the socio-economics of dryland
development, with a view to advising
decision-makers.
W. Erdelen
Assistant Director-General for
Natural Sciences
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