If legal instruments are not fully implemented, there is a risk they remain in the domain of virtual reality and wishful thinking.The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has come a long way since it came into force in 1996, with current membership standing at 191 Parties. 2006 was a landmark year.

In the ten years since it came into being, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has had little or no effect on the further encroachment of deserts. More than 80 countries have submitted National Action Programmes to combat desertification, but they appear to lack the financial and political commitment to implement them. What are the causes behind the UNCCD's weakness? How can the Convention be incorporated more effectively and efficiently into the architecture of international development?

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment projects that the intensification of freshwater scarcity in combination with continuous water extraction from delicate dryland ecosystems is likely to exacerbate desertification, thus leading to a downward spiral of ecological deterioration and a precarious depreciation of livelihoods in many developing regions. This in turn can push people to migrate, which can have far reaching implications affecting local, regional, and even global political and economic stability.

Desertification is nowhere more serious than in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), stretching from Pakistan in the east to Morocco in the west, and from Ethiopia and Sudan in the south to Turkey in the north. Yet, many MENA countries have successfully rehabilitated large areas. Concerted efforts can indeed stop and even reverse desertification, though their long-term success will depend on how well they manage their limited water resources.

Hardest hit by desertification is Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty is more widespread, preparedness for catastrophe is lower, and means for adequately coping with the phenomenon are very weak; two thirds of the arable land will be lost by 2025.The subcontinent needs improved integrated initiatives on local, national und multinational level for a sustainable natural resources management. Environmental Information systems can increase awareness and throw light on decision making processes on the complexity of desertification badly needed by most African countries.

Despite ambitious desertification control programmes, the area of desertified land has expanded continuously since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, with increasingly serious impacts on important industrial and settlement areas. Only in the new millennium is a reversal of this trend in sight.

Au Burkina Faso, le potentiel en terres arables à vocation agricole est épuisé. À l’avenir, la population en rapide expansion ne pourra être nourrie que s’il est possible d’accroître les rendements sur les terres cultivées existantes. Grâce à la construction de cordons pierreux le long des courbes de niveau, il est possible de mieux exploiter l’eau de pluie et de stopper l’érosion.

En todas las regiones áridas y semiáridas del mundo se considera a “las tunas”, como proveedoras de usos múltiples con notables condiciones para zonas marginales. Los tunales, fueron siempre de interés para Santiago del Estero, Argentina, desde su fundación, iniciándose luego una serie ininterrumpida de esfuerzos para alcanzar un conocimiento exhaustivo sobre las mismas, tarea que aun continua. El grupo de trabajo de la Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero ha trabajado en el tema por largo tiempo, en forma constante, sostenida.

En 2016, Action contre la désertification se prépare à restaurer 10 000 hectares de terres et à planter des espèces d'arbres, d'arbustes et de graminées locales et bien adaptées localement dans six pays africains - le Burkina Faso, l'Éthiopie, la Gambie, le Niger, le Nigeria et le Sénégal.

Southern Africa is particularly susceptible to climate variability and drought and is increasingly being threatened by desertification processes, degradation of land and water resources and loss of biodiversity. Although rainfed farming is a high-risk enterprise, it is also a way of life and people are committed to making the best of the scarce resources at their disposal. However, droughts tend to reduce production to below the already marginal levels, thus threatening subsistence farming.