The Convention offers new hope in the struggle against desertification Over the past decades, the problem of land degradation in dryland regions has continued to worsen. The Convention promotes a fresh new approach to managing dryland ecosystems and - just as important - to managing development aid flows.

La Convention offre de nouveaux espoirs dans la lutte contre la désertification

Le problème de la dégradation des terres dans les régions arides n'a cessé de s'aggraver au cours des vingt dernières années décennies. La Convention propose une manière entièrement nouvelle de gérer les écosystèmes arides et -ce qui n'est pas moins important- les flux d'aide au développement.

La Convención ofrece nuevas esperanzas para luchar contra la desertificación

En las últimas décadas el problema de la degradación de tierras en las regiones de zonas secas ha seguido empeorando. La Convención promueve un nuevo método para gestionar los ecosistemas de tierras secas y administrar las aportaciones de ayuda al desarrollo.

The Kyoto Protocol negotiated in the mid-1990s to address climate change adaptation and mitigation will be replaced by a post-Kyoto agreement in 2012. The new agreement under negotiation needs to seal the policy gaps in adaptation and mitigation that were omitted or excluded from Kyoto on account of scientific uncertainties. Particular attention needs to be given to the potential of land in all its dimensions considering its high capacity to store carbon. Land stores twice as much organic carbon as vegetation and the atmosphere combined.

Drylands have the potential to play a big role in climate mitigation and, in doing so, to deliver significant co-benefits

Until now, the international community has made tireless efforts to get public attention and political action on issues of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) with limited success.

Thus, the mobilization of political will and arousal of public interest and attention around the issue of climate change in particular puzzled activists and decision-makers alike, at least in the DLDD community.

The drylands of Africa, exclusive of hyper-arid zones, occupy about 43 per cent of the continent, and are home to a rapidly growing population that currently stands at about 325 million people. Dry zones, inclusive of hyper-arid lands, cover over 70 per cent of the continent’s terrestrial surface. Outside of the cities many dryland inhabitants are either pastoralists, sedentary or nomadic, or agro-pastoralists, combining livestock-rearing and crop production where conditions allow.

Comme la Préface l’a souhaité, ce document est conçu comme un plaidoyer. Son objectif, en effet, est de montrer pourquoi il faut aujourd’hui replacer la Convention de Lutte contre la Désertification au cœur des stratégies engagées pour affronter la crise montante de l’écosystème global. Son point de départ est un constat sans appel : la progression de la désertification et de la dégradation des terres et des eaux conduisent inéluctablement à un développement non durable (Chapitre I).

Desertification is defined as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. More than one third of the surface of the earth consists of drylands. In terms of population, one out of every five people of the world live in already degraded or desertification-prone drylands. These people include many of the world’s poorest, most marginalized, and politically weak citizens. For instance, nearly 325 million people in the African continent live in drylands.

Avant-propos La notion de désertification se définit comme une dégradation des sols en zone aride, semi-aride et subhumide sèche, souvent appelée simplement « zone aride ». On estime qu’elle résulte d’une combinaison de facteurs, parmi lesquels les changements climatiques et l’activité humaine. Plus d’un tiers de la superficie totale de la terre est considéré comme zone aride. En termes démographiques, c’est un cinquième de la population totale du globe qui vit en zone aride déjà dégradée ou menacée de désertification.

A summary of the findings of a study of land degradation assessment (LADA) with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS), and its implications for sustainable land management (SLM) in Kenya is presented. The assessment was conducted over a 6-month period in July-December 2015. The need for the LADA is in line with the Kenya Government’s strong interest in moving towards a country programmatic approach, for sustainable land management (SLM).

This literature review explores how political, economic and resource management policies and programs can reduce forest degradation and increase the contribution of forest goods and services to sustainable livelihood strategies. In Ethiopia, studies indicate that forest dependency is strong throughout the country, but the importance of forest income varies across different regions and wealth categories. Research suggests that improving forest product market governance is key to strengthening forest livelihood resiliency.