Although several institutional and management approaches that address the degradation of the rangelands have been tested in the dry areas of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), impact has been limited. Nonetheless, the development of National Action Plans to combat desertification highlights the interest of governments to tackle this issue. Payment for Environmental Services (PES) may be a viable policy option, though, to date, most PES programs have focused on the management of different resources (forests, watersheds).

Attention to land degradation and environmental pollution has increased significantly in the past 25 years, largely due to greater levels of international cooperation and recognition that local changes in land resources have global impacts. As the world’s focus on climate change increases, so, too, does the attention being paid to drought and its rise in frequency and severity.

Documento final de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas Rio +20 llevada a cabo en Rio de Janeiro - Brasil del 20 al 22 de junio de 2012.

El documento explica y analiza los impactos de los cambios climáticos en Sudamérica reflejados en el retroceso de los glaciares, la agricultura. los ecosistemas, la salud y las iniciativas de mitigación existentes en la región.

La agricultura resiliente al clima está en vigencia hoy más que antes debido a los constantes cambios que experimenta nuestro planeta. Al comprender los orígenes de las investigaciones sobre la agricultura y el cambio climático, el autor busca unir la tecnología y los saberes ancestrales de los pueblos para la producción alimenticia más eficiente. Como parte de una serie de artículos cortos de opinión, este texto llega a plantear una postura sobre la agricultura resiliente al clima.

El autor del presente artículo establece como punto de partida para su análisis que es mejor hablar de Cambio Ambiental Global, es decir, aquellas modificaciones que se vienen produciendo en  los sistemas Tierra, Atmósfera, Océanos y Biosfera, que resulta ser más amplio y complejo que el cambio climático.
Cambio climático, comunidades y desarrollo
Fernando de la Cuadra*

Elizabeth Vargas Solá (*)

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.