The Kyoto Protocol negotiated in the mid-1990s to address climate change adaptation and mitigation will expire in 2012. This protocol represents one of the two milestones that the multilateral negotiation of climate change has delivered. Ten years after its adoption, the climate change negotiators decided upon the second largest milestone when they approved the Bali Action Plan at their 2007 meeting in Bali.

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.

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.

En este escrito se expone una clasificación de 15 miniaturas zoomorfas inkas de metal y Spondylus, basada en formas y técnicas de manufactura desarrollando también una interpretación del significado de materiales, de asociaciones cardinales y de objetos del contexto funerario recuperado en 1999 de la cima del volcán Llullaillaco (6.739 msnm, Provincia de Salta, Argentina).

La cuenca del río Los Puestos, área considerada en este trabajo, se sitúa en el extremo norte del departamento de Ambato, Catamarca, Argentina. Sus límites están establecidos por las formaciones pampeanas Ambato-Manchao (4.050 m.s.n.m.) al oeste, y por la sierra Graciana-Balcozna (1.850 m.s.n.m.) al este. En tanto, su límite sur lo constituye el valle de Catamarca y, hacia el norte, los Altos de Singuil. En la llanura aluvial del fondo del valle, corre de norte a sur el río Los Puestos, que nace en los Altos de Singuil, a 1.250 m.s.n.m. En este escenario, a partir del siglo VI d.C.

Se compararon dos manejos pratenses: pastoreo con vacunos y pastoreo con ovejas, en un suelo volcánico, del centro-sur de Chile, con los valores bioindicadores de Ellenberg establecidos para malezas europeas, que forman esas praderas. Se comprobó que el pastoreo con ovinos degrada el suelo y la cubierta vegetal mucho más que el pastoreo con bovinos, lo que se corresponde con las diferencias vegetacionales y edáficas establecidas por un estudio anterior mediante análisis edáficos y fitosociológicos.

This study investigated the impacts of access to inventory credit, input supply shops, fertilizer microdosing demonstrations, and other factors on farmers’ use of inorganic fertilizer and other inputs in Niger and on crop yields. We found that access to inventory credit and input supply shops has increased the use of inorganic fertilizer and seeds and that microdosing demonstrations have increased the use of inorganic fertilizer.