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Environmentalists gather to find ways to combat desertification

ABU DHABI - Renowned environmentalists and decision-makers from around the world gathered here yesterday to find solutions to the problem of desertification and devise mechanisms for enforcement of international conventions to combat the problem, particularly in Asia.

They are taking part in the Sixth Regional Meeting of Asian Focal Points for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is being held prior to the Second Asian Ministerial Conference of UNCCD Implementation in Preparation for the Sixth Session of the COP, which begins on Tuesday.

In his inaugural speech, Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD Secretariat, said that land on the planet faced the danger of losing its vegetation cover and soil fertility at an alarming pace.

"This plight of terrestrial ecosystems not only threatens the global environment, but also negatively affects the people's livelihood as it reduces our ability to produce food and feed ourselves," Mr Diallo said.

He referred to reports that nearly 40 per cent of the world's agricultural land had been seriously degraded and the damage had already had a significant impact on productivity of about 16 per cent of the planet's farmland. An increasing number of rangelands remain susceptible to degradation undermining their carrying capacity for supporting livestock husbandry.

"Asia is not an exception to this distressing calamity. The destruction of vegetation cover and loss of soil fertility aggravate the degradation of global environment by depleting the biological diversity, increasing green house gases. El Nino and climate change would also be exacerbating desertification and drought impacts. Hence, we will all understand, the implementation of an instrument that addresses directly major concerns calls for an unequivocal commitment on the part of the parties to UNCCD," he noted.

The UNCCD, with membership of 187 country parties, has proven to be an effective international framework for promoting policies, programmes and activities to combat desertification, rehabilitate degraded land and mitigate the effects of drought without international collaboration for these policy goals. Some 17 countries in Asia have adopted national action programmes and are ready to start implementing them in accordance with the convention provisions. Many countries have been refining their policies for implementing the WSSD's Plan of Implementation and the Millennium Development Goals.

"We should not miss the opportunities to integrate the UNCCD objectives in the process of implementing these related international policy objectives. Poverty is prevalent in land areas that have lost the resilience of ecosystems due to desertification and drought impacts. We must cultivate the policy convergence of the UNCCD, Johannesburg Plan of Action and the Millennium Development Goals as our global effort to promote sustainable development," Mr Diallo added.

Dr Salem Masri Al Dhaheri, Director-General of the Federal Environmental Agency (FEA), said the world had in recent decades witnessed many environmental problems most critical of which was the problem of desertification, which greatly affected many parts of the world.

"Desertification has contributed to many social, economic, and environmental problems in the region.

Reports show that about 250 million people are directly affected by desertification.

Around a billion people are in danger. A quarter of the land on the planet has been affected by desertification.

Land degradation continues to increase despite the relentless efforts exerted by the world to overcome the problem," Dr Dhaheri noted.