ECOSOC

DESERTIFICATION PROBLEM
ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER
 TOPIC
Desertification is a phenomenon that ranks among the greatest
environmental challenges of our time. It is a type of land degradation in
which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically
losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused
by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities.
Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity,
were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development
during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Roughly one third of the worlds land
surface is threatened by desertification, or to put in another way,
desertification already affects one quarter of the total land surface of
the globe today.
 BASIC DEFINITIONS

Desertification is defined by the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification

as land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry sub humid areas resulting
from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Land
degradation is in turn defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or
economic productivity of drylands.
 BASIC DEFINITIONS
Dry land systems: ecosystems characterized by a lack of water. They include
cultivated lands, scrublands, grasslands, savannas, semi-deserts and true
deserts. The lack of water constrains the production of crops, forage, wood,
and other ecosystem services. Four dry land subtypes are widely recognized:
dry sub-humid, semiarid, arid, and hyper arid, showing an increasing level of
aridity or moisture deficit.
Reforestation: the planting of forests on lands that have previously contained
forest but have since been converted to some other use.
 INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
Combating desertification requires a coherent and coordinated policy that
brings together the means and know-how of all those involved. The United
Nations General Assembly adopted the:
Resolution 32/172 (19 Dec. 1977) by which it approved the Plan of Action to
Combat Desertification, and all its subsequent resolutions on the subject. On 1
June 1986 it adopted the:
Resolution S-13/2 under the theme United Nations Program of Action for
African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990, which identified
measures to combat desertification as a priority.
 INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
Finally, on 19 Dec. 1989, it adopted the Resolution 44/172 with the theme of
Plan of Action to Combat Desertification.
It is within this framework that governments around the world have adopted in
1994 the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The
afore mentioned Convention is an agreement between developed and
developing countries on the need for a global team effort to address
desertification.