Rapid population growth and poverty are among the main causes of the desertification that seriously affects over 100 countries worldwide, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on Friday.
"Desertification is like a 'disease of the earth' which seriously affects the vegetative cover of croplands, pastures and woodlands, and has negative impact on biological diversity, soil fertility, the hydrological cycle, crop yields and livestock production," said Hosny el-Lakany, FAO's Assistant Director General in charge of forestry.
One of the prime causes of desertification is increasing pressure on land as a result of rapid demographic growth and poverty, often aggravated by increasingly recurrent droughts, said the FAO in a statement to mark Desertification Control Day on Sunday.
The UN food agency called for local communities to be actively involved in decisions on fighting desertification, which it said required long-term commitment, as well as national and international coordination.
According to the FAO, some 3.6 billion hectares (nearly nine billion acres) are affected by the life- and wildlife-threatening phenomenon.
In 1994, the international community launched a Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which became operational in November 1997 at a conference hosted by the Rome-based UN agency.
Today more than 180 countries have ratified the convention but only a few of them have implemented substantial programmes and policies to combat desertification, the FAO said.
"FAO's active involvement in the fight against desertification is vital not only in relation to its mandate to help countries manage forest resources and preserve soils, water resources, vegetation and biodiversity, but also in fulfilling its mandate to promote food security, particularly of vulnerable rural populations," said Lakany.
The FAO is supporting national action programmes to fight desertification in Cambodia, Chile, China, Cuba, Lebanon, Mali, Senegal, Turkey and Yemen.
It also helps dry countries through its Special Programme on Food Security.
In Africa, the FAO is strengthening its cooperation with the UN Office to Combat Desertification and Drought, which is responsible for promoting sound dryland management and development, and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel, based in Burkina Faso.
Desertification Control Day is a reminder to the world that the battle against desertification needs to be linked to the fight against hunger and poverty, said Lakany. |
