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More efforts needed to combat desertification
2005-11-01 07:10:24
By Editor
The Seventh meeting of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP 7) ended in Nairobi on Friday with a call for partners to step up cooperation to curb desertification at local, regional and international level.
The meeting drew together 191 countries from around the world that are members to the Convention and for the first time the meeting was held in Africa. That COP 7 was held in Africa has special significance at this point in time as the continent is the hardest hit by desertification.
About one billion hectares in Africa, an equivalent of 73 percent of its drylands, are severely affected by desertification. In terms of costs, Africa loses some 90 billion US dollars a year, according to UNEP.
At the world level, experts estimate that 70 percent of the drylands used for agriculture around the world have already been severely degraded. In total, more that 110 countries have drylands that are potentially at risk.
The human cost is even more outrageous. The livelihoods of more that a billion people, almost a fifth of the entire world population, are now at risk. Over 135 million people may be in danger of being driven away from their land because of desertification.
This is because the process eats away the earth’s precious cover that supports all living things including plants, crops, forests animals and people.
The situation is even more complicated by the fact that a single inch of soil can take centuries to build up but the same can be destroyed in a season. Hence the need to address the problem of desertification more seriously.
In Tanzania desertification is a problem that is becoming a national concern. The effects of the process are evident in the arid and semi arid regions of Shinyanga, Singida , Dodoma, Manyara , Tabora and some parts of Morogoro region.
Some of these regions have already started facing acute food shortage now , forcing the government to distribute food aid last month (October). Sixteen districts that have been facing drought and subsequent food shortage for the past three years are also located in these regions.
Another effect of the problem is exhibited by the migration of Maasai and Sukuma livestock keepers who have moved into Morogoro , Mbeya, Iringa and Coast regions in search of pastures after land in their areas has been degraded and failed to support their livestock. Some Maasai youths have also migrated to urban centres and abandoned livestock keeping as a result.
Desertification therefore has ceased to be the problem of the rural poor alone but has some impact on as urban centres as well as other regions which do not face the problem at present.
It is for this reason that we call upon the government , donors and stakeholders to step up efforts to combat further spread of desertification.
But as we mull strategies to curb the disaster, it is worth understanding at this juncture that while climatic variations have often been cited as the cause of desertification, human activities have aggravated it. Incidences of drought, for example, merely trigger it off.
Yet overcultivation exhaust the soil. Deforestation cuts the trees that bind the trees to the land. Poorly drained irrigation turns farmland salty, desertifying about 500,000 hectares worldwide , as a result.
Ironically, this is also the amount of newly irrigated land annually.
Our efforts must therefore start with educating communities on the impacts of deforestation which removes soil cover and exposes the soil to erosion.
They must also learn appropriate methods of agriculture like contour farming and terracing so as to reduce erosion. Where land is scarce, experts should train and encourage communities to practise mixed farming so as to replenish nutrients to the soil.
It is important to stress here that where irrigation is being undertaken, experts must ensure that there is proper drainage to avoid salinization of the soil. Waterlogging farms is not always the best method of irrigation.
We would like to stress here that the war against desertification must target the rural poor because they are the ones who best know the fragile condition of the environment they live in and eventually bear the brunt of desrtification.
It is therefore imperative that communities take part in the decision and designing of whatever programmes to combat desertification the country puts in place. What is more important,however, is that programmes to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought should be integrated into development policies as a whole.
We should adopt an integrated approach that would address the physical, biological and socio-economic aspects of the processes of desertification and drought.
We should bear in mind that desertification is spreading faster in the country than efforts to combat it. We must take action now.
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