Introduction
1. More than 6.1 billion hectares,
nearly 40 per cent of the Earth's land area, is dryland.
Out of this, about 0.9 billion hectares are
hyper-arid deserts. The remaining 5.2 billion hectares
are arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands,
part of which have become desert degraded by
man. These lands are the habitat and the
source of livelihood for about one fifth of the world's
population.
2. It is estimated that about 3.6 billion
hectares, or 70% out of 5.2 billion hectares of
potentially productive drylands, are presently
threatened by various forms of land degradation
or, as it is called, desertification, directly
affecting the well-being and future of one sixth of the
world's population. Recurrent drought is a
persistent natural menace in these areas which is
accentuated by unbalanced management of natural
resources. It was the Sahelian drought of
1968-1973 and its tragic effects on the peoples
of the region that drew world-wide attention to
the chronic problems of human survival and
development in drylands, particularly on the desert
margins.
3. The United Nations General Assembly
in Resolution 3202 (s-vi) of 1 May 1974
recommended that the international community
undertakes concrete and speedy measures to
arrest desertification and assist the economic
development of affected areas. The Economic and
Social Council's Resolution 1878 (LVII) of 16
July 1974 requested all the concerned
organizations of the United Nations system
to pursue a broad attack on the drought problem.
Decisions of the Governing Councils of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) emphasized the need to undertake
measures to check the spread of desert
conditions. The General Assembly then decided, by
Resolution 3337 (xxix) of 17 December
1974, to initiate concerted international action to
combat desertification and, in order to
provide an impetus to this action, to convene a United
Nations Conference on Desertification,
between 29 August and 9 September 1977 in Nairobi,
Kenya, which would produce an effective,
comprehensive and co-ordinated programme for
solving the problem.
4. The United Nations Conference on
Desertification (UNCOD) was preceded by extensive
global, regional and local studies and consultations
involving numerous scientists, decision and
policy makers and relevant institutions all
over the world.
5. On the basis of carefully collected
and analyzed available data, the Conference noted the
progressive diminution of biological productivity
and decline of human living conditions in
many arid regions of the world. This process was
evidently due primarily to inappropriate land
use, although accentuated by recurrent droughts.
It was also evident that it threatens the well-
being and socio-economic development of peoples
in large areas of the world, particularly in
developing countries of Africa, Central,
South and South-West Asia as well as Latin America,
while at the same time occurring in Australia,
North America and in certain parts of Europe.
The problem was identified as global in its magnitude.
6. This largely human-induced process
of environmental degradation and related socio-
economic decline in many drylands was
considered as desertification.
7. UNCOD concluded that desertification
was of global magnitude and affected adversely
large areas and populations in all continents,
and adopted the Plan of Action to Combat
Desertification (PACD), which was endorsed by
the UN General Assembly that same year as
one of the major world programmes.
8. The Governing Council and the Executive
Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme were entrusted with the task of
following-up and co-ordinating the implementation
of the PACD and assisting Governments in their
efforts to implement the PACD at national
level. The Inter-Agency Working Group on
Desertification (IAWGD) was established within
the United Nations in order to assist UNEP
in performing its duties. The Consultative Group
for Desertification Control (DESCON), to
assist in mobilizing resources, and a Special Account
to finance the implementation of the PACD
were created (the latter was closed in 1990 by GA
Resolution 44/172A, para. 8). To assist
the Governments of the Sudano-Sahelian region of
Africa in the implementation of the PACD, a
joint venture between UNEP and UNDP was
created as part of the activities of the
United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO). The
major role in implementing the PACD was vested
with Governments of countries affected by
desertification.
9. Unfortunately, since UNCOD, progress
has been modest in implementing the PACD
between 1978 and 1991. It was repeatedly
stated by UNEP, particularly after extensive
assessments of the situation in 1984, 1987
and 1989, that desertification continued to spread.
It has become one of the most serious
environmental and socio-economic problems of the world,
as was also stressed in the report of the
United Nations Commission on Environment and
Development (Our Common Future, 1988). Deep
and extreme drought recurring in 1981-1984
and 1990-1991 contributed to the worsening of
the situation.
10. The principal causes of failure to
implement the PACD in full were considered at several
global and regional international fora with
the conclusion that:
a) priority was not given to the
programmes for combating desertification by
implementing and funding agencies,
both nationally and internationally, with the
result that not enough funds were made
available for the implementation of the
PACD;
b) developing countries affected by
desertification were unable to cope with the
problem without major external financial
and technical assistance, but the
needed assistance was not forthcoming;
c) desertification control programmes
were not fully integrated in programmes of
socio-economic development and were considered
as measures to amend environmental damage only;
d) affected populations were not
fully involved in the planning and implementation
of programmes for combating desertification;
e) technical means were often sought
to solve the problem, while the solutions
rested in the socio-political and
socio-economic mechanisms.
11. Considering the global problems in
the area of environment and development to be
included in the agenda of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED), which will be convened in June 1992
in Brazil, the UN General Assembly, by its
Resolution 44/214 of December 1989, included
the problem of combating desertification "among
those of major concern in maintaining the
quality of the Earth's environment and especially in
achieving environmentally sound and sustainable
development in all countries". By the same
resolution, it was further decided that UNCED
should "accord high priority to drought and
desertification control and consider all means
necessary, including financial, scientific and
technological resources, to halt and reverse
the process of desertification with a view to
preserving the ecological balance of the planet".
12. By General Assembly's Resolution
44/172 of December 1989, the Governing Council
and the Executive Director of UNEP were
invited to "contribute substantially to the discussion
on desertification at the conference,
inter alia, by undertaking a general evaluation, sufficiently
in advance, of progress achieved in implementing
the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification".
The present report was prepared in response to
this invitation as well as to other provisions of
the same resolution.
13. In view of the particular severity
of the problems in the Sudano-Sahelian region a more
detailed report on the situation of desertification
and drought in the Sudano-Sahelian countries
has been prepared and will be made available by
UNSO as a background report.
14. The first draft of this report was
prepared in March 1991. Its first part concerning the
assessment of the global status of desertification
was discussed with experts during inter-agency
consultations held at FAO, Rome, at the beginning
of April 1991. By the end of the same
month, a meeting of high-level UNEP consultants
was convened in Geneva to discuss the first
full draft of the report. Their comments and
suggestions for its improvement were incorporated
into the second draft for review by a bigger audience.
The costing of anti-desertification
measures was extensively discussed by UNEP
experts with relevant specialists at FAO and
IFAD in June 1991 during a specially organized mission.
15. The financial aspects of the second
draft were discussed in July 1991 at the High- Level
Meeting of Specialists in World Financing,
after which a new third draft was prepared
incorporating their comments.
16. The third draft of August 1991 was
sent in advance to the members of IAWGD and
DESCON for their review and comments as well
as to a number of senior consultants. The
meetings of IAWGD and DESCON-8 and that of
UNEP's senior consultants were held in
succession in Geneva on 9-10, 11-12 and 13
September 1991, respectively. The comments and
suggestions obtained at these three meetings
were incorporated into the fourth draft, which after
final in-house revision and clearance by the
Executive Director appears as the present report.
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