»lmost seven years ago, the world's nations agreed to a sweeping Plan of Action to halt the process of destruction which we call J \ desertification. Now, UNEP has just completed a two-years' assessment which reveals that the global threat posed by desertification, far from diminishing, has actually increased in severity. Currently about 35% of the world's land surface is at risk, and the livelihoods of the 850 million people who live in these areas are directly threatened. Nearly three-quarters of the 45 million sq. km which make up the world's drylands, and which include the sub-humid tropics, is already affected-between half and a quarter of them, severely so. That is the measure of the problem facing the world community, which must act speedily if we are to avoid shortages leading to chaos on a scale hitherto unknown.To some extent the term 'desertification' is misleading; the popular image of sand-dune encroachment is only a minor part of the problem. Sometimes, thousands of kilometres away from the margins of the Sahara, Gobi, Atacama, and the other so-called 'true' deserts, desertification is taking place. The situation has been likened to a skin disease in which existing eruptions worsen and coalesce with new outbreaks of the disease; and as with any disease, treating the symptoms is secondary to tackling the causes.In the case of desertification, the main cause is not drought, as many still believe (though drought tends to exacerbate the problem) but human overexploitation of lands through over-cultivation, overgrazing, poor irrigation practices, and deforestation. And in turn, the underlying causes of these reside in bad management, rural neglect, and political and economic forces resulting mainly from the world's inequitable financial arrangements and terms of trade. To this extent the developed world, the least victim of desertification, should accept more responsibility than at present and contribute to a shared effort in combating this global menace. The certain knowledge that humans are responsible for most of the problem, gives us hope that desertification can be halted and ultimately made to reverse its trend. For unlike the situation with some environmental problems, we not only know the causes of desertification but also have the solutions, some of which have been applied with success.
New ConclusionsThis message of warning and hope is the one which UNEP will convey to the representatives of probably more than 75 nations who will attend a special two-days' session (on May 17 and 18) of the meeting of our Governing Council in Nairobi this year (16-29 May 1984). The delegates will be presented with the findings of UNEP's assessment of the progress registered so far in applying the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD) which was agreed to by the 94 nations attending the United Nations Conference of Desertification (UNCOD) in 1977.* They will also be presented with a set of practical recommendations which, if applied properly, could go a long way towards improving the situation by the y...
