ENVIRONMENT: Plans to Halt Desertification in Africa a Work in Progress

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Michée Boko

COTONOU, Feb 16 2007 (IPS) - The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) requires signatories to create national action plans for dealing with this scourge that allow sustainable development – and encompass participation by communities, amongst others.

At present, 34 of the 53 countries in Africa have complied. Certain nations like Côte d’Ivoire, Libya and Guinea – which are partially or mostly affected by desertification – are not part of this group of 34, however.

While some parts of the continent, such as Central Africa, are not immediately at risk of desertification, the continent as a whole is greatly threatened. According to the UNCCD website, two thirds of Africa is made up of desert or drylands.

“Africa has vast expanses of arid agricultural land…which suffers from varying degrees of degradation,” says Malian desertification expert Souleymane Keïta. “The desertification of the continent has grave consequences in terms of poverty, population movements and food security.”

The UNCCD also speaks of the need for sub-regional and regional strategies to accompany national action plans. Here, Africa has a better track record.

All sub-regions of the continent have adopted programmes to fight desertification under the auspices of relevant organisations: North Africa through the Arab Maghreb Union, West Africa through the Inter-State Committee to Fight Drought in the Sahel, East Africa through the Inter Governmental Authority on Development – and the south of the continent through the Southern African Development Community.

The Maghreb, West and Southern Africa submitted their programmes to the U.N. by 2000, and East Africa by 2001.

A Regional Action Programme that is aimed, in part, at co-ordinating the sub-regional action programmes is being drawn up with the support of a UNCCD Regional Co-ordination Unit that has been active since 2000. The unit was initially headquartered at the African Development Bank in the Ivorian financial hub of Abidjan, but has since moved to the Tunisian capital – Tunis – because of civil strife in Côte d’Ivoire.

Are the various initiatives to stop the advance of deserts in Africa yielding success? Again, the verdict is mixed.

An October 2004 report on the Arab Maghreb Union’s implementation of the UNCCD notes that activities against desertification in this area are still somewhat fragmented, both at the national and sub-regional levels.

In particular, the report points to a lack of long-term vision in the drive to combat desertification. Large parts of the land in countries that constitute the union – Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia – are deeply affected by desertification.

A 2005 report on the implementation of the UNCCD sounds warning bells about West Africa, noting that land degradation is persisting in large parts of the sub-region, and even spreading to areas that have not previously been of concern – namely those in the buffer zone between the Sahel and the West African coast.

But, the report also indicates the greening of certain parts, saying that some battles against desertificaion are being won.

The UNCCD came into effect on Dec. 26, 1996.