By IPS Correspondents
MADRID, Sep 12 2007 (IPS)

Legislatures have been taken to task over their track record in addressing desertification, this at the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP8), currently underway in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

The criticisms were made in an assessment, &#39Implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification from a parliamentary point of view &#39, produced by Uwe Holtz, a political science professor at the University of Bonn in Germany. It was released Wednesday at the seventh Parliamentarians Forum on the convention (or UNCCD).

"The role of parliaments in the UNCCD implementation process has been weak. For the coming decade, parliaments should strategically strengthen their role in the fight against desertification…They have to be part of a real political will to tackle the problem of desertification," notes the assessment.

"The specific commitments made by parliamentarians at previous UNCCD parliamentary round-table discussions need to be reaffirmed and deserve further follow-up," it adds.

"The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) should give this parliamentary forum more structured support. National and regional parliaments are encouraged to create international parliamentary oversight mechanisms and to make better use of the activities of the Parliamentary Network on the UNCCD which itself needs regular funding."

As if to back up these observations, attendance of legislators at the opening of the forum was thin, notably on the part of developing countries that are worst affected by desertification (the degradation is considered to be most severe in Africa).

The Sep. 3-14 COP8, which has attracted about 2,000 delegates from across the board, comes amidst widespread concerns about the state of global efforts to address desertification.

Three decades have passed since the first U.N. gathering on this problem, the 1977 United Nations Conference on Desertification held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

However, overgrazing, deforestation, ill-advised irrigation methods and a host of other problems leading to land degradation continue in the drylands that cover over a third of the earth&#39s land mass, and which are susceptible to desertification. These difficulties are often underpinned by poverty, and aggravated by climate change.

"Whereas it is widely taken for granted that humankind has to protect the ozone layer and biodiversity, the relevance of saving land from degradation and erosion is not adequately recognized," observes the assessment, which claims the UNCCD has had a "mixed" effect.

The convention was adopted in 1994 with the aim of spurring local and international action and co-operation against land degradation. It entered into force Dec. 26, 1996.

At present, upwards of 250 million people are directly affected by desertification, according to UNCCD figures, while a further billion are at risk. The yearly monetary cost of desertification is put at some 42 billion dollars, while the human cost is seen in migration, hunger and conflict.

In addition to criticising legislators, the assessment takes aim at states that should be prioritising the fight against desertification and countries in a position to fund land conservation efforts, saying their performance "has been less than optimal". The UNCCD secretariat&#39s efforts to stimulate and help set up initiatives to combat land degradation are also judged below par.

Countries which have signed up to the convention are required to produce national action plans (NAPs) against desertification. To date, 37 African countries have established these programmes.

But, "In practice many NAPs do not work, because of a lack of appropriate strategic actions in the countries concerned, of adequate financial resources, and of appropriate technology, knowledge, know-how, and connection between policymakers and scientists," says the assessment.

Enos Esikuri, a senior environmental specialist at the World Bank, agrees.

"I think a lot of the NAPs have not met expectations of the country parties, and they will tell you that themselves. We also think that they were not prepared in a manner that was bankable; the quality (of plans) varied highly from country to country."

NAPs are supposed to take the views of communities and non-governmental organisations into account. But, says Esikuri, they sometimes exclude input from farmers, local leaders and others.

"The process through which you arrive at a product is just as important as the product itself," he adds.

"You can inject lots of money from the World Bank, but that is not enough to deal with the land degradation problem," Esikuri notes further.

"While official development assistance is crucial, we believe that the UNCCD is…best implemented through utilisation of resources from national and local levels. The role of parliamentarians in mobilising these resources is crucial."

A ten-year plan with objectives and deadlines has been drawn up to give further impetus to the fight against desertification.

Walter Lusigi, a senior advisor at the Global Environment facility (GEF), emphasises that desertification is not insurmountable: "This is not a problem that we are not able to solve. It is a problem of commitment, a problem of lack of seriousness, a problem of sincerity," he says. The GEF funds projects in developing countries that help conserve the global environment.

However, land degradation does have to be dealt with on a number of fronts.

"This is all about attitude, how we do business, responsibility and accountability, transparency and governance. It is going to take more than money," Lusigi adds.

Notes Esikuri: "There are success stories, but they are too few. We would like to see such success stories reflected more and more."

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