ENVIRONMENT: Gradualist Steps for Anti-Desertification Fight

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RECIFE, Brazil, Nov 27 1999 (IPS) - A gradualist “Recife Initiative,” instead of a hard-line “mandate” that would have set specific goals and timelines, marked the end, Friday, to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Brazil, with the backing of the Latin American delegates, proposed a mandate to establish anti-desertification commitments and criteria for issues including water resources, forests, energy production, traditional knowledge, and early-warning systems for major climatic events.

But the “Initiative” merely states “the need to formulate a declaration of commitment to promoting compliance with the Convention,” to be approved at next year’s meeting.

The Initiative includes the spirit of the Brazilian proposal, said Alison Drayton, spokeswoman for the Group of 77 plus China (G- 77, a bloc of developing countries). But it is more gradual, establishing several steps before setting specific goals, commented a Latin American delegate.

According to the approved resolution, “developing countries face obstacles” in executing their three-year old national action plans, an indirect reference to the lack of technical and financial resources from wealthier countries.

José Sarney Filho, Brazil’s environmental minister, defended the mandate proposal as a way to specify the commitments assumed by the 159 countries that ratified the anti-desertification Convention, following the example set by the “sister” Conventions on climate change and bio-diversity.

The three environmental Conventions arose from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, though delegates complained during the two-week meeting in Recife that the climate change and bio- diversity issues are much more “popular” than desertification, winning more public support and international funding.

But the three environmental issues are closely inter-linked, pointed out the UNCCD’s Science and Technology Committee.

Climate changes like global warming can cause drought in some areas and heavier rainfall in others, but either way it contributes to desertification because it depletes usable water sources, destroys forests and hastens erosion.

Higher global temperatures can also intensify the effects of El Niño, the warm air currents over the Pacific Ocean blamed for floods in Asia and a drought in Brazil that resulted in devastating Amazon forest fires last year.

Deforestation, in return, contributes to global warming, or the “greenhouse effect.” These processes also tend to harm biodiversity, which in turn stimulates greater threats of desertification and climate changes.

Land degradation harms or destroys habitats, making it one of the greatest threats to all living species, warned the Science and Technology Committee.

The interaction of these environmental phenomena demand the close co-operation of the organisations that oversee the world’s conventions on climatic change, biodiversity and desertification according to a resolution of the Recife conference.

The inter-related nature of the environmental issues also has its positive side. Reforestation can restore the soil’s ability to hold moisture, reduce the impact of winds, and therefore the evaporation of water, potentially leading to agricultural production on the recovered land.

Climate changes degrade lands through increased average global temperatures and potentially intensifying phenomena like El Niño, stated Guido Soto, co-ordinator of Chile’s national plan to fight desertification.

A study in Chile identified a continuous reduction in rainfall, on a similar curve in both the north and south of the country during this century, accompanying the gradual process of global warming. But total rainfall increased on the high plains, which cover parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.

El Niño, caused by the displacement of warm waters off Central America toward the South American coast, alters air pressures and harms marine life, especially species that are unable to migrate to more favourable climes.

The other side of El Niño is La Niña. Both severely alter the yearly rainfall in South America and Asia, with drought on one side of the Pacific and floods on the other, or vice versa. Their effects are also felt on other continents.

They are phenomena that repeat themselves, but are only predictable in the short term, four to six months beforehand, said Soto, limiting the possibility of implementing prevention measures for their effects on agriculture, forests and water resources.

The environmental phenomena, especially climate changes, that lead to increased desertification changes, worry the scientists who advise the UNCCD Secretariat.

The inter-related processes permit a “synergy” that the UNCCD can utilise in joint efforts with the other two environmental Conventions, emphasised several delegates, indicating it could be a way to maximise the UNCCD’s limited financial resources.