What lasting solutions to Desertification Land degradation and Drought issues in the context of "The Future We Want"? Outline 1). Land as a strategic commodity in the Nexus of Poverty-Food-Energy-Water 2). Understanding Land degradation, Desertification and Drought 3). The UNCCD from Rio Summit (1992) to Rio+20 4). Land-degradation neutral world: a holistic framework for lasting solutions? 5). The reasons for hope

1. Land Degradation
Desertification
and
Drought issues
Publc Lecture
Windhoek, 25 July 2013
What
lasting
Solutions?
Luc GNACADJA
Executive Secretary
Luc GNACADJA
Executive Secretary
United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification

2. Outline
1). Land as a stategic
commodity in the Nexus of
Poverty-Food-Energy-Water
Land Degradation
Desertification
and
Drought issues
2). Understanding Land
degradation, Desertification
and Drought
3). The UNCCD from Rio
Summit (1992) to Rio+20
4). Land-degradation neutral
world: a holistic framework for
lasting solutions?
5). The reasons for hope
Luc GNACADJA
Executive Secretary
United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification

3. Estimated Cropland
expansion by 2030 for
food, feed and fuel
demand 175 to 220 Mha
Land is a strategic commodity in the nexus issuesMha/year
Urbanization: 3 of:
Sustainable
Poverty - Food & Water security - Energy access
Land & Sustainability
?
70% rural
Development
Poverty
Food security
80% hunger rural
+50% in 2030
+ 120 million ha
in 2030 +45%
Energy
Water
Land/Soil
Water in Agric 70%
in 2030 +30%
Deforestation: 70 to 80 % of expansion of cropland expansion

4. Land:
a scarce resource & a global Common
Water
3%
9%
14%
Mountains,
deserts, ice
75%
Rocky, wet, hot,
infertile areas,
roads or cities
Arable land

5. Land Degradation/Desertification:
Earth’s skin disease
Desertification?
Deforestation
Overgrazing
Agriculture
The Causes of
Land Degradation/Desertification
BioIndustries

6. The legacy of DLDD
q
q
q
14%
9%
3%
q
q
q
q
q
LD is accelerating: Total land area degraded
15% in 1991 to 25% in 2011
More than 50% of agricultural moderately to
severely degraded
LD directly affects 1,5 billion people globally
(2008)
24 billionWater of fertile soil lost/year due to
tons
cropland erosion
12 million ha/Year lost due to drought and
Mountains,
desertification ice
deserts,
75%
Six million km2 of drylands bear a legacy of
Rocky,
desertification wet,
hot, infertile
Biodiversity: 27,000 species lost each year due
areas, roads
to Land Degradation (LD)
or cities
70 to 80 % of expansion of cropland leads to
deforestation

7. Africa
&
DLDD
issues
§ Dry
lands
(including
arid,
semi-­‐arid
or
sub-­‐humid
areas)
account
for:
§ 43%
of
land
area
§ 50%
of
popula@on
§ 75%
of
agriculture
land
§ About
75%
of
Africa’s
poor
(living
on
less
than
$1.25/day)
are
in
countries
with
dry
land
populaEon
>
25%
of
total
populaEon
Africa’s
Land:
§ Highest
producEvity
Gap
&
§ Highest
Poverty
rate
Source:
(CGIAR)
-­‐
Zomer
et
al.
(2007)
and
Zomer
et
al.
(2008)
based
on
WorldClim

8. Desertification Risk &
Vulnerability in Africa
2/3 of Africa’s arable
land under use could
be lost by 2025 if the
trend of
Desertification and
Land Degradation
continues
(FAO
2009)
Desertification Vulnerability in Africa
Published
in:
P.F.
Reich,
S.T.
Numbem,
R.A.
Almaraz
and
H.
Eswaran
,
2001
Risk of human-induced desertification

9. DLDD & Linkages to other global issues
Extreme
Poverty
Increased
emissions of
GHG
Food insecurity
& Hunger
Increased
to Drought &
Water stress
Biodiversity
Loss
Environ. induced
Instability &
Deforestation
Crises
Migrations
DLDD has far-reaching impacts/conseguences

10. DLDD & Gender
Adult
female
literacy
declining
with
increasing
levels
of
aridity
in
West
Africa

11. Child mortality increasing
with land degradation

12. Drylands & Conflicts

13. Drought Disasters
Map of drought repartition were we can see that Africa, India, United
states, Australia are the most affected by drought. For example Africa
was exposed in some parts to up to nine droughts in the time span

14. Sahel: Seasonal
Temperature trends

15. Sahel Hotpots of change

16. Namibia:
Drought & Food insecurity

17. Drought potential
worldwide 2000-2098
Source : University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - http://www2.ucar.edu/news/2904/climate-change-drought-may-threaten-much-globe-within-decades

18. Rio Summit 1992
Addressing drylands specific challenges:
The UNCCD
"
Environment & Development Convention
" Entered into force on 26 December 1996
" Ratified by 195 Parties
" 5 geographical Annexes (RAPs and
SRAPs)
" 113 National Action Programmes (NAPs)
" 168 Affected Parties (from 110)

19. Challenges
in implementing the UNCCD
q Low political recognition &
mainstreaming
q Weak scientific basis
q Lack of understanding of the
impacts of Desertification/Land
Degradation
q Inadequate financing

20. Drylands: Assumptions & Real Value
Assumptions &
Misperceptions
q
q
q
q
Drylands are waste
lands, marginal lands
with low productivity &
low adaptive capacity
Where poverty is
inevitable
Little contribution to
national prosperity
Cannot yield good
return to investments
The real value of
Drylands
"
+1/3 of the world land
mass and population
"
44% of the World’s food
production system
"
50% of the World’s
livestock
"
Dry forest made 42% of
the earth's tropical and
subtropical open or
closed forests
"
Home to the world’s
largest diversity of
mammals

21. The UNCCD Strategy:
A framework for result-based implementation
UNCCD
To generate Global Benefits
3
2
To improve the Conditions of affected Ecosystems
1
To improve the Livelihood of Affected Populations
To mobilize resources through building effective
partnerships among all stakeholders
*SLM = Sustainable Land Management

22. UNCCD
Cost of Action Vs Inaction
The Economics of LD

23. Major policy development
from Rio+20 Summit
The Vision of a
LandDegradation
Neutral World
A holistic
framework for
lasting
solutions to
DLDD issues
United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification

24. DLDD in “The Future We Want”
Outcomes (para 205-209)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
DLDD are challenges of a global dimension and
continue to pose serious challenges to the sustainable
development of all countries
Strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world
Monitor land degradation globally and restore restore
degraded (in drylands) in order to contribute to
sustainable development and poverty eradication
To improve science and science-policy interface to
addresss DLDD
Improve cooperation for information sharing and early
warning systems

25. Global politics of
responsibility for land stewardship
In the context of the Post-2015 Global Dev. Agenda
l A SDG on land
q ZNLD
by 2030
q ZNFD by 2030
q NDMP by 2020
l
Enhancing Human security: invest to improve
the underperforming assets of the poor
q Eradicating
Poverty
q Ensuring Food-Water-Energy security

26. Poverty eradication
Improving livelihood
through pro-poor policies
on Sustainable Land &
Water Management
Food Security
Preserving the resource
base for food security –
Land productivity/Soil
fertility improvement at
the core of all long term
strategies
Drought &
Water stress
Improving water
availability & quality
through sustainable land
& water management
Biodiversity
Climate change
The Vision of a LDNW Biodiversity conservation
Land is a win-win context An integrated framework
through improvement of
for adaptation, mitigation
land ecosystems’
for Landscape approach
& resilience building
conditions
Avoided
Deforestation
SLM & Restoration of
degraded Lands as an
alternative to
Deforestation
Bio Energies
Opportunities for Bio
energies through
biomass production
Avoiding environ.
Forced Migrations
Changing the “DegradeAbandon-Migrate” or
DAM Paradigm

27. Holistic
Management
and
Ecological
Restoration
The
Reasons
for Hope
Luc GNACADJA
Executive Secretary
United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification

28. Ecological Restoration

29. 1955
1975
2005

30. Farmer-managed natural
regeneration in Niger
l
l
l
l
l
l
5,000,000 ha re-greened in
20 years (only labour for
protection, investment in
extension, no recurrent
costs to governments)
200 million new trees
additional cereal
production/year: 500,000
ton
2.5 million people fed
1.25 million rural
households involved &
Resilient to climatic shocks
Challenges for scaling up
and dissemination
l Secure Land tenure and
Land use rights
l Public investments on
infrastructures
l Legislation

31. Ecological Restoration: Loess Plateau, China

32. Source: World Resources Institute, South Dakota State University, the IUCN
and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration - http://
www.wri.org/map/global-map-forest-landscape-restoration-opportunities

33. “We also need to reward
those who make drylands
productive, so they will
prosper and others will seek
to emulate their example”
Ban Ki-moon, on 17 June 2011

34. A Historical Fact
Mankind is a Desert-making Species
Thank you for taking action

35. Drought: from crises management to
preparedness & risk management