United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

UNITED NATIONS Distr. Convention to Combat GENERAL Desertification ICCD/CRIC(1)/3/Add.2 17 October 2002 ENGLISH ONLY COMMITTEE FOR THE REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION First session Rome, 11-22 November 2002 Item 3 (a) of the provisional agenda REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION, PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 22, PARAGRAPH 2(A) AND (B), AND ARTICLE 26 OF THE CONVENTION REVIEW OF REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION BY AFFECTED ASIAN COUNTRY PARTIES, INCLUDING ON THE PARTICIPATORY PROCESS, AND ON EXPERIENCE GAINED AND RESULTS ACHIEVED IN THE PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PROGRAMMES Addendum COMPILATION OF SUMMARIES OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY ASIAN COUNTRY PARTIES1 Note by the secretariat 1. By its decision 1/COP.5, the Conference of the Parties (COP) decided to establish a committee for the review of the implementation of the Convention (CRIC). It decided also that the first session of the CRIC, to be held in November 2002, shall review updates to reports already available and/or new reports from all regions. 2. Furthermore, pursuant to decision 11/COP.1, the secretariat was requested to compile the summaries of reports submitted by affected country Parties and any group of affected country Parties that makes a joint communication, directly or through a competent subregional or regional organization. The same decision also defined the format and content of reports and required, in particular, a summary of the national report not to exceed six pages. 3. The present document contains the summaries of reports submitted by 33 Asian country Parties. The secretariat has also made these reports available on its Web site (http://www.unccd.int). 1 Reproduced without formal editing. ICCD/CRIC(1)/3/Add.2 Page 2 CONTENTS Page Australia ................................................................... 3 Bangladesh .................................................................. 3 Cambodia .................................................................... 8 China ...................................................................... 11 India ...................................................................... 16 Indonesia .................................................................. 18 Islamic Republic of Iran ................................................... 19 Jordan ..................................................................... 26 Kazakhstan ................................................................. 29 Kuwait ..................................................................... 36 Kyrgyzstan ................................................................. 37 Lao People’s Democratic Republic ........................................... 46 Lebanon .................................................................... 49 Mongolia ................................................................... 50 Myanmar .................................................................... 56 Nepal ...................................................................... 58 Niue ....................................................................... 65 Pakistan ................................................................... 66 Papua New Guinea ........................................................... 70 Philippines ................................................................ 71 Republic of Korea .......................................................... 77 Saudi Arabia ............................................................... 77 Singapore .................................................................. 82 Solomon Islands ............................................................ 83 Sri Lanka .................................................................. 83 Syrian Arab Republic ....................................................... 85 Tajikistan ................................................................. 91 Thailand ................................................................... 96 Turkmenistan ............................................................... 98 Tuvalu .................................................................... 105 United Arab Emirates ...................................................... 106 Uzbekistan ................................................................ 114 Viet Nam .................................................................. 119 ICCD/CRIC(1)/3/Add.2 Page 3 AUSTRALIA Australia has well-established domestic initiatives to address the global challenge of combating desertification in addition to providing support and assistance to other affected countries. Domestically, the diversity of Australian landscapes and the continent’s erosion-prone soils and climatic extremes has necessitated a coordinated and strategic approach to sustainable natural resource management. This approach centres on collaborative approaches between all levels of government, industry and the community. While agricultural and pastoral activities are critical components of our national economy, Australian landscapes are generally not well suited to many of the land-use and management practices imported from other continents over the last 200 years. This has catalyzed governments, research institutions, industry and communities to find ecologically sustainable approaches to land management. As a result, Australia has amassed considerable experience and expertise in managing and, where possible, reversing the decline in its natural resource base. Australia has in place a substantial body of legislation, programmes and strategies for sustainable natural resource management, and has developed a range of domestic policy initiatives to encourage and build capacity in communities to address land degradation. The highly successful Australian Landcare model of community-based action is being internationalized through the International Secretariat for Landcare (based in Hamilton, Victoria). It has been adapted to establish Landcare South Africa and there is a growing interest in the movement from many other countries. BANGLADESH Bangladesh is a signatory to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). This was signed in January 1996 and after ratifying the Convention the country became a Party to it. The Convention came into force in 1997. Among many environmental issues facing Bangladesh, land degradation due to aridity and loss of crops due to droughts have caused considerable economic losses and human suffering, more than any other problem in Bangladesh. It is feared that the desertification process may have started in some vulnerable areas. Therefore, the participation of Bangladesh in this Convention will benefit the country in resolving many problems relating to it. Bangladesh comprises the floodplains of the Jamuna, the Padma, the Meghna and some of the smaller rivers. The Madhupur Tract, the Barind Tract and the Akhaura Terrace stand slightly above floodplain level, and the hills lie to the east and the north. The west-north-western part of the country is generally considered to be the drier region. Total precipitation in the dry regions is low but rainfall often occurs in sudden heavy storms, which sometimes lead to flooding and soil erosion. During the seven-month dry season in some regions, evapotranspiration exceeds the amount of rainfall by a factor of 2.0. ICCD/CRIC(1)/3/Add.2 Page 4 Between 1960 and 1991, droughts occurred in Bangladesh 19 times. Very severe droughts hit the country in 1951, 1961, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1989. Past droughts have typically affected about 47 per cent of the area of the country and 53 per cent of the population. An analysis of the relative effects of flood and drought on rice production between 1969-1970 and 1983- 1984 shows that drought is more devastating than floods to aggregate production. According to the criteria set by the UNCCD for defining a dry region (the ratio of annual rainfall to potential evapotranspiration (ETo) may be a maximum of 0.65), no region within Bangladesh can be termed as dry. However, Bangladesh does experience long spells of dry weather and moderate to severe droughts are spread over a region of 5.46 million ha. Based on annual rainfall, dry season net evapotranspiration and excess evapotranspiration (ETo-R), and dry season R/ETo ratio value, a dry region is delineated and a map is prepared. Characterization of land degradation in Bangladesh The estimates of the extent of land degradation in Bangladesh are that over six million ha falls below the minimum threshold for sustainable cultivation. In drier parts of Bangladesh, low soil fertility is recognized to be at the root of the land degradation spiral leading to desertification. Land degradation in Bangladesh may be considered as a temporary or permanent lowering of the productive capacity of land. Natural processes that lead to land degradation in Bangladesh can be considered to be part of the ongoing land formation process. During 1983-1984 and 1997, an 11% decline in total cultivable area, and specifically a 14% decline in the cultivated area, has been observed. Further evidence of land degradation is shown on satellite imagery which indicates a definite change in vegetation cover and soil moisture through many of the western regions of Bangladesh including Rajshahi, Kushtia, north- western Jessore, Pabna, western Bogra and southern Dinajpur. These affected areas are known as the Barind Tract, a largely monocultural area with shrinking wetlands, notably the Chalan Beel wetlands. Human intervention from densely populated

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