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Desertification: a Visual Synthesis

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Desertification: a Visual Synthesis a visual synthesis CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTS CONTENTSCONTENTS CONTENTS FOREWORD 04 4 DESERTIFICATION IN CONTEXT 27 4.1 CLIMATE CHANGE 29 1 GLOBAL DRYLANDS 05 4.2 WATER SCARCITY 30 4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION 32 2 WHAT IS DESERTIFICATION? 11 4.4 POVERTY ERADICATION 34 2.1 DRIVERS OF DESERTIFICATION 13 4.5 LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY 36 2.2 EXAMPLES OF LAND DEGRADATION 14 4.6 AVOIDED DEFORESTATION 36 3 COMBATING DESERTIFICATION 19 4.7 ENERGY CHALLENGES 38 3.1 INCREASE POPULATION RESILIENCE 20 4.8 FOOD SECURITY 40 3.2 IMPROVE LAND Management 21 4.9 GENDER 42 3.3 DIVERSIFY PRODUCTION 21 5 THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT 45 3.4 RESTORE LAND 21 DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD) 3.5 Control EROSION 22 5.1 STRENGTHS OF THE CONVENTION 47 3.6 USE NON-WOOD ENERGY SOURCES 22 5.2 PROCEDURES AND EXECUTIVE INSTITUTIONS 47 3.7 FIND ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS 22 OF THE CONVENTION 3.8 FORGE A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP 24 REFERENCES 51 LAND FOR LIFE – STORIES OF BEST PRACTICE AROUND THE WORLD * BEST PRACTICE: DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT, 10 AND SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT/RESEARCH * BEST PRACTICE: SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING ADAPTATION 16 * BEST PRACTICE: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT 26 * BEST PRACTICE: CAPACITY-BUILDING AND AWARENESS-RAISING AT VARIOUS LEVEL 37 * BEST PRACTICE: POLICY, LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 43 * BEST PRACTICE: FUNDING AND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION 44 * BEST PRACTICE: PARTICIPATION, COLLABORATION AND NETWORKING 49 3 DESERTIFICATION Foreword Often, when people think of drylands, they associate them with deserts and With this very visual and easily readable booklet we aim to explain current hostile living conditions, economic hardship and water scarcity. But that is not thinking about the drylands in a concise and accessible manner. what drylands are all about. If managed well, the drylands are also fertile and capable of supporting the habitats, crops and livestock that sustain nearly one-third of humanity. Drylands offer opportunities for local populations and provide tangible regional and global benefits. For a variety of reasons, Luc Gnacadja such as market failures, weak investment incentives, gender inequalities and Executive Secretary some enduring myths, the benefits to be gained of working with the drylands United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and their vibrant communities are not fully realised. There is a genuine risk and rapidly growing concern that desertification will undermine nascent opportunities and the world will lose the inherent potential of the drylands. ABOUT THIS BOOK Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid This book is intended as a basic information kit that tells “the story” of areas resulting from various factors including climatic variation and human desertification, land degradation and drought at the global scale, together activity. It affects the livelihoods of rural people in drylands, particularly with a comprehensive set of graphics. The book indicates trends as they the poor, who depend on livestock, crops, limited water resources and fuel have taken place over the last decades, combining and connecting issues, wood. The critical social and economic importance of natural resources, and present priorities. It also provides information on the United Nations agriculture and animal husbandry mean that in many countries, combating Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and how it works to forge a desertification and promoting development are virtually one and the same. global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation We need to correct an image of desertification as an unstoppable monster and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support slowly consuming the world’s fertile lands, plants, livestock and people. poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Practical solutions to desertification exist at many levels and are being successfully employed by communities around the world. This book was produced in cooperation with Zoi Environment Network. Yet in no other ecosystem are the interactions between the challenges of Editorial team Text climate change and the conservation of biodiversity so closely linked to food Yukie Hori Alex Kirby security and poverty reduction. In the drylands, we need to address these Christina Stuhlberger Karen Landmark issues jointly and understand how they affect each other to find practical Otto Simonett solutions that work for affected communities. This requires cooperation Copy editing between experts in different fields and in the mechanisms provided by Cartography Harry Forster the global community. In this, the United Nations Convention to Combat Matthias Beilstein Krystyna Horko Desertification U( NCCD) plays an important role between dryland and non- dryland countries, promoting scientific and technological excellence, raising Design & Layout public awareness and mobilizing resources to prevent, control and reverse Carolyne Daniel desertification/land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought. 4 a visual synthesis 1 GLOBALGLOBAL DRYLANDSGLOBAL DRYLANDS DRYLANDS GLOBAL DRYLANDS 5 DESERTIFICATION Defi nition of drylands Drylands are arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. In the context of sustainable development the term generally excludes hyper-arid areas (deserts). When land degradation occurs in the world’s drylands, it often creates Iceland desert-like conditions. In environmental terms, drylands are charac-terized by: Norway Finland United Sweden 6 • Low, infrequent, irregular and unpredictable precipitation; Kingdom 4 Russia Canada 1 3 5 Ireland Poland Belarus • Large variations between day and night-time temperatures; Germany 2 10 12 Ukraine Kazakhstan France 7 8 Azerbaijan Mongolia • Soil containing little organic matter, and a lack of water; and 11 14 Georgia Kyrgyzstan 9 13 Uzbekistan Portugal Spain Turkmenistan DPR of Korea • Plants and animals adapted to climatic variables (drought-resistant, salt- United States of America Italy Greece Turkey 16 Tajikistan Armenia Republic of Japan tolerant, heat-resistant, and able to cope with a lack of water). Tunisia 15 Afghanistan Morocco Iraq Iran Korea 17 19 Bhutan China Algeria 20 21 Jordan Pakistan Nepal Aridity Index (AI) = Libya Egypt 18 Mexico Saudi 23 Average annual Haiti Myanmar precipitation/Potential Share of world’s Length of growing Share of world’s Cuba Arabia 22 Oman India Dominican Republic Mauritania Mali Sudan Lao PDR Evapo-Transpiration land surface period in days land surface Guatemala Belize Niger Chad Bangladesh Jamaica Thailand Viet Nam Honduras Senegal Eritrea Yemen Arid 0.05<AI<0.2 12.1% 1 to 59 7% Nicaragua Burkina Benin Philippines El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago Central African Djibouti Gambia Guinea Faso Nigeria Republic Venezuela Guyana Cambodia Semi-arid Costa Rica Sierra Leone Ethiopia 0.2<AI<0.5 17.7% 60 to 119 20% Panama Suriname Cameroon Somalia Sri Lanka Colombia French Guyana Liberia Togo Uganda Malaysia Dry sub-humid 0.5<AI<0.65 9.9% 120 to 179 18% Congo Drylands Ecuador Côte d'Ivoire Ghana Kenya Gabon Rwanda Total drylands 0.05<AI<0.65 39.7% 1 to 179 45% Dry sub-humid areas Republic of Indonesia East Timor Burundi Tanzania Papua New Guinea Semi-arid areas Brazil the Congo Peru Angola There are di erent de nitions of drylands. UNEP bases its de nition on the aridity Arid areas Zambia Malawi index. For comparison’s sake the FAO uses the length of growing period. These di erent Hyper-arid areas Bolivia Zimbabwe Madagascar de nitions lead to di erent gures. The present information kit uses the UNEP de nition. Namibia Paraguay Botswana Mozambique 1 Netherlands 13 Bulgaria Australia Most of the planet’s 2 000 million dryland residents live in developing 2 Belgium 14 Romania countries. The vast majority lives below poverty line and without adequate 3 Denmark 15 Cyprus Swaziland 4 Lithuania 16 Syria South Africa Lesotho access to fresh water. Drylands take up 41.3 per cent of the Earth’s land surface 5 Latvia 17 Palestinian Territories Uruguay 6 Estonia 18 Israel Chile and up to 44 per cent of all cultivated land is in the drylands. Drylands support 7 Switzerland 19 Lebanon 50 per cent of the world’s livestock, account for nearly half of all farmland, 8 Austria 20 Kuwait 9 Hungary 21 Bahrain and are major wildlife habitats. Because of the diffi cult climate conditions, 10 Czech Republic 22 Qatar New Zealand 11 Serbia 23 United Arab Emirates drylands have given rise to an incredible diversity of highly specialized species. 12 Moldova This biodiversity is essential for maintaining the eco-balance and protecting human livelihoods, which depend on it. A relatively high number of endemic Map produced by ZOÏ Environment Network, September 2010 species occupy these areas, which include diverse habitats such as sandy land, Source: UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre forest and woodland, savanna and steppe, wetlands, ponds, lakes and rivers. 6 a visual synthesis Iceland Norway Finland United Sweden 6 Kingdom 4 Russia Canada 1 3 5 Ireland Poland Belarus Germany 2 10 12 Ukraine Kazakhstan France 7 8 Azerbaijan Mongolia 11 14 Georgia Kyrgyzstan 9 13 Uzbekistan Portugal Spain Turkmenistan DPR of Korea United States of America Italy Greece Turkey 16 Tajikistan Armenia Republic of Japan Tunisia 15 Afghanistan Morocco Iraq Iran Korea 17 19 Bhutan China Algeria 20 21 Jordan Pakistan Nepal Libya Egypt 18 Mexico Saudi 23 Haiti Myanmar Cuba Arabia 22 Oman India Dominican Republic Mauritania Mali
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