Protected Areas Helping People Deal with Desertification and Drought

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Protected Areas Helping People Deal with Desertification and Drought Protected areas helping people deal with desertification and drought Drylands occupy approximately 40% of Earth’s land area and are home to more than two billion people. These habitats are important carbon stores and harbour many endemic species uniquely adapted to arid conditions. Habitat conversion and unsustainable land management are leading to degradation and desertification. Fortunately, dryland protected areas can diminish land degradation caused by human activities and climate change and buffer communities at risk. Desertification occurs when dryland habitats become Restoration efforts can re-establish ecosystems function following degradation © IUCN Michelle Laurie degraded and eroded through deforestation, overgrazing, poor irrigation practices and other unsustainable land and Protected areas are a viable option to water management. Drylands on every continent are losing Protected areas help address and reduce risk vegetation cover, fertile top soil and productivity. As food and cope with desertification as they: water supplies are threatened, communities suffer, which can cause famine, mass migration and economic losses. According Drought may be locally uncontrollable. Desertification and to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification • Protect watersheds, water sources and land degradation, however, can be reduced by improved land (UNCCD), 70% of the world’s drylands outside deserts are wetlands management practices, thereby increasing resilience and already degraded. Over 250 million people are directly affected • Maintain natural habitats and stabilise dunes resistance to the impacts of drought. by desertification and one billion more are at risk. to stop the advance of deserts • Restore habitats, including reforestation and With more erratic rainfall and increasing frequency of droughts, Two thirds of Africa is desert or drylands; with extensive areas grasslands recovery as well as global increases of population, water supplies used for agriculture, almost three quarters of agricultural • Serve as a safety net in times of drought, are becoming scarcer and more unpredictable. Watershed drylands are degraded. By 2020, between 75 million and 250 providing emergency food, water and grazing protection in dryland protected areas can reduce the risks of million people in Africa are expected to suffer increased water for livestock large scale disasters such as the famine in Somalia. shortages due to climate change; in some countries yields from • Enhance grassland management practices rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50%. for sustainable grazing and improved fire Protected areas, because of their existing policy framework Communities living in dryland ecosystems are especially vulnerable to land management and recognized role in providing crucial ecosystem services, can Land degradation and desertification are degradation and climate change © IUCN Danièle Perrot-Maître be a valuable tool in national and local strategies to maintain • Maintain healthy ecosystems and pilot Dryland protected areas provide essential water supplies management practices that control and limit resilient ecosystems, address desertification and reduce global problems invasive alien species vulnerability to disaster. This role will become more critical as Almost one third of Asia consists of arid or semi-arid habitats. A By definition, drylands have limited freshwater supplies with • Protect ecosystems with high carbon storage countries struggle to deal with climate change and to meet quarter of all Latin America is desert or drylands ranging from highly variable and erratic rainfall. In the past people adapted and rich biodiversity their obligations under international conventions, including deserts along the Pacific coast from southern Ecuador to Chile, to dramatic climatic events by nomadic herding and shifting • Establish community conservation areas or the UNCCD and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). to the high altitude dry plains in the Andes. Most of Mexico agriculture. Such responses have become less practicable other management schemes which improve Specific recognition of these natural solutions is essential in and north-east Brazil is arid. Erosion and water shortages are with changing economic and political realities, more settled land and water management in biodiversity- both policy and practice. intensifying in Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Cuba. communities, and conversion of natural habitats for large scale rich areas From the Caribbean to the Pacific, land degradation in small agriculture. • Conserve native biodiversity island areas has severe and lasting consequences. Drought and desertification are associated with the lowering of water levels in rivers, lakes and underground reservoirs. Natural Nationally-designated protected areas vegetation and wetlands in protected areas regulate water currently cover 9% of the world’s drylands flows and help reduce flash flooding from heavy rains after THE drought. Dryland protected areas play a key role in protecting NATURAL Primarily designated for biodiversity conservation, protected SOLUTIONS essential water supplies for domestic and agricultural needs. SERIES areas also provide a range of ecosystem goods and services In Mongolia, for instance, most of the major rivers arise in important to global environment and human welfare. By protected northern forested steppe. Similarly dryland protected maintaining functioning ecosystems, they are important natural areas in watersheds protect water supplies of major cities such Published by IUCN/WCPA. For more information please visit www.iucn.org/wcpa solutions in combatting desertification. as Port au Prince, Haiti and Karachi, Pakistan. zoning for appropriate land uses. This can include implementing Grasslands constitute about 34% of the sustainable grazing, and managing and maintaining healthy ecosystems that protect water sources and slow the spread of global stock of terrestrial carbon invasive species. Protected areas can be established through a • Increasing carbon storage in arid areas of China: A variety of governance and management regimes, from state- pastoral development project in China is restoring run reserves to indigenous peoples’ territories and community biodiversity and increasing the productivity of grassland conservation areas or private conservancies. Community resources in the protected areas of Tien Shan, Altai Shan, conservancies in Namibia benefit from wildlife conservation and and Qilian Shan. Spring and summer grazing periods are ecotourism on lands that are marginal for agriculture. Similarly shortened and delayed in high mountain grasslands. indigenous communities in the Kaa-Iya National Park in Bolivia Reducing grazing pressure is expected to lead to increased and surrounding territories co-manage a large area of semi-arid species diversity, greater biomass productivity, and lands zoned according to conservation and community needs, improved grazing conditions for wild ungulates as well including strict protection, limited extraction and intensive use. as livestock. It will also increase the amount of carbon Other examples include: entering the soil and reduce soil loss due to overgrazing. • Protecting endangered steppe habitat in Kazakhstan: • Fencing against overgrazing and desertification in Kuwait: UNDP/GEF is funding a landscape level conservation system Land degradation, over-grazing and use of off-road vehicles in threatened steppe habitat. The project is linking an have led to a rapid increase in soil erosion, dune formation expanded protected area network with other compatible and dust storms. In addition, large areas remain damaged land uses. In 2011, the 88,968 ha Buiratau state national following the first Gulf War, including from the deposition park was established in the transition zone between of “tarcrete”, which has prevented re-vegetation. moderately arid and dry steppes: it harbours over 450 Protection, fencing against cattle and active vegetation vascular plant species and many endangered animals. restoration have led to important biodiversity benefits and • Community agreements to reduce grazing in Jordan: stabilisation of desert vegetation in heavily damaged areas. Dana Nature Reserve in central Jordan is in an area where • Working for Water in South Africa: Invasive alien plants traditional livestock grazing had radically altered vegetation are estimated to affect 10 million hectares (8.28%) of patterns and increased soil erosion. Negotiations with South Africa with significant ecological and economic costs. farmers resulted in an agreement to halve the numbers of With high evapo-transpiration rates, invasive trees are Islands are especially vulnerable to degradation, which is often worsened by the spread of invasive alien species. On Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, park staff goats, leading to spectacular increases in vegetation cover observe degraded pastoral land © IUCN Jim Thorsell an immense burden to already water-scarce regions and and associated wildlife. Alternative livelihoods are being reduce the amount of water available to reservoirs. The Dryland protected areas ensure food security and conservation and famine relief funds to restore encouraged including ecotourism, jewellery making and Working for Water Programme has an annual government livelihoods ancient step wells, providing new water supplies for homemade herbal and fruit products. communities, livestock and wildlife. budget exceeding $100 million. It provides training
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