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Home , Desertification

Protected areas helping people deal with desertification and

Drylands occupy approximately 40% of ’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 caused by activities and 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 , , poor irrigation practices and other unsustainable land and Protected areas are a viable option to water management. on every continent are losing Protected areas help address and reduce risk vegetation cover, fertile top and productivity. As food and cope with desertification as they: water supplies are threatened, communities suffer, which can cause , mass migration and economic losses. According Drought may be locally uncontrollable. Desertification and to the 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 are wetlands management practices, thereby increasing resilience and already degraded. Over 250 million people are directly affected • Maintain natural habitats and stabilise resistance to the impacts of drought. by desertification and one billion more are at risk. to stop the advance of deserts • Restore habitats, including and With more erratic rainfall and increasing frequency of , Two thirds of is or drylands; with extensive areas grasslands recovery as well as global increases of , water supplies used for , 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 protection in dryland protected areas can reduce the risks of million people in Africa are expected to suffer increased water for large scale disasters such as the famine in . 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 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. 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 , 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 : 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 , formation expanded protected area network with other compatible and storms. In addition, large areas remain damaged land uses. In 2011, the 88,968 ha Buiratau state national following the first , 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 , 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 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 for previously unemployed and marginalized communities Important food crops originated in drylands: ancestors of • Reducing the impacts of climate change in Mongolia: wheat and originated in south-west Asia; maize, • In Masai Mara National Park in Kenya, communities Hövsgöl National Park in northern Mongolia is at the to clear invasives in national parks in the Cape Peninsula, squashes and in Mexico and wild potatoes in Peru. are working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to southern edge of the taiga forest. Uncontrolled livestock Baviaanskloof and Drakensberg mountains, major water Today protected areas maintain of crop wild remove the invasive alien plant feverfew (Parthenium grazing and fuel wood gathering have caused the forest to providers for the cities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, relatives, important for crop breeding. Quechua communities hysterophorus) which is replacing and reducing fodder retreat. Increasing soil exposure and ground temperatures previously unemployed and marginalized communities in the Pisac, Cusco area of Peru established the Potato Park grasses available to wildlife and livestock. have accelerated permafrost melt. To mitigate these effects, to clear invasives in national parks in the Cape Peninsula, as a community-based, agrobiodiversity-focused conservation herders have changed to and improved Baviaanskloof and Drakensberg mountains, major water area where potatoes have been cultivated by Andean farmers • Research in the Chimborazo Faunal Production range management, thus helping protect Mongolia’s water providers for the cities of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and for over 7000 years. The Sierra de Manantlan Protected Reserve, Ecuador has shown the ecological benefits of resources, biodiversity, and natural ecosystems. Johannesburg. Area in Mexico protects populations of wild maize (Zea encouraging the husbandry of native camelids instead diploperennis) which increases disease resistance when of cattle and horses, therefore improving pasture crossed with cultivated maize (Zea mays). Similarly the conditions. Karacadağ Mountain protected area in south-east was selected in part for its role in the domestication of wild einkorn Dryland protected areas combat land degradation (Triticum boeoticum). These conserved genetic resources increase the adaptive capacity of communities to deal with Expanding cultivation, overstocking and overgrazing are low rainfall periods by providing a variety of drought resistant key contributors to land degradation. Rising populations plants. of both people and livestock have led to overuse of marginal habitats and subsequent degradation. This is often Over 2 billion people depend on worsened by the spread of invasive alien species, which functioning drylands for their survival cause a reduction of crop yields, degradation of pasture, and choking of irrigation canals, thus reducing the lifespan Dryland protected areas alleviate of dams and reservoirs. More than half the staple crops planted in developing countries are destroyed routinely Many dryland protected areas are zoned for multiple uses and by invasive species both pre-and post . Increasing work with local communities to improve their welfare through globalization, trade, and even famine relief efforts have programmes which aim to reconcile biodiversity conservation contributed to the spread of invasive species. Climate and human needs. change will further exacerbate their spread in vulnerable ecosystems, therefore contributing to social instability and • In , eco-development programmes around economic hardship. Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan have combined Protected areas can help to address land degradation by Maintaining livestock at sustainable grazing levels helps conserve grassland biodiversity and maintain ecosystem productivity © IUCN Imène Meliane