Daily report for 28 May 1993

1st Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the International Convention to Combat Desertification

INFORMATION SHARING SEGMENT

SPAIN: Dr. Jos‚ L. Rubio, Chief, DesertificationResearch Unit (IATA-CSIC) in Valencia, gave a briefdescription of desertification in Spain. Water erosion is amajor cause of desertification and reforestation is the majormeans of control. He explained that 43.8% of Spanish territoryis affected by erosion and irregular levels of precipitationare insufficient for rapid recovery of vegetation, once it hasbeen eroded. One of the major causes of environmentaldegradation in Spain is forest fires. Other causes includelogging, over-grazing and agriculture in marginal areas.Reforestation has been extensively carried out to combatdesertification and more than 2.5 million hectares have beenreforested since 1940. Over the last few years there was asizable drop in reforestation, due to lack of cooperation byprivate landowners due to a lack of incentives, criticism bythe environmental movement on the use of pine species, and theabsence of legal instruments that provide incentives. The newnational plan is attempting to remedy these problems.

UNITED STATES: Paul Blakeburn, Director of the Officeof Ecology, Health and Conservation at the US Department ofState, described the drylands in the central and westernregions of the US. He gave a history of settlement in thisregion and explained how policies used to encourage settlementresulted in the overgrazing of many rangelands and numerouswater projects led to salinization. The Dust Bowl of the 1930swas the result of drought and agricultural production onhundreds of thousands of acres of marginal land. As a result,the government expanded or initiated a number of programmes,including: finance of livestock and farming practices fordryland areas, including windbreaks and contour plowing;establishment of units local governments called ConservationDistricts, where participation by farmers was voluntary andservice provided on a first-come first-serve basis; advancedtechniques in weather prediction; and limits on the type andamount of livestock grazing. He added that successfulprogrammes must include: 1) collaborative policies andprogrammes to understand natural systems at work in theseecosystems; 2) the design of management practices for theseecosystems; and 3) encouraging people to implement sustainablemanagement practices. In the discussion of developed countryexperiences with desertification, Mali asked Spain aboutdesertification in the Canary Islands. Portugal and Icelandboth described problems their countries are facing withdesertification. Portugal has suffered from severe soil lossand 40% of Iceland's territory is covered by desert. Ghana andBurkina Faso asked Spain about methods used to combat forestfires. Spain explained that the basic approach includedprevention, detection, monitoring and immediate response.Mauritania mentioned that many of the root causes of landdegradation are the former colonial policies and these must betaken into consideration when negotiating the convention.Belgium, Tanzania and Kenya brought up the use of eucalyptusin drylands. Burkina Faso asked about incentives forreforestation.

EXPERIENCES OF DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

SPAIN: Dr. Jos‚ L. Rubio, Chief, DesertificationResearch Unit (IATA-CSIC) in Valencia, gave a briefdescription of desertification in Spain. Water erosion is amajor cause of desertification and reforestation is the majormeans of control. He explained that 43.8% of Spanish territoryis affected by erosion and irregular levels of precipitationare insufficient for rapid recovery of vegetation, once it hasbeen eroded. One of the major causes of environmentaldegradation in Spain is forest fires. Other causes includelogging, over-grazing and agriculture in marginal areas.Reforestation has been extensively carried out to combatdesertification and more than 2.5 million hectares have beenreforested since 1940. Over the last few years there was asizable drop in reforestation, due to lack of cooperation byprivate landowners due to a lack of incentives, criticism bythe environmental movement on the use of pine species, and theabsence of legal instruments that provide incentives. The newnational plan is attempting to remedy these problems.

UNITED STATES: Paul Blakeburn, Director of the Officeof Ecology, Health and Conservation at the US Department ofState, described the drylands in the central and westernregions of the US. He gave a history of settlement in thisregion and explained how policies used to encourage settlementresulted in the overgrazing of many rangelands and numerouswater projects led to salinization. The Dust Bowl of the 1930swas the result of drought and agricultural production onhundreds of thousands of acres of marginal land. As a result,the government expanded or initiated a number of programmes,including: finance of livestock and farming practices fordryland areas, including windbreaks and contour plowing;establishment of units local governments called ConservationDistricts, where participation by farmers was voluntary andservice provided on a first-come first-serve basis; advancedtechniques in weather prediction; and limits on the type andamount of livestock grazing. He added that successfulprogrammes must include: 1) collaborative policies andprogrammes to understand natural systems at work in theseecosystems; 2) the design of management practices for theseecosystems; and 3) encouraging people to implement sustainablemanagement practices. In the discussion of developed countryexperiences with desertification, Mali asked Spain aboutdesertification in the Canary Islands. Portugal and Icelandboth described problems their countries are facing withdesertification. Portugal has suffered from severe soil lossand 40% of Iceland's territory is covered by desert. Ghana andBurkina Faso asked Spain about methods used to combat forestfires. Spain explained that the basic approach includedprevention, detection, monitoring and immediate response.Mauritania mentioned that many of the root causes of landdegradation are the former colonial policies and these must betaken into consideration when negotiating the convention.Belgium, Tanzania and Kenya brought up the use of eucalyptusin drylands. Burkina Faso asked about incentives forreforestation.

SOME POSSIBLE ELEMENTS OF A NEW STRATEGY TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN COUNTRIES EXPERIENCING DROUGHT AND DESERTIFICATION

IFAD: Dr. Gary Howe, Project Controller, AfricaDivision of IFAD, spoke about the need to involve resourceconservation into the regular practices of poor farmers.Conservation activities do not take place unless they offertangible benefits to farmers. While production must be basedon the individual, the communal framework is important. Theissue is not to encourage communal production, but to supportthe communal framework, as most of the land subject todesertification is some form of common property. The problemof desertification does not originate from the intrinsicweakness of common property regimes, but the fact that theyhave been weakened from the outside. He added that there is aneed to include all groups who use resources, including women,the poor and marginalized ethnic groups. He concluded bylisting several strategies for conservation: 1) anti-desertification activities must not be seen as isolatedactions, but part of the agricultural effort as a whole; 2)activities must be principally engaged in helping farmers toidentify their own problems and find solutions; 3) communitiescannot manage lands if they do not have clear land rights; and4) macro-economic policies must change.

UNEP: Franklin G. Cardy, Director of theDesertification Control PAC at UNEP, spoke on new directionsin systematic information collection and analysis fordesertification control. He began with his conclusions,including: listen to the clients to determine what informationis needed and for what purposes; given the various types ofinformation available, concentrate on what is required toincrease efficiency; develop indicators that recognize linksbetween human condition and the environment; developstandardized assessment mixing ground and remote methods; asproposed in 1977, use indigenous knowledge in planning;collect and disseminate successes and their replicability; payattention to community level information, analysis and feed-back; ensure that provision is made for response to earlywarnings; strengthen research institutes and informationcenter networks; set time specific goals; and get theinformation to beneficiaries in ways it can be used.

KENYA: J.K. Njihia of the Drought Monitoring Centre,Kenya, made a presentation on monitoring activities on droughtin Nairobi and Harare carried out by centres that wereestablished in 1989. He said the centres serve drought-stricken countries in the region. The centres provideinformation needed on agricultural production, weatheroutlooks, meteorological conditions, drought severity,conditions and impact of the climate, thus providing thenecessary tools for early warning. He said bulletins on thecentres were available and that visits could be arranged.

WRI: Peter Veit spoke about the need for sociallyappropriate dryland management technologies. He commented thatmany effective technologies and techniques already exist andare being practiced by farmers in sub-Saharan Africa'sdrylands. Several matters regarding small-scale technologiesand local-level natural resource management have implicationsfor dryland management in sub-Saharan Africa, including: localresource management (security in land and resources, socio-economic opportunities and incentives, and an enablingpolitical environment); technologies with multiple objectives;technologies as packages of knowledge, skills, resources andpractices; and indigenous technologies and local knowledge. Tobe practical, technologies also must have valued returns,known effectiveness, cultural acceptance, and the capabilityto use local labor and management resources. Governmentactions that might facilitate small-scale technology

interventions for improving dryland management include:improve existing technologies; strengthen villageinstitutions; strengthen informal information exchanges; andchannel resources to the grassroots.

In the discussion, the Chair mentioned the need to adaptcomplicated technologies so that they can be used at the locallevel. Austria asked about small scale technologies in theenergy sector. Belgium stressed the need for people to be moreopen in accepting new technologies and that there must be morecooperation between countries on the development anddissemination of technologies. Cameroon stressed the issue ofadapting technology to local needs.

UNSO: Tijan Jallow, a technical advisor with UNSO,discussed capacity building for sustainable natural resourcesmanagement. He said that capacity-building involvesimprovement in: human resource development; laws andregulations; and physical assets and procedures that governthe operations of the institutions. He said that the problemwith capacity building is the lack of interrelationshipsbetween these three dimensions and argued that a holisticapproach is necessary. He listed the hindrances to capacity-building as: failure in the delivery system in implementationand monitoring; weak management and coordination in therecipient countries and support from the donors; the lack of a"market" for technical assessment, which is supply rather thandemand driven; and a poor "enabling" environment. He said themost notable issue in sub-saharan Africa is the erosion ofcapacity. He said the Convention should first identify theconstraints in development efforts in the past, including:community involvement; rights to local resources; andsectoral, large scale, capital intensive and importedapproaches. He also said success depended on decentralizationand empowerment, provision of secure rights to resources,flexibility in project implementation and communityinvolvement in institution building. Some questions that needanswers are: whether local communities can take over these newresponsibilities; to what extent the state could allowempowerment to grow; what external support was needed; thelegal and administrative measures required; and how long thecommon interest at the community level stratification wouldcontinue. He also explained how to increase and enhanceproductivity, technology development and transfer. Heemphasized that capacity building should be recipient, notdonor, driven. He concluded that a lot of difficulties are dueto lack of common perception between the donors andrecipients.

In the discussion, Switzerland sought to know the role of theprivate sector in capacity-building. Norway said capacitybuilding is not the same as institution building. Botswanaasked how communities at the local level could organizethemselves. UNSO said most capacity building has focussed ongovernments and not community structures, NGOs or the privatesector and said more emphasis should be on balancing whatkinds of capacity building was being done at the communitylevel.

IFAD: Gary Howe spoke about alternative livelihoodsystems. He said that although IFAD could not offer analternative, the issue was important because it appearsunlikely that with the present technology and incentives, astable relationship between the environment and the demandsplaced on it by the people can be achieved. He explained thatsince desertification is anthropogenic and the alternative isto provide people with alternative non-agricultural incomegenerating activities outside of the most vulnerable areas.He mentioned three environmentally friendly ways of livelihooddiversification identified by UNSO: non-extractive activitiesusing natural resources; agro-processing aimed at increasingthe economic value at the local level; and small-scaleindustry using local inputs. He stressed that success in localdiversification will depend on: better linkages to nationaland regional markets coupled by significant improvements intransport and communications and buoyancy in the markets. Hestated that privileged incentives such as access to foreigncurrency at low rates, subsidized credit, and positions inpublic procurement offered to large businesses through macro-economic policies is harmful to micro-enterprises located inmarginal areas. He said these distortions have to beeliminated for the micro-economic enterprises to succeed. Heconcluded that the solution lies in giving the local peoplealternatives to agriculture.

In the discussion, Kjell‚n stressed the governments'priorities must be such that macro-level policies should belinked to the local community. Armenia explained that hiscountry was very rich in biodiversity, including 100 varietiesof wild wheat which could be tended to obtain high yieldvarieties. Senegal explained how arabica gum was introducedinto the silvo-pastoral zones but how in the last two years,they had to think of substitutes as the international marketdid not offer good prices. Mali commended a programmeintroduced by Germans that created mixed centers for women tolearn new technologies. He said that legal and trade barriersinhibit the introduction of new technologies and pointed outthat women were now migrating to cities.Howe responded thateconomic opportunities in the rural areas should be accordedwomen if they were to stop migrating. The role of the state inmarketing could be dealt with by establishing a ministry ofsmall scale enterprise. He explained that it is not only theproducts from the arid tropics that are suffering fromsubstitution by manufactured products and that diversificationoffers a broadening scope for such products.

ENDA: Masse Lo spoke about alternative energy sourcesfor arid areas. Diversities of economies and cultures have animpact on the level of ability to meet energy needs. Withoutunderstanding these linkages it is impossible to understandthe energy crisis in developing countries. Since populationsin arid areas depend on biomass, primarily fuelwood,consequences include environmental degradation, deforestation,and desertification. He explained the need to promote newsolutions on energy policy that call for solar and/or windenergy and the rational use of fuelwood. Any alternativeenergy techniques must be adapted to meet local needs anddemands. Photovoltaic sources are not only less costly butthey correspond to the needs of people in rural areas and aridzones. He also spoke about the sound management and combustionof fuelwood in arid zones. He discussed some of the problemswith new fuel efficient stoves, including the reluctance ofsome local populations to use the new stoves, and poordistribution networks. He concluded that to combatdesertification there is a need to rethink all energypolicies.

In the discussion, Armenia mentioned that work is underway inhis country to develop wind, hydro and other alternativeenergy sources. Ghana mentioned that fuelwood energy sourcesconstitute 80% of all energy used in his country. Ghana'spolicy is to improve existing energy systems beforeintroducing alternatives.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY

PLENARY: The focus of discussion shifts today asgeneral debate begins on Agenda Item 4, "Elaboration of aninternational convention to combat desertification incountries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification,particularly in Africa" and participants have their firstopportunity to speak about the Convention and, specifically,the document prepared by the Secretariat, "Format and possibleelements of the Convention" (A/AC.241/7).

The first speaker of the morning will be UNEP ExecutiveDirector Elizabeth Dowdeswell, who has recorded a welcomingstatement. She will be followed by Prof. G.O.P. Obasi,Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization,and Robert T. N'Daw, Assistant Director-General of FAO. ArbaDiallo, Executive Secretary of the INCD, will give his openingstatement, followed by Peter Branner, Director of UNSO. INCDChair Bo Kjell‚n will speak, possibly summing up theproceedings of last week's information sharing segment andsetting the course of work for the week ahead. Ministers fromCape Verde and Kazakhstan are also expected to speak beforethe floor is opened for general debate. Those who wish toinscribe themselves to the list of speakers should do sobefore 1:00 pm today.

Participants

National governments
Kenya
Spain
US
Non-state coalitions
NGOs

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