ENB:04:11
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SADC:
Bataung Leleka, the Director of the Coordination
Unit of the Southern Africa Development Community, spoke about
the state of the southern African region. He elaborated on the
relationship between people, resources and the environment. The
region, with one of the fastest growing urban populations in the
world, is suffering from increased pressure on rangelands due to
needs for fuelwood, arable and grazing lands. Deforestation, soil
loss, increased use of marginal lands, accelerated land
degradation due to inappropriate agricultural practices and
silting of rivers are visible consequences of population growth.
To redress the situation, SADC is developing programmes that
facilitate sharing of relevant information, establishing
relationships with and strengthening local institutions. He
concluded that desertification and land degradation has its roots
mainly in socio-economic conditions rather than physical
conditions.
A delegate from Botswana gave the example of a national programme
to combat desertification. The formulation of the national
programmes is done at two levels: at the local level, local
authorities are encouraged to make an inventory of their
resources and this forms the basis of the national plan;
thereafter, districts develop their own plans that are then
translated into different national programmes. He explained that
in the rangeland monitoring inventory programmes, land tenure and
land reform are tackled. He concluded that the major problem
faced by the region is the lack of technology. In the discussion,
Israel explained the need to preserve these transitional areas as
they harbor biogenetic resources useful in the rehabilitation of
damaged ecosystems.