CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION APPROACHES LEGAL REALITY
Press Release
ENV/DEV/368
CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION APPROACHES LEGAL REALITY
19960617 GENEVA, 14 June (UN Information Service) -- One year after the first World Day to Combat Desertification was observed on 17 June 1995, 31 countries have ratified the Convention to Combat Desertification, and it is likely that the 50 ratifications necessary for the Convention to take effect will be reached by the end of this year.The planet is still "losing ground" to desertification, with some 1 billion people directly affected and 5.2 billion hectares of useful drylands in more than 100 countries having already suffered erosion and soil degradation. Desertification costs the world $42 billion a year in lost agricultural production and related costs, according to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates. Asia and Africa are the hardest hit.
During the past two decades, enough topsoil has been lost worldwide to cover the entire cropland of the United States, while some 135 million people may be in danger of being driven from their land, experts estimate. At the recent United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, it was generally agreed that desertification exacerbates the overcrowding of cities.
Although Africa is the hardest hit in human terms, North America is the most severely affected in geographical terms, with 74 percent of its drylands severely or moderately involved. Five countries of the European Union -- France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal -- also suffer from desertification. Many of the most affected areas in Asia are on the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Desertification is defined as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climate variations and human activities". The four human activities causing desertification are: overcultivation, which exhausts the soil; overgrazing, which removes the covering of vegetation that safeguards against erosion; deforestation, which removes the trees that bind the soil to the land; and poorly drained irrigation systems, which turn croplands salty.
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The Convention is an innovative document, which breaks new ground in international environmental law. It symbolizes an agreement between developed and developing nations on the need for a global coalition to address desertification, but differs from previous efforts in that it is legally binding. States parties oblige themselves to undertake national commitments for practical action, particularly at the local level, where desertification must primarily be fought. It will place great emphasis on the machinery needed for implementation and to monitor progress.
When the Convention enters into force, an early priority of its Interim Secretariat will be to organize the first Conference of the Parties, which could take place as soon as the autumn of 1997.
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Note:Further information on the Convention can be found at www.unep.ch/incd on the World-Wide Web.