PRESS BRIEFING ON DESERTIFICATION
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING ON DESERTIFICATION
19990615
Lena Poulsen, Technical Adviser in the Office to Combat Desertification and Drought of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) briefed correspondents at Headquarters today in preparation for the World Day to Combat Desertification, to be observed on 17 June.
She said the Day would highlight the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which entered into force in 1996 and was brought into being to cover the world's drylands, which total more than 40 per cent of the global landmass, and address the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people. Almost 150 countries have now ratified the Convention, which arose out of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) -- Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. While the Convention easily provided for the African deserts and their population, it must be noted that most of the 1 billion people whom it was ratified to protect live in other parts of the world, she added.
Ms. Poulsen pointed out that the severe consequences of the dust bowl were very evident through examination of United States history, as well as the experiences of Australia, Andalusia and Spain. However, those countries had also proven that drylands could be developed and provide for prosperous economic development. The Convention was, therefore, brought into being with the optimistic view that, despite austere environments, people could build habitable conditions in harmony with a healthy environment.
An indication of the strong support given to the Convention had been the launch of national action programmes in more than 60 developing countries, she said. Those had been established mainly in the form of partnerships between representatives of the drylands and governments. The programmes themselves gave emphasis to poverty eradication, economic development and other crucial segments of sustainable human development. For example, Bolivia had recently launched a new strategy for sustainable human development in the drylands. Peru was linking their implementation of the Convention to programmes for poverty eradication in rural areas and Senegal had established a desertification fund to facilitate community development activities.
Also, the Government of Iran recently requested non-governmental organizations to work with a number of local communities in the drylands in developing new activities. In Argentina, more than 2,000 local people had participated in a preliminary assessment resulting in the establishment of a national partnership, with representatives from all the provinces in that country. In April, a meeting was held with women from the extremely poor and dry region of northern Argentina to discuss their income generation priorities.
Desertification Press Briefing - 2 - 15 June 1999
One of the objectives of the observance of the Day would be the strengthening of the role of women in the implementation of the Convention, Ms. Poulsen stated. Until now, women were still marginalized from discussion forums and decision-making processes regarding that issue. She informed correspondents that women were responsible for the daily management of the majority of farms in rural areas worldwide and they also constituted approximately one half of the workforce in the drylands.
In response to a question from a correspondent on the UNDP's role in the implementation of the Convention, she said that at the Rio Summit, as well as in the provisions of Agenda 21, UNDP had been requested to assist all countries in the implementation of the Convention. As a result, UNDP country offices had been working with national governments and non-governmental organizations in its implementation. A special office and fund for that purpose had been established.
Why did it seem to be taking so long to implement the Convention? a correspondent asked. Ms. Poulsen stressed that, on the contrary, since the finalization of the Convention just five years ago, more than 60 countries had established national programmes. Of great importance on that issue, she added, was that the Convention's focus was on the establishment of continuous development processes.
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