4.1
The genesis and content of the Desertification Convention
In its 1994 annual r eport, the Council focused in detail on the problem of soil degradation. The analy-sis showed that soils are the vulnerable thin skin of the earth for which serious “illnesses” can be diag-nosed worldwide. These “illnesses” represent a seri-ous threat to the earth’s population and biosphere that in some parts of the world is dramatic.The devel-opment of a soil-centered network of interrelation-ships identified twelve such illnesses (or “syn-dromes”), each described in a complex web of cause and effect.The analysis of the syndromes and the net-work of causal factors permit an improved observa-tion of trends to be carried out and provide specific indications of political action and research planning.
The results of the work continue to be of major rele-vance, so for a detailed description of soil-related problems reference is made here to the 1994 report.
However, one important change has occurred in the year that has since elapsed. On July 18, 1994 rep-resentatives from over 100 states met in Paris and re-ached agreement on the text for a “UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Se-rious Drought and/or Desertification”, referred to henceforth as the “Desertification Convention”. The Council stated its position on this process in provi-sional form in its last annual report, where also the problem of desertification was dealt with in detail both in one of the syndrome sections (the “Sahel Syndrome”) as well as in the Case Study on the “Sa-hel Region”. The final provisions of the Desert Con-vention are now available and should be subjected to closer analysis at this point.
4.2
Assessment
Terminology Used
If one looks at the definitions in the Desertifica-tion ConvenDesertifica-tion, one can identify two main differ-ences compared to the 1994 annual report of the WBGU. One is that the concept of land degradation is more narrowly defined that the concept of “soil degradation” used by the Council, in that it refers ex-clusively to the productivity and biotic complexity, i.e. primarily on the production function of soils.
Other land surface functions, such as the regulatory function, are not included. Second, the definitions also refer to the long-term loss of vegetation, a phe-nomenon that can also occur without the degrada-tion of soils through water scarcity or overexploita-tion of plant stocks. If loss of vegetaoverexploita-tion is not accom-panied by soil degradation, then it is reversible if con-ditions change. Because vegetation loss is usually the first step toward soil degradation, desertification can be seen as a special instance of global soil degrada-tion (see also WBGU, 1994).
Provisions
The Desertification Convention has created im-portant political conditions by defining basic require-ments for combating desertification. Among others, there are increasing efficiency through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, exchange of data and mu-tual information between donors, public participa-tion of the populaparticipa-tion, strengthening support through transfer of research and technology, taking local conditions into consideration and providing for active participation of affected countries.
All in all, the Convention is programmatic in char-acter, in that binding operational and specific finan-cial consequences could not be agreed upon, and the significance of the Convention therefore lies more in the political and psychological sphere than in any binding development programs. Nevertheless, the coming into force of the Desertification Convention means that important issues relating to bilateral and
4
multilateral cooperation for the regions specified in the Convention will be affected. In future, therefore, the issue will be to continue the positive develop-ment of policy formulation prior to the adoption of the Convention in the policy implementation phase.
The Convention includes a number of innovations in the field of international law, in particular the no-tion of “demand-oriented technology transfer”, i.e.
countries concerned define by themselves, in the con-text of national action programs, what the best way to combat desertification is for their specific situation, and the bottom-up approach, i.e. the involvement of the local population in the development and imple-mentation of such national action plans. The first ses-sion of the INCD following the signing of the Con-vention, held in January 1995, showed, however, that both the affected country parties and the donor sta-tes have few ideas regarding actual implementation.
In the following, some of the open issues are dis-cussed.
One of the key provisions of the Desertification Convention concerns the elaboration of national ac-tion programs in the affected countries. These
pro-grams are meant to describe the specific instruments that are appropriate and necessary for a country af-fected by desertification. These national action pro-grams are the prerequisite for the involvement of the donor states, i.e. financial and technical assistance will be “country-driven”, as opposed to being pre-de-termined by the developed countries.
One problem here, however, is that the structures for developing such action are often not immediately available. In view of the increasing severity of the de-sertification problems, the donor countries should be prepared to assist the affected countries in acquiring the capacity to develop such action programs. Ger-many has taken steps in that direction - the BMZ has earmarked DM 5 million for the formulation of such national action programs as part of the Urgent action Program for Africa, DM 2 million of which are earmarked for Mali, where experts will support the government in the development of its national action program over a period of three years.
The Desertification Convention is the only inter-national convention to date that specifically requires the active participation of the population as a princi-BOX 30
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa - A Chronology
Early 1970s West Africa: approx. 250,000 lives lost as a result of famine and drought.
1977 Nairobi: United Nations Confer-ence on Desertification – UNCOD.
The objective of the conference was to bring the problem under control by the end of the century.
6/1992 Rio de Janeiro: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development – UNCED. The sub-ject of desertification was once again. Chapter 12 of AGENDA 21 specifies a number of areas that are important for combating desertifi-cation. The decision is made to draw up an international conven-tion with specific and legally bind-ing commitments to combat deser-tification.
12/1992 The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Elaboration of an International Convention to Com-bat Desertification (INCD) is for-med, with a Secretariat responsible for organizational questions and for providing scientific support for the negotiation process.
1993-1994 Four INCD preparatory confer-ences are held.
6/1994 Paris: Final Conference, at which agreement is reached on a final ver-sion.
10/1994 Paris: signing ceremony; 85 Parties sign the Convention.
1/1995 New York: sixth INCD Conference, by the end of which a total of 98 Parties had signed the Convention.
1996 Desertification Convention ex-pected to come into force. Condi-tion: 50 countries must ratify (by Cabinet or parliamentary decision).
159 Assessment C 4.2
BOX 31
Contents of the Desertification Convention Use of terms (Article 1)
Some terms of the Convention, a short list of which follows, deviate in their use from those used in the 1994 report on the threat to soils. For the purpose of the Conventions
• “desertification” means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas result-ing from various factors, includresult-ing climatic variations and human activities (Article 1 a).
• “land” means the terrestrial bio-productive sy-stem that comprises soil, vegetation, other bi-ota, and the ecological processes that operate within the system (Article 1 e).
• “land degradation” means reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated crop-land, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from land uses or from a process or combination of processes, including processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns (Article 1 f).
• “arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas” me-ans areas, other than polar and sub-polar re-gions, in which the ratio of annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration falls within the range from 0.05 to 0.65 (Article 1 g).
Objective of the Convention (Article 2)
• To combat desertification and mitigate the ef-fects of drought in countries experiencing seri-ous drought and desertification, particularly in Africa, in the framework of an integrated ap-proach which is consistent with AGENDA 21.
Principles (Article 3)
• Decisions on the design and implementation of programs to combat desertification should be taken with the participation of populations, lo-cal communities and NGOs
• Improvement of cooperation and coordination on the part of the donor nations
• Better focus of resources where they are nee-ded
• Full consideration should be taken of the spe-cial needs and circumstances of affected devel-oping country Parties
Obligations (Article 4-6 - selection)
• Establish an enabling international economic
environment conducive to the promotion of sustainable development (Article 4 (2) a)
• Integration of strategies for poverty eradica-tion into efforts to combat desertificaeradica-tion and mitigate the effects of drought (Article 4 (2) c)
• Strengthening of subregional, regional and international cooperation (Article 4 (2) e)
• Facilitate the participation of local populations, particularly women and youth, with the sup-port of non-governmental organizations (Arti-cle 5 d)
• Strengthening relevant existing legislation and, where they do not exist, enacting new laws and establishing long-term policies and action pro-grams for combating desertification (Article 5 e)
• Promote and facilitate access to appropriate technology, knowledge and know-how (Article 6 e)
Relationship with other conventions (Article 8)
• Encourage the coordination with other rele-vant international agreements, particularly the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity
Regional action programs (Articles 9-15)
• Prepare, support and coordinate national, re-gional and subrere-gional action programs Scientific and technical cooperation (Articles 16-18)
• Collection, analysis and exchange of data and information (Article 16).
• Promote technical and scientific cooperation in the fields of combating desertification and mit-igating the effects of drought (Article 17). To this end, research shall focus on the processes leading to and the impact of causal factors, both natural and human (Article 17 (1) a), as well as integrate validate traditional and local knowl-edge, know-how and practices (Article 17 (1) c)
• Transfer, acquisition, adaptation and develop-ment of environdevelop-mentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable technologies rel-evant to combating desertification and mitigat-ing the effects of drought (Article 18).
Capacity building (Article 19)
• Establishment of institutions, education and the development of relevant local and national capacities, including the full participation at all
ple of international law. This so-called bottom-up ap-proach is another key provision of the Convention.
The problem associated with it, however, is that most countries have little experience with such an ap-proach and therefore face considerable difficulties in implementing it. Ideas as to the practical meaning of participation are quite divergent. Where participa-tion is already being practiced on an active basis, it generally involves the involvement of the population in the implementation of a project designed and de-veloped by a donor institution, perhaps through cooperation with the national agencies. The objective of the Desertification Convention, in contrast, is that the population participate in the design stage of pro-jects. The Council welcomes this approach and advo-cates that a greater proportion of the funds be used in future for capacity building (see Section B 3.2.2.2).
Another important issue is that of land availability and land access rights.. If active participation in measures undertaken and programs for combating desertification is to be achieved, it is of great impor-tance that the local population have a vested interest in improving the soils and the uses to which the land
is put (Toulmin, 1994). This leads to the question of land reform. The demand for land reforms is a con-stituent part of the Desertification Convention, so the donor nations can refer to this requirement. As already stated in the 1994 annual report, it is impor-tant to actively support land reform efforts.
Another new and important feature of the Deser-tification Convention concerns the agreement on im-proved coordination and cooperation between do-nors, one of the principal objectives. There often were parallel projects by different countries, which duplicated and sometimes even blocked each other.
In order to avoid this, and to deploy the human and financial resources more efficiently, the Convention lays down an improved coordination of developed country parties. Per country a donor state will be as-signed responsibility for coordinating the relevant developing and financial cooperation activities (so-called leading agency). Such an approach makes sen-se, in principle, but the problem that may arise is that the concept only functions if the donor countries are willing to surrender their respective traditional posi-tions of power, partly originating in the colonialist era.
levels of the affected populations (Article 18 (1) a), by strengthening training and research capacity at the national level (Article 18 (1) b), and through innovative ways of promoting al-ternative livelihoods, including training in new skills (Article 18 (1) h), etc.
Financial resources and mechanisms (Articles 20 and 21)
• Obligation on the part of the developed coun-try Parties to mobilize substantial financial re-sources in order to support the implementation of programs to combat desertification
• Undertaking by affected developing country Parties, taking into account their capabilities, to mobilize adequate financial resources for the implementation of their national action pro-grams.
Institutions (Article 22 - 25)
• Establishment of a Conference of the Parties (Article 22), a Permanent Secretariat (Article 23) and a Committee on Science and Technol-ogy (Article 24)
Articles 26 to 40 deal with administrative and procedural mechanisms of the Convention.
Regional implementation annexes
Annexes I - IV of the Convention are of criti-cal importance for giving adequate consideration to respective regional needs and circumstances.
These are the four Regional Implementation An-nexes for Africa,Asia, Latin America and the Car-ibbean, and the Northern Mediterranean. Priority is attached to Africa on account of its arid regions.
The Annex for Africa includes, for example, provisions in which the affected developing coun-tries undertake to use a decentralized approach appropriate for the respective targets groups when implementing their national action pro-grams. Subregional or regional action programs are to be set up, which can be executed more effi-ciently at local level; priority is attached to the treatment of transboundary phenomena (no-madic herdspeople, management of large water catchment areas, animal diseases, research, advice and support, etc.) (Annex for Africa, Articles 11 and 12). Coordination and partnership are re-quired, and practical implementation should be facilitated by means of appropriate forms of or-ganization. “Partnership agreements” should ex-press, as the product of the consultation process, the political will of the participants for long-term cooperation (Annex for Africa, Articles 14 and 18).
161 Assessment C 4.2
BOX 32
Research Support to Combat Desertification - a Capacity Building Measure
Desertification is a “clinical profile” of the Earth, induced by complex interrelations of cau-ses and effects including many areas of the eco-sphere and anthropoeco-sphere (see WBGU, 1994, the Sahel Syndrome). If desertification and its hu-man-induced causes are to be avoided and/or combated, equivalent complex human and institu-tional capacities are needed. An important ele-ment here is local research, since a common rea-son for failure of development or environmental projects is the lack of capacity to take action. The subject of capacity building through support for research was therefore laid down in Article 19 (1) b:
“The Parties recognize the significance of ca-pacity building – that is to say, institution building, training and development of relevant local and national capacities – in efforts to combat desertifi-cation and mitigate the effects of drought. They shall promote, as appropriate, capacity building by strengthening training and research capacity at the national level in the field of desertification and drought.”
In those countries affected by desertification, the main focus of research has been agriculture with a concentration on the traditional sectors of livestock production and crop management, espe-cially food crops (BMZ, 1993b). The problem of desertification is not given sufficient attention in this area, however, since there is neither a net-working between the respective disciplines nor adequate consideration given to economic and so-ciocultural aspects.
To create an alternative for agriculture and fo-restry, which are threatened by overexploitation, more technological research is needed, a field which is underdeveloped in many countries af-fected by desertification. In general, surveys show that only 2-3% of research funds worldwide are deployed in developing countries.
In order to increase efficiency and improve ad-aptation, in the formulation of research priorities the participation of the relevant target groups is es-sential, a fact that by and large is also acknowl-edged by many development agencies.
National research institutions are multipliers for the implementation of internationally devel-oped and available knowledge. Support for
na-tional research in affected countries – interdiscipli-nary and participatory – is therefore crucial, and must take the form of both financial and technical cooperation.A possible model here is provided by national agricultural research supported by a se-ries of international agricultural research projects.
The latter comprise a number of independent ag-ricultural research facilities operating under inter-national law and located in developing countries.
Some of these centers have made important con-tributions to global food security through the de-velopment of high-yield varieties. Insufficient at-tention, however, has been paid to networking as-pects and the problem of resource protection in this field as well (Treitz, 1990).
In Germany desertification-related research also focuses to a great extent onto a single-disci-pline approach (i.e. soil science, geography, agri-cultural science, behavioral science). Too little at-tention is given to interdependencies, a crucial as-pect for desertification research. The relevant public institutions still do not treat desertification as a complex of problems. For example, the Minis-try responsible for the Desertification Conven-tion, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) does not have a separate research unit in this field.
Recommendations
Germany’s financial contribution to agricultu-ral research in developing countries declined in nominal terms over recent years. The increase in funds for international agricultural research is only marginal, and is less than the rate of inflation.
In an international comparison, the German con-tribution has shown below-average growth (BMZ, 1993b). The Council therefore considers it essential that support for research towards adap-ted and sustainable development be improved sig-nificantly, alongside improvements in applied technology training, as already provided within technical cooperation projects. Support should be given not only to capacity building in developing countries in general – what is also required is the deeper knowledge and understanding in Ger-many, obtained through deployment of the requi-site human resources, of the desertification prob-lem and its economic and sociocultural causes.
Priority should therefore be attached to those areas of research which focus on the management of complex natural systems, in order to develop environmentally benign and sustainable concepts for land use appropriate to local diversity. The
During the INCD session in January 1995 in New
During the INCD session in January 1995 in New