The Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa (CCD)

HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS

The Convention entered into force on 29 December 1997. South Africa ratified it on 28 September 1997.

Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world's land area, are extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing, and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the land's productivity. Over 250 million people are directly affected by desertification. In addition, some one billion people in over one hundred countries are at risk. These people include many of the world's poorest, most marginalized, and politically weak citizens.

Combating desertification is essential to ensuring the long-term productivity of inhabited drylands. This Convention aims to promote effective action through innovative local programmes and supportive international partnerships. The treaty acknowledges that the struggle to protect drylands will be a long one - there will be no quick fix. This is because the causes of desertification are many and complex, ranging from international trade patterns to unsustainable land management practices. Real and difficult changes will have to be made both at the international and the local levels.

Countries affected by desertification are implementing the Convention by developing and carrying out national, sub-regional, and regional action programmes. These programmes should emphasise popular participation and the creation of an "enabling environment" designed to allow local people to help themselves to reverse land degradation. Governments are responsible and should make politically sensitive changes, such as decentralizing authority, improving land-tenure systems, and empowering women, farmers, and pastoralists. They should also permit non-governmental organisations to play a strong role in preparing and implementing the action programmes. In contrast to many past efforts, these action programmes are to be fully integrated into other national policies for sustainable development. They should be flexible and modified as circumstances change.

South Africa

South Africa participated in the seventh Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD in Nairobi, Kenya in October 2005.As part of its international obligations, South Africa is committed to the eradication of poverty and the sustainable use and development of its natural resources. The country has a commitment to enhance the role of women and children as well as traditional communities in its desertification programmes. As part of South Africa's obligations under the Convention and as a tool to access funding provided by the Global Environment Fund (GEF), South Africa has developed a National Action Programme (NAP). The NAP has a vision of restoring and maintaining a healthy and prosperous environment and the promotion of sustainable land management. The government spent R280-million during the 2003/04 financial year, across all government departments, on projects and plans to combat desertification. Implementation of the NAP will start in 2005.

Through the NAP, South Africa is promoting policies to combat desertification and at the same time strengthening frameworks to promote co-ordination and co-operation between the donor community, government at all levels and local and rural communities. The National Department of Agriculture, as one of the leading departments involved in the implementation of the NAP, draws in rural communities into its desertification policies by means of the Land Care Program. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, in using the guidelines of the NAP, promotes its "Working for Water" projects, and involves rural communities through capacity building programs and poverty alleviation actions and projects.

Africa's drought and environmental challenges have caused many societal problems. Due to the limited resources available in Africa, the Global Mechanism (GM) has committed itself to provide funding for land degradation programmes. In South Africa, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) has made funds available to combat land degradation. At present the GEF funds are being used to fund the Desert Margin Program.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND COOPERATING ORGANISATIONS

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Department of Agriculture
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

GENERAL COMMENTS

In South Africa degradation of productive land is a major problem which requires concerted action.

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