21. IISD Linkages - Forest, Desertification, Land Other Forest Meetings Covered by IISD Reporting Services. desertification Meetings covered by ENB. Other desertification Meetings Covered by IISD Reporting http://www.iisd.ca/process/forest_desertification_land.htm

Forests, Desertification, Land News the Linkages team the ENB team Funders ... Links LINKAGES Recent meetings Upcoming meetings Media reports Key publications ... Linkages Update Global Forest Policy Introduction ENB archives CCD Introduction ENB archives Relevant links UN Forests ITTO UNCCD Links to other resources Click on the links to view IISD Reporting Services' daily coverage of the following meetings. Many include a summary and analysis of each meeting, plus digital coverage with photographs and Real Audio recordings. COVERAGE OF MEETINGS ON FORESTS, DESERTIFICATION OR LAND ISSUES Forests Meetings covered by ENB Other Forest Meetings Covered by IISD Reporting Services Desertification Meetings covered by ENB Other Desertification Meetings Covered by IISD Reporting Services FOREST MEETINGS COVERED BY ENB Forty-third session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-43) 5-10 November 2007, Yokohama, Japan Forty-second session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-42) 7-12 May 2007, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Seventh Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF7) 16-27 April 2007, United Nations (UN) Headquarters, New York, United States of America

22. Desertification So we have positive feedback and a selfaggravating process, culminating in desertification, a process of land degradation that destroys its productivity. http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap10/desertification.html

Desertification E. Linacre and B. Geerts Charney's hypothesis There is a controversy about the advance of deserts in the world (1). There is a widespread belief that the Sahara desert is advancing into the Sahel region, for instance. The Sahel is a narrow band of West Africa between 15 -18 N, between the Sahara to the north and savannah (grass and open forest) and equatorial forest to the south. It extends from Senegal at the coast at about 15 W, across Mali and Niger, to about 15 E. It receives rainfall during a short but active wet season, from late June to mid September. It is covered by grassland and supports a pasture-based society which traditionally moved meridionally following the rains. Its northern limit may be defined by the 200 mm/a isohyet. Is the Sahara extending into the Sahel? And if so, is this because of fluctuations of rainfall (total amount, rainfall intensity, duration of wet season, ) or is it largely the result of human activities, such as overgrazing or the removal of trees for firewood? There are also the questions: Do deserts create droughts? Do droughts create deserts? In other words, is there a positive climate feedback, which accelerates land degradation? A now classic paper by Jules Charney The problem of overgrazing in the Sahel is as acute now as it was in the 1960's, yet there is no clear rainfall trend in the Sahel. The period 1930-'60 was slightly wetter than 1960-'90 in most parts of the Sahel. More significant than any trend is the occurrence of dry and wet periods, each lasting several years. The Sahel enjoyed a notably wet decade in the 1950’s, which was followed by a drought in the 70’s and 80’s (1). However, land productivity was fully recovered around 1990. So Charney's hypothesis cannot be confirmed.

23. US Dept Of State - Publications Explores the problems of desertification, the warning signs, and how we can reduce it using proper land management. http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/desertific/

USINFO Publications CONTENTS Introduction Prospects and Problems The U.S. Experience Early Warning Land Management ... Epilogue Phyllis McIntosh George Clack Paul Malamud Christine Dawson, Joyce Namde, Mary Rowen Chloe Ellis Ann Monroe Jacobs Lynne Scheib, Joan Taylor Min-Chih Yao I S S U E I N F O C U S DESERTIFICATION: Earth's Silent Scourge (Posted September 13, 2004) INTRODUCTION "A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself." President Franklin D. Roosevelt Internally displaced people walk through a dust storm, Denan, Ethiopia. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) The word "desertification" may not be familiar to some readers; however, it goes to the core of global environmental concerns that increasingly preoccupy people on all continents of the globe. This book, published by the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Bureau of International Information Programs, attempts to define, explain, and offer suggestions about how to deal with the insidious process of land degradation in agricultural and forest areas worldwide that is known as desertification. Although some aspects are hidden from human sight, desertification affects everybody on the planet by robbing global soil of nutrients, degrading agricultural production, spreading dust throughout the globe, contaminating water, and making it far more difficult to remedy poverty and hunger.

24. Land Degradation And Desertification | NRCS Soils International Union of Soil Sciences working group site offers conference reports, technical papers and links to other organizations. http://soils.usda.gov/use/worldsoils/landdeg/

Soils Home About Us Soil Survey Soil Use ... Contact Us Search Soils All NRCS Sites for Soil Use Hydric Soils Soil Quality State of the Land ... Centers and Institutes Land Degradation and Desertification Last Modified: The Working Group on Land Degradation and Desertification of the International Union of Soil Sciences AGENDA 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development emphasizes the need and proposes a wide range of activities to address land degradation in general and desertification in particular. As a response to this challenge, more than 100 countries have signed the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) in 1997. A key point of the CCD deals with scientific and technical cooperation on investigation, collection, evaluation of the processes and factors involved in land degradation leading to desertification. At the conclusion of the Conference on Land Degradation at Adana, an International Task Force on Land Degradation, to be formed under the auspices of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), was proposed and unanimously adopted. Plato: Attica (Athens) was no longer cultivated by true herdsmen, who made husbandry their business, and were lovers of honor, and of a noble nature. As a result Attica had become deforested, the soils depleted, and there are remaining only the bones of the wasted body –all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away.

25. UNEP Programme On Success Stories In Land Degradation Although desertification still remains a major environmental problem, The programme to define and publicize success stories in desertification control, http://www.unep.org/desertification/successstories/

UNEP Programme on Success Stories in Land Degradation/ Desertification Control The Background For more than 20 years, UNEP has been actively involved in worldwide efforts to combat dryland degradation. Although desertification still remains a major environmental problem, impeding dryland development, there are also many projects and community-based initiatives which have successfully addressed these problems. These successes need to be better publicized to show that land degradation/ desertification can be controlled, and positive experiences can be replicated. The main criteria for a success story requires that activities directly and substantially contribute to the prevention of dryland degradation or to the reclamation of degraded land, using appropriate resources in a cost-effective manner. A success story addresses not only the biophysical but also the socio-cultural-economic issues in all its developmental stages, thus ensuring long-term sustainability. With this in mind UNEP decided to solicit through direct contact, newsletters, relevant journals and magazines, reports on desertification control activities considered successful by implementing organizations, NGOs or communities. More than one hundred submissions from Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have been received since 1994. More than 30 projects have been evaluated on-site since the initiation of this programme. 25 of these have received the "Saving the Dry lands" certificate award and had an opportunity to exhibit these successes at UNEP sponsored conferences. UNEP continues to encourage the submission of case studies which outline promising practices, as well as lessons which can be replicated elsewhere under similar environmental and socio-economic conditions.

26. Tiempo Issue 8 Desertification The Scourge Of Africa desertification is the term that has recently been given to this process. Its main causes are drought, desiccation and human activities. http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/tiempo/issue08/desert.htm

Desertification: the scourge of Africa Michael Bernard Kwesi Darkoh discusses the complex factors underlying the threat to Africa's drylands. WITHIN THE LAST DECADE or so, 25 countries in Africa have faced drastic food shortages as a result of the extended drought. The reduced capacity for food production has brought a population of over 200 million people to the verge of calamity. Some have died of starvation, and among the survivors, especially the children and young people, many will suffer impaired health for the rest of their lives. The international community brought in emergency aid, both in the form of food supplies and of technical assistance in rehabilitating drought victims. However, the drought hazard in Africa can be expected to continue, recurring at unpredictable intervals. It cannot be overcome by one-time massive injections of emergency aid. A long-range strategy must be developed which is capable of being realized under the given constraints of these impoverished regions through sustainable development of their fragile environment. The droughts and famines that have swept over Africa in the past and which are likely to strike again are not sudden natural disasters. Nor are they simply caused by lack of rainfall. They are the end-results of a long deterioration in the ability of Africa to feed itself, a decline caused largely by mistakes and mismanagement - both inside and outside the continent.

27. CARRE At SDSU - Aral Sea Desertification Study A tremendous amount of desertification can be seen between the years of 1973 and 1989. These Landsat MSS processed subscenes of the southern Aral Sea area http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/facilities/carre/carre_study.html

28. Ron Gluckman Reports From China Article and photos describe desertification in China, where the desert is on the move. With dunes already 75 kilometers from Beijing, environmentalists fear http://www.gluckman.com/ChinaDesert.html

Beijing's Desert Storm The desert is sweeping into China's valleys, choking rivers and consuming precious farm land. Beijing has responded with massive tree-planting campaigns, but the Great Green Walls may not be able to buffer the sand, which could cover the capital in a few years By Ron Gluckman /Beijing, Fengning and Langtougou, China F ROM HIS ROOFTOP, Su Rongxi maintains an unsteady balance, perched between the past and a precarious future. One foot is planted firmly upon his tiled roof. The other sinks ankle-deep into a huge sand dune that threatens to engulf his house and Langtougou village, where his ancestors have lived for generations. For this dirt-poor town in Hebei province, the sands of time aren't just a quaint notion, they are close at hand, burning the eyes and lungs. And for Langtougou, the sands seem to be ticking out. "We have no money to move and, besides, who would have us?" says Su. "There's nothing to do but dig away the sand and wait to see what happens. Sometimes I dream of the sand falling around me faster than I can dig away. The sand chokes me. I worry that in real life, the sand will win." Su and his neighbors are ethnic Manchurians who survive by cultivating subsistence crops and raising horses, goats and pigs. But this year violent sandstorms dumped entire dunes into the once-fertile Fengning county valley. Now most of the grass is gone and the Chaobai River stands dry. Besieged villagers say they have no idea where the sand came from. The scary bit? Su's almost-buried house is nowhere near the heart of China's rapidly encroaching deserts. It is just 160 km north of Beijing. Suddenly, rural Langtougou has become a barren outpost on the front line of a national battlefield.

29. Desertification Short introduction into desertification in Africa. http://www.geog.umd.edu/research/projects/Desertification.htm

Undergraduate Graduate Graduate Application Program Brochures ... People Desertification Principal Investigator: Stephen D. Prince Non-degraded grazing land, at near potential productivity (NPP set by the climate and soil.) Dryland degradation or desertification is widely believed to be a major global environmental threat, to which the international community has responded with the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) and a Convention to Combat Desertification. Yet no objective definition or operational measurement techniques have been agreed for global application. Existing field and regional reports are subjective, qualitative and inconsistent, inhibiting regional and global assessment. In this project this problem is addressed at local to regional and global scales Earlier work on this topic was undertaken in the Sahel (the southern fringe of the Sahara stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea). The region was the cradle of the desertification debate and it suffered several devastating droughts and famines between the late 1960s and early 1990s. Desertified (degraded) grazing land in northern South Africa. Note sparse vegetation and soil erosion

30. Index Information about international project, funded by the European Union, to investigate the effects of desertification on land use in Mediterranean Europe. http://www.medalus.demon.co.uk/

Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use An eight year international, interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Commission on environmental change in Mediterranean Europe. Outline of project Detailed work plans for MEDALUS III For all other information about the project, please contact the project office medalus@medalus.demon.co.uk Last modified April 2001 Indexes of institutions, participants and links from key words Document and data archive ... and related web sites

31. Contents 5. Panel discussion problems of livelihood and desertification 6. Contributed papers 8. United Nations activities to combat desertification http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80127e/80127E00.htm

Social and environmental aspects of desertification Table of contents (42 p.) Edited by J.A. Mabbutt and Andrew W. Wilson Proceedings of an Inter-Congress Meeting of the International Geographical Union Working Group on Desertification in and around Arid Lands, held in conjunction with the Arid Lands Sub-programme of the United Nations University Natural Resources Programme, and the UNESCO/MAB Programme. 3-8 January 1979. Tuscon, Arizona, USA. THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY © The United Nations University, 1980 NRTS-5/UNUP-1 27 ISBN 92-808-0127-9 This report was published within the framework of the United Nations University's Programme on the Use and Management of Natural Resources. The views expressed are those of the editors and not necessarily those of the United Nations University. United Nations University Press The United Nations University 53-70 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo 150, Japan Tel.: (03) 3499-2811. Fax: (03) 3406-7345. Telex: J25442. Cable: UNATUNIV TOKYO. Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Tucson-the city and the desert

32. Photos: Desertification - The Lab - Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gatewa 2006 is the International Year of Deserts and desertification, celebrating the beauty of deserts while calling attention to desertification, which threatens http://www.abc.net.au/science/photos/desertification/

Search the ABC ABC Home Radio Television ... Podcasts Desertification 2006 is the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, celebrating the beauty of deserts while calling attention to desertification, which threatens hundreds of millions of people with drought and famine. Take the photo journey photos home nature photos video-on-demand screensavers ... thelab@your.abc.net.au Photos - from the extraordinarily beautiful to the downright bewildering world of science. Latest Photos Biodiversity Photo journeys Clouds ... Why is it so? Screensavers Great Quotes Bizarre Headlines Perfect Photos Science Features

33. Desertification It would be a mistake to view the various ecological trends such as desertification as isolated, localized threats. Local threats they certainly are. http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/Sept97/10unep.html

Desertification by Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme It would be a mistake to view the various ecological trends such as desertification as isolated, localized threats. Local threats they certainly are. But, they also form a mosaic whose patterns help define many of the key global concerns of our age - issues which, directly or indirectly, touch upon the lives of everyone. Desertification is a complex phenomenon whose effects are manifested socially. The hardships suffered by the millions who stay behind in a land gradually losing all its productivity and the millions of those who decide to leave their impoverished surroundings to an even more miserable existence in an urban setting - are the social manifestations of this malaise. These marginalized citizens - often women - have little support and few to care for them. Economically invisible, they do not appear on the spread-sheets of economists; they may have very little access to community services, to national programs, even to the processes of democracy. They may have no security of tenure on their land or even for the trees they plant. Programs in the past to control desertification have had limited success. Those which succeeded did so only in some areas and only for limited periods. Even small projects which were successful have seldom been replicable over large areas. The reasons for our failure are apparent: a palpable lack of political will, inadequate resources, emphasis on abstract planning rather than on field action, and neglect of the social dimensions of the problem.

34. Welcome To SEPADO - SOMALIA SEPADO, Somali Environmental Protection and Anti desertification Organisation is Non Profit / Non Governmental Organisation that combats with environmental http://members.tripod.com/~sepado/

alert("Attention!!!! This Home Page is best viewed with Micro-Soft Internet Explorer 3 and greater (Resolution 800 x 600 Pixels). If time allows you, Grateful if you could sign our Guest Book and leave your comments.Thank you.") SOMALI ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ANTI-DESERTIFICATION ORGANISATION SEPADO P.O.BOX 27750, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tel: +971 -2 - 787 442 Fax: +971- 187-02215 243 Somalia Environmental Protection and Anti-desertification Organisation (SEPADO) is legally constituted and registered as voluntary Non-governmental Organisation, formed during the summer of 1996 to combat environmental problems of the war-torn Somalia. Due to the lack of central government in Somalia during the last 6 years is causing the environment of Somalia to suffer greatly as a result of human destruction. The environmental condition of Somalia is catastrophic and deteriorating day after day. Following are major threats facing the environment in Somalia: 1. Burning of the forests and uprooting of all big trees for charcoal which is exported to Foreign countries for hard currency 3. Lack of proper covered roads causes lorries and other automobiles to drive on a wide area of land. The consequence of this is hundreds of kilometres of dead, dust and useless lands. Also this contributes to the creation of dry rivers, canyons that spoil pasture land.

35. Desertification: Heading For Catastrophe? desertification is a growing threat worldwide. Two prerequisites for successful interventions ensure the local community is fully involved, http://www.icarda.org/HomePageStory/Desertification.htm

Desertification: Heading for Catastrophe? Desertification is a growing threat worldwide. Two prerequisites for successful interventions: ensure the local community is fully involved, and combine modern technologies with local knowledge. Richard J. Thomas T Far from being a hopeless cause, drylands actually yield higher returns to investments than other areas. A better understanding of desertification will enable us to develop more appropriate, effective solutions. What is desertification? The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as 'land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climate variation and human activities'. Desertification is among the biggest environmental concerns today, globally and especially in drylands, which cover over 40% of the world's land area. The UNCCD estimates that desertification already affects 250 million people, and has declared 2006 as the 'International Year of Deserts and Desertification'. Desertification dates back to the beginning of agriculture 7000 years ago and was noted during the collapse of Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire. In the region of the 'hundred dead cities' near Aleppo, Syria, 3-6 feet of soil was washed away in the first century following the invasion of armies and disuse of conservation structures. More recent manifestations include the dust bowls of the American mid-west in the 1930s, the shrinking of the Aral Sea from the 1960s onwards, and debilitating dust storms in China in the 1990s that continue today (costing the country US$ 2-3 billion every year). All these occurred during attempts to increase agricultural productivity!

36. Desertification desertification is the expansion of dry lands due to poor agricultural practices (e.g. overgrazing, degradation of soil fertility and structure), http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/biogeography/desertifica

The Physical Environment Contents Glossary Atlas ... Biogeography of the Earth Desertification Desertification is the expansion of dry lands due to poor agricultural practices (e.g. overgrazing, degradation of soil fertility and structure), improper soil moisture management, salinization and erosion, forest removal, and climate change. BE.43 Desertification in Africa Courtesy FAO Two common misconceptions prevail about desertification, that it spreads from a desert core and drought is responsible. Desertification spreads outward from any where excessive abuse of the land occurs and far from any climatic desert. Droughts do increase the possibility of desertification if the carrying capacity of non-irrigated land is exceeded. Well-managed land can recover from the effects of drought. Combining drought with land abuse sets the stage for desertification. Cause of Desertification Desertification comes about by a complex interaction between the natural environment and human activities. The cause may vary from region to region on account of economic conditions, population pressure, agricultural practices, and politics. Human activities that destroys surface vegetation, degrades soil structure and fertility, impedes water infiltration, and causes soil drying promotes desertification. This is especially true for the fragile transition zone between arid and semiarid land where human activity has stretched the ecosystem to its limit causing expansion of deserts.

37. Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started By Changes In Earth's Orbit, Accelerated German scientists, employing a new climate system model, have concluded that desertification of the Saharan and Arabia regions was initiated by subtle http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm

Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email Bookmark ScienceDaily (Jul. 12, 1999) See also: Climate Global Warming Earth Science Weather ... Temperature record The researchers, headed by Martin Claussen of the Potsdam-Institut fuer Klimafolgenforschung (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) employed a model of intermediate complexity to analyze climate feedbacks during the past several thousand years of the current, or Holocene, era. Called CLIMBER-2 (for CLIMate and BiosphERe, version 2.1), the model led to the conclusion that the desertification of North Africa began abruptly 5,440 years ago (+/- 30 years). Before that time, the Sahara was covered by annual grasses and low shrubs, as evidenced by fossilized pollen. The transition to today's arid climate was not gradual, but occurred in two specific episodes. The first, which was less severe, occurred between 6,700 and 5,500 years ago. The second, which was brutal, lasted from 4,000 to 3,600 years ago. Summer temperatures increased sharply, and precipitation decreased, according to carbon-14 dating. This event devastated ancient civilizations and their socio-economic systems. The change from the mid-Holocene climate to that of today was initiated by changes in the Earth's orbit and the tilt of Earth's axis. Some 9,000 years ago, Earth's tilt was 24.14 degrees, as compared with the current 23.45 degrees, and perihelion, the point in the Earth's orbit that is closest to the Sun, occurred at the end of July, as compared with early January now. At that time, the Northern Hemisphere received more summer sunlight, which amplified the African and Indian summer monsoon.

38. Just Deserts Bad Soil Practices Create A Sea Of Sand (By Paul According to the United Nations, desertification is degrading soil The UN has declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and desertification. http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3346

39. Desertification Taking Toll On Africa's Sahel Jul 31, 2006 I think it is a good kind of system to fight against desertification, because we are giving time to the pastures to grow and when the http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-07-31-voa38.cfm

var gMenuControlID=0; var menus_included = 0; var jsPageAuthorMode = 0; var jsSessionPreviewON = 1; var jsDlgLoader = '/english/Archive/loader.cfm'; var jsSiteID = 13; var jsSubSiteID = 75; var kurrentPageID = 165374; document.CS_StaticURL = ""; document.CS_DynamicURL = ""; Text Only Search V OICE OF A MERICA VOA Home VOA English Regions/Topics Subscribe to E-mail ... About VOA Latest Newscast News Now Live VOA Africa Live Africa Americas Asia Europe ... Read Editorials By Nico Colombant Dakar 31 July 2006 Colombant report - Download 594k - Download (Real) Colombant report - Download 594k - Listen (Real) Gerbil-like rodents ravage crops He says it is all a result of desertification. "The development of these desert species of rodents is brought about through a degradation of the environment. Their arrival has caused a type of human illness called borreliosis to progress southward," said Duplantier. "It is a disease of recurrent fevers. Doctors often confuse it with malaria and give the wrong medication. Some people talk about resistant malaria when they actually have this other disease caused by the presence of rodents." Diseases in Africa used to be mostly water-borne, but with desertification that is

40. International Year Of Deserts And Desertification 2006 The Department of the Environment and Heritage is inviting organisations and communities to register activities for inclusion in Australia’s calendar of http://www.environment.gov.au/events/iydd/index.html

Skip navigation links About us Contact us Publications ... What's new Special Events You are here: Environment home Environmental events calendar International Year of Deserts and Desertification 2006 IYDD Factsheets Photos courtesy: Cameron Slatyer Download the International Year of Deserts and Desertification logo International Year of Deserts and Desertification - 2006 Deserts and Desertification related links IYDD Factsheets The United Nations proclamation of 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification provided valuable opportunities for Australian communities to learn about and become more involved in desert ecosystem and desertification issues. All countries, international and community organisations were invited by the United Nations to celebrate the year and to support public awareness activities related to desertification and land degradation. The year will highlight the growing threat that desertification represents for humans, and celebrate the unique ecosystem and cultural diversity of deserts worldwide. There is a difference between the need to fight against desertification as a threat to sustainable development and the protection of deserts as unique natural habitat. Internationally, activities for 2006 were coordinated by the

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