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Desertification, drought pose threat - Annan
By
George Ntonya - 18-06-2002 |
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l 135 million people risk displacement
Desertification and drought pose a worldwide threat with serious economic, environmental and socio-political implications, United Nations secretary general Khofi Annan has said.
In his message for the international day to combat desertification and drought on Wednesday, Annan says that an estimated US$42 billion in income and six million hectares of productive land are being lost because of desertification, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity every year.
This, he says, has placed 135 million people who depend primarily on land for their livelihood at risk of being displaced.
Experts define desertification as diminution or destruction of biological potential of the land, which can lead to desert-like conditions. Drought on the other hand refers to a situation when rainfall is 70 percent below average for 21 days or longer. Desertification, though caused by climatic change, is more frequently associated with the influence of man while drought comes about mainly because of changes in the atmospheric circulation.
“The fallout is felt on all continents. In Africa, over the next 20 years some 60 million people are expected to move from the Sahelian region to less hostile areas if the desertification of their land is not halted,” says Annan.
In northeast Asia, he adds, dust and sandstorms have buried human settlements and forced schools and airports to shut down. In the Americas, dry spells and sandstorms have alarmed farmers and raised the spectre of another “Dust Bowl”, reminiscent of the 1930s.
According to him, lands once green and rich in vegetation in Southern Europe are now turning barren and brown.
A 2001 UN assessment report on Malawi says that low productivity of the agriculture sector has been partly affected by climatic vagaries associated with the recurrent cycle of droughts, among others.
It says that the major Southern Africa drought of 1992 reduced food crop production to 60 percent below the national food requirement. The 1994 drought again reduced production by 40 percent.
“In almost every growing season the country faces periodic dry spells, which contribute significantly to the low production of both food and cash crops,” says the report.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) adopted eight years ago is a key instrument not only in protecting ecosystems and resources, but also in alleviating poverty, says Annan adding, however, that a lack of predictable financial resources has hampered implementation of the convention.
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