Reviewing the International Year of Deserts and Desertification 2006: What contribution towards combating global desertification and implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

Submission by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

The world's soils hold more organic carbon than that held by the atmosphere as CO2 and vegetation, yet the role of the soil in capturing and storing carbon dioxide is often one missing information layer in taking into consideration the importance of the land in mitigating climate change. Extraordinary demands are being placed on agricultural systems to produce food, fiber and energy and yet the...

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): a carrying pillar in the global combat against land degradation and food insecurity

This paper provides an overview of linkages between the phenomena of land degradation and desertification and food insecurity. It reviews the basic concepts linked to food security and records main coping strategies, policy challenges and fields or action. It describes the approach taken by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (one of the three multilateral environmental agre...

Namibia’s Programme to Combat Desertification (NAPCOD) An Overview of Desertification Issues in the #Khoadi //Hoas Conservancy

Stochastic Desertification

The process of desertification is usually modeled as a first order transition, where a change of an external parameter (e.g. precipitation) leads to a catastrophic bifurcation followed by an ecological regime shift. However, vegetation elements like shrubs and trees undergo a stochastic birth-death process with an absorbing state; such a process supports a second order continuous transition wit...

Desertification and Drought

Germany has made the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) since its creation an instrument of choice for its policy to combat desertification and drought and for sustainable management of land. More then ten years after the Convention has entered into force in 1996, Germany continues to view it as a key reference point and strategic instrument of its development cooperation.