Desertification: Its Nature, Extent and Impact and the Interaction with Global Climate Change

Desertification is a major human tragedy, affecting the daily lives of about 1 billion people. It is this aspect of desertification that deserves further consideration. As a humanitarian effort it is an opportunity, and an obligation, for the industrialized nations to transfer financial support and technical assistance to those countries worst affected by land degradation in all its forms. Desertification is a key component of global environmental change but knowledge of its extent and links with global climate change is poor. Studies of both phenomena are hindered by difficulties in separating long-term trends from short-term variations. Greater convergence between research in the two fields would improve understanding of vegetation degradation, soil degradation, land surface-atmosphere interactions and the social dimension of global environmental change. It is also indispensable for effective global climate change mitigation. While the need to realize synergies between the three “Rio conventions” on climate change, biodiversity and desertification is recognized, progress has been slow, both bilaterally (between conventions) and multilaterally (through the Global Environment Facility). One reason for this is lack of scientific knowledge of the linkages between them, yet slow institutional convergence is hindering research convergence that would help to fill this gap. The most pragmatic solution to this problem seems to be to give desertification a higher profile within the IPCC. These issues are explored through a series of 10 Propositions.