Gradualist Steps for Anti-Desertification Fight
11/26/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environment: Gradualist Steps for Anti-Desertification Fight
Source: IPS
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 26, 1999
RECIFE, Brazil, - A gradualist "Recife Initiative," instead of a
hard-line "mandate" that would have set specific goals and time
lines, marked the end today to the Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Brazil, with the backing of the Latin American delegates, proposed a
mandate to establish anti-desertification commitments and criteria
for issues including water resources, forests, energy production,
traditional knowledge, and early-warning systems for major climatic
events.
But the "Initiative" merely states "the need to formulate a
declaration of commitment to promoting compliance with the
Convention," to be approved at next year's meeting.
The Initiative includes the spirit of the Brazilian proposal, said
Alison Drayton, spokeswoman for the Group of 77 plus China (G-77, a
bloc of developing countries). But it is more gradual, establishing
several steps before setting specific goals, commented a Latin
American delegate.
According to the approved resolution, "developing countries face
obstacles" in executing their three-year old national action plans,
an indirect reference to the lack of technical and financial
resources from wealthier countries.
Jose Sarney Filho, Brazil's environmental minister, defended the
mandate proposal as a way to specify the commitments assumed by the
159 countries that ratified the anti-desertification Convention,
following the example set by the "sister" Conventions on climate
change and bio-diversity.
The three environmental Conventions arose from the 1992 Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro, though delegates complained during the two-week
meeting in Recife that the climate change and bio- diversity issues
are much more "popular" than desertification, winning more public
support and international funding.
But the three environmental issues are closely inter-linked, pointed
out the UNCCD's Science and Technology Committee.
Climate changes like global warming can cause drought in some areas
and heavier rainfall in others, but either way it contributes to
desertification because it depletes usable water sources, destroys
forests and hastens erosion.
Higher global temperatures can also intensify the effects of El Nino,
the warm air currents over the Pacific Ocean blamed for floods in
Asia and a drought in Brazil that resulted in devastating Amazon
forest fires last year.
Deforestation, in turn, contributes to global warming, or the
"greenhouse effect." These processes also tend to harm biodiversity,
which in turn stimulates greater threats of desertification and
climate changes.
Land degradation harms or destroys habitats, making it one of the
greatest threats to all living species, warned the Science and
Technology Committee.
The interaction of these environmental phenomena demand the close
cooperation of the organizations that oversee the world's conventions
on climatic change, biodiversity and desertification according to a
resolution of the Recife conference.
The interrelated nature of the environmental issues also has its
positive side. Reforestation can restore the soil's ability to hold
moisture, reduce the impact of winds, and therefore the evaporation
of water, potentially leading to agricultural production on the
recovered land.
Climate changes degrade lands through increased average global
temperatures and potentially intensifying phenomena like El Nino,
stated Guido Soto, coordinator of Chile's national plan to fight
desertification.
A study in Chile identified a continuous reduction in rainfall, on a
similar curve in both the north and south of the country during this
century, accompanying the gradual process of global warming. But
total rainfall increased on the high plains, which cover parts of
Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.
El Nino, caused by the displacement of warm waters off Central
America toward the South American coast, alters air pressures and
harms marine life, especially species that are unable to migrate to
more favorable climes.
The other side of El Nino is La Nina. Both severely alter the yearly
rainfall in South America and Asia, with drought on one side of the
Pacific and floods on the other, or vice versa. Their effects are
also felt on other continents.
They are phenomena that repeat themselves, but are only predictable
in the short term, four to six months beforehand, said Soto, limiting
the possibility of implementing prevention measures for their effects
on agriculture, forests and water resources.
The environmental phenomena, especially climate changes, that lead to
increased desertification changes, worry the scientists who advise
the UNCCD Secretariat.
The inter-related processes permit a "synergy" that the UNCCD can
utilise in joint efforts with the other two environmental
Conventions, emphasised several delegates, indicating it could be a
way to maximise the UNCCD's limited financial resources.