Message for World Environment
Day 2011 from Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary
of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
Arid zone forests are the quintessence of
Forests: Nature at Your Service, the theme
of this year's World Environment Day. These
forests are the "invisible" backbone
of humanity's food security
today. One in every three plants under cultivation
originated here and now provide globally-consumed
crops like wheat, barley, sorghum, corn,
cabbage, potatoes and olives. Half of the
world's livestock lives off arid zone forests
and a significant proportion of the 2 billion
people who live in the world's drylands
directly depend on these forests for their
day-to-day sustenance, energy and wood needs.
The services rendered
by the arid zone forests go beyond this
food provisioning service. The arid zone
forests play a critical ecosystem service.
They are a key part of the climate regulating
system and sustain valuable global biological
diversity. They are inhabited by the world's
largest concentration of mammals and over
50,000 plant and 1,500 bird species. And
so, just as they have done for many generations
in the past, the resources from the arid
zone forests continue to sustain humanity.
But for how long?
Two policy failures,
in particular, undermine the long-term sustainability
of arid zone forests. First, largely due
to an underestimation of their value, arid
zone forests remain "invisible"
to policy-makers. Consequently, the policy
incentives required to sustainably conserve
and use arid zone forests are underdeveloped.
Second, whereas the forest, land and water
resources are naturally interdependent and
function as a trilogy, the prevalent policy
approach to their conservation is to focus
on each resource singularly. The consequent
policy imbalance in resource prioritization
undermines the sustainability of all.
For us to ensure that
future generations enjoy equal, if not better,
utility of these resources, policy-makers
and practitioners alike must think outside
the box in the management of drylands forests.
This means, first, focusing on the causes,
not symptoms, of their degradation. Second,
it calls for a careful and coordinated calibration
of the land, forest and water policies for
drylands. Third, it makes the payment for
ecosystems in the drylands a requirement,
not an option. Lastly, it underscores the
need to mainstream soil improvement in all
sustainable development frameworks.
The 10-year strategy
of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (2008-2018) is designed
with the kind of vision we are called to
adopt for World Environment Day; where nature
in and from the drylands serves humanity
now, and into perpetuity. One strategic
objective is to improve the conditions of
the drylands ecosystems affected by land
degradation. Another is to improve the livelihoods
of the populations in the drylands regions
affected by land degradation or desertification,
as the phenomenon is commonly referred to
in respect of the drylands. As a measure
of progress, the reports submitted during
each second reporting cycle will quantify
two aspects, starting in 2012.
First, they will quantify
the proportion of the population living
above the poverty line, and second, the
status of the land cover. The change in
direction signals an increase or decrease
of poverty or deforestation as the case
may be. If the land cover is increasing,
we can expect its forests and vegetation
to continue servicing humanity. Similarly,
if relatively more people are exiting poverty,
then poverty as a cause of forest degradation
is addressed, and the services provided
by the drylands are more assured.
In order for the real
economic value of the services rendered
by the drylands, including its arid zone
forests to be correctly determined, the
2nd UNCCD Scientific Conference will be
held in 2012, under the theme, 'Economic
assessment of desertification, sustainable
land management and resilience of arid,
semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas'.
Arid zone forests are
the prototype of nature at humanity's service,
but are often taken for granted. Let this
year's World Environment Day be the time
for an unequivocal commitment to the protection
of the arid zone forest, land and water
resources. Together we can improve the livelihoods
of the communities affected by poverty,
and eliminate a major cause of the degradation
of the forest, water and land resources.
Doing so would enhance food security and
secure the resources in the drylands for
posterity.
I applaud the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for
its unceasing quest for environmental sustainability
and congratulate India and UNEP, on this
auspicious occasion, for reminding us that
nature is not to be taken for granted. We
abuse it at our peril.
