The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) at its Sixteenth Session 1. (CSD-16) to be held in 2008, will focus on the assessment of the progress made in implementing programs and actions on sustainable development under the thematic cluster of issues covering agriculture and rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.

It soon became apparent that soil degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands may be posing a threat not only in terms of the physical loss of soils, but also in terms of deteriorating, soil chemical fertility. This study has therefore emphasized both the physical and chemical deterioration of soils due to degradation.

Les effets des conditions climatiques défavorables et la persistance de la sécheresse et de la désertification sont ressentis de plus en plus profondément par plus de 60 p. 100 des pays africains. Les autres pays, y compris ceux que l'on croyait bénéficier d'un climat équatorial ou tropical, sont menacés par la sécheresse et la désertification. La persistance de la sécheresse, compromet sérieusement les activités productives nécessaires au développement socio-économique équilibré du continent.

The mission held discussions with several members of staff of the SADC-ELMS on current and planned programmes and activities of ELMS with emphasis on issues related to combating desertification and the mitigation of the impacts of drought. Amongst those interviewed in Maseru included the technical advisor, a training officer and environment officer of the ELMS and the UNDP Resident Representative. In Namibia and Botswana the interviews and discussions centered on possible institutions that could be entrusted with the responsibility of coordination of SRAP activities on behalf of SADC ELMS.

Population, environment and agricultural development constitute an inter linked, mutually-reinforcing paradigm which affects the level of food insecurity and the depth of poverty in a developing region such as Africa. Apart from chronic food insecurity and acute poverty, Africa is faced with other daunting threats. These include escalating population growth, widespread malnutrition, inadequate sanitation, and scarcity of clean water, air pollution and severe land degradation.

This document focuses on the climate development Africa annual report. It outlines ClimDev-Africa’s performance and achievements assessed using the ClimDev-Africa Monitoring Framework and Evaluation Approach (MFEA) results’ indicators. The report contains Introduction.

Across the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia, millions of newly planted trees struggle to survive amid adverse ecological conditions. They were planted by a wide variety of actors in an attempt to protect, restore, or modify the local environment, despite evidence of their negative consequences upon local ecosystems. This paper investigates how these afforestation projects both challenge and affirm recent theoretical work on conservation, while also providing key insights into the decision-making framework of land management across the world’s third largest desert region.

Land-use planning (LUP), an instrument of land governance, is often employed to protect land and humans against natural and human-induced hazards, strengthen the resilience of land systems, and secure their sustainability. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) underlines the critical role of appropriate local action to address the global threat of land degradation and desertification (LDD) and calls for the use of local and regional LUP to combat LDD and achieve land degradation neutrality. The paper explores the challenges of putting this call into practice.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification defines ‘land degradation’ as a reduction or loss of the biological and economic productivity resulting from land-use mismanagement, or a combination of processes, such as soil erosion, deterioration of soil properties, and loss of natural vegetation and biodiversity. Land degradation is hence an interactive process involving multiple factors, among which climate, land-use, economic dynamics and socio-demographic forces play a key role.

Livestock production is the main source of livelihood in the arid and semi-arid lands in Africa. However, desertification characterized by vegetation degradation and soil erosion is a major threat to the sustainability of land-based production systems. Native rangeland forage species Cenchrus ciliaris L. (Buffel grass/African foxtail grass), Eragrostis superba Peyr. (Maasai love grass) and Enteropogon macrostachyus (Hochst. Ex A. Rich.) Monro ex Benth. (Bush rye grass) have been used to combat desertification.

The process of desertification is complex, involving interaction between many factors, both environmental and anthropogenic. However, human activities, especially from land-use change and inappropriate land use, are the most influential factors associated with the desertification risk. This study was conducted in Huay Sai, a degraded land in Thailand. The Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI) model incorporating Geogracphic Information System (GIS) was applied to investigate and map the desertification sensitivity area.