UN conference on land degradation opens in bonn

A major international conference on the United Nations convention on desertification opened in Bonn, Germany, Monday, bringing together government representatives from around the world to discuss how to halt land degradation in the world's drylands.

Speaking at the opening of the fourth Session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, President of the UN General Assembly, Harri Holkeri of Finland, highlighted the importance of cooperation in implementing the treaty. "It is through partnerships that we will be able to empower the poor to help themselves," he said.

Referring to the more than 30 National Programs that have already been prepared by developing countries towards the Convention's implementation, Mr. Holkeri said he hoped the Programs would galvanize the interest of the international community and find their way onto the meeting agendas of the UN, the Bretton Woods institutions, the European Union and others.

For its part, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) has stressed that the Convention was a key element in the fight against desertification, and must be given its proper importance among UN treaties.

"While some of the immediate effects of desertification and drought are experienced only by a few countries, the long-term effects will have far-reaching consequences for all of us," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said in a statement. He expressed hope that industrialized countries would soon overcome their perception that desertification was a regional problem "that is happening somewhere else." UNEP also welcomed the announcement by the United States of its intention to ratify the desertification Convention, calling the decision "a very positive signal towards a global commitment to combat desertification."

Noting that one-sixth of the world's population was already affected by land degradation, the UN agency warned that around 40 per cent of the land surface was currently composed of drylands, while about 65 per cent of all arable land had already lost some of its biological and physical functions. Since drylands were already hot and dry, they would be particularly vulnerable to any future reduction in rainfall or increase in temperature, UNEP said.