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Combating Desertification through Science
Desertification is a complex phenomenon, adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of over 2 billion people living in drylands that cover 40 percent of the earth’s surface. Where desertification occurs, poor people especially those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods are hit hardest.
Recognizing the severity of the problem, the United Nations has declared 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. |
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| At its core, desertification is about land degradation that decreases agricultural productivity, reduces biodiversity, and degrades the environment while diminishing ecosystem resilience. Caused by a combination of human-induced factors and climate change, desertification creates economic, environmental, and social hardship for millions of poor farmers who practice subsistence agriculture in fragile environments. |
Information Packet on Issues, Regions and CGIAR Contributions (10 fact sheets) |
| For more than 35 years, CGIAR scientists and partners have been harnessing global knowledge to combat desertification and ameliorate its negative impacts on food, nutrition, and income security of poor people, while promoting the sustainable management of important natural resources such as biodiversity, forests, soils, and water. The results and benefits of these science-based efforts include: |
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Hardy crops: New, high-yielding, stress- and disease-resistant crop varieties of beans, cassava, corn, grass pea, orange-fleshed sweet potato, pearl millet, rice, sorghum and wheat have been developed, and are increasing food availability in some the poorest, desertification-prone parts of the world.
Improved management of natural resources: Protecting the biophysical foundations of agriculture – biodiversity, forests, livestock, soils, and water – is critical to meeting the threats posed by desertification. New techniques such as applying small amounts of fertilizer, or micro-dosing, are increasing grain yields by 30 to 50 percent in west Africa. By expanding cactus cultivation in the Maghreb region, poor farmers are increasing their incomes while generating additional sources of feed for animals, preventing wind erosion and stabilizing sand dunes. Improved agroforestry practices are helping regenerate nutrient-depleted soils in east Africa, while watershed programs are reducing soil loss and increasing cropping intensity.
Improved policies: Knowledge-brokering, policy dialogue and consultation are key elements of CGIAR efforts to combat desertification. CGIAR social scientists recognize that local knowledge and locally-adapted coping strategies are vital for equipping poor people to meet the challenges of recurrent drought and desertification.
CGIAR Centers and UNCCD
CGIAR Centers that focus on dryland agriculture have a history of long involvement with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). ICRISAT represented the CGIAR in the United Nations' Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Desertification (INCD)'s process to elaborate the Convention during 1993-94. Since then, ICRISAT partnered with four additional Centers (ICRAF, IFPRI, ILRI, TSBF-CIAT) and nine sub-Sahara African countries to form the ecoregional Desert Margins Program to combat desertification. Since 1998, ICARDA was credentialed as an international organization representing all the CGIAR Centers to the UNCCD, and represents the CGIAR on the UNCCD's Global Mechanism Facilitation Committee. Uniting the efforts of CGIAR Centers in drylands, ICRISAT and ICARDA have created a Systemwide "Oasis" Program, and are actively participating in many of the scientific conferences and symposia to take place during the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
CGIAR strategies to fight desertification are fully supportive of international efforts, including the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention on Biological Diversity, and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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