14. Emphasis is being placed on traditional knowledge and good practices where these are shown to favour resource conservation and consolidate socio-economic cohesion. This principle has been the driving force behind the creation of information and decision-support systems such as WOCAT and the UNEP initiative on success stories in land degradation/desertification control. This approach is also applied in projects such as the joint UNU/UNEP/GEF programme called People, Land Management and Environmental Change (PLEC), which is carrying out joint farmer/researcher inventories and demonstrations of local management practices in critical areas from the farmer’s perspective. The programme stimulates the local stakeholders to establish sound relationships with extension and research workers, policy makers and planners. There is growing awareness that traditional farming systems cannot be separated from the roles of the different groups (e.g., women, elders, religious and political leaders) in the local decision-making system. Responsibilities are linked to empowerment. Case studies have shown that working in land units that combine agro-ecological zoning (i.e., watersheds) with administrative or community boundaries facilitates the recognition or establishment of strong relationships between land resources and land uses.

16. The replacement of damaging practices with innovative solutions that can cope with local social and ecological peculiarities and are simple to adopt and self-sustainable is behind the development and promotion of land management techniques encompassed in the concept of conservation agriculture. The objective of conservation agriculture is to promote production systems able to satisfy stable production, economic viability and effective conservation and optimum use of water, soil and agro-biodiversity components. It is based on the adoption of sustainable land-use practices by farmers and rural communities and their capacity to mitigate the land degradation factors. Conservation agriculture involves very diverse site-specific applications and therefore cannot be a standardized technology package. It is a methodological approach aimed at developing farmer-driven solutions for specific problems, enhancing the resilience of farming systems and optimizing the natural interactions and synergies of land resources, such as soil, micro-organisms, water, agro-biodiversity and crop rotations.

17. The ouputs and the lessons learned from the application of conservation agriculture are potentially very useful, influencing policy-making and emphasizing the goal of sustainable agriculture. Although examples of successful conservation agriculture in intensive and mechanized farming are well recorded in some countries, such as Brazil and Australia, applications in lower-input systems in dryland conditions are still limited in many countries. However, traditional practices and the preliminary results of conservation agriculture have been assessed and promoted by programmes such as WOCAT. That initiative, launched in 1992 by a consortium of international institutions, has been further developed with additional successful case studies and is now available on CD-ROM and soon on the Internet.

18. The support of private sector technology and services, the establishment of a policy enabling environment and the visibility of social and economic benefits for farmers are important for the dissemination of sustainable practices. More recently, conservation agriculture opportunities have been developed and tested in small-holder conditions using the community or the watershed as the referential units. Sustained support to field activities, dissemination of the results and integration of the approach in training and extension messages should be at the top of the agenda. In addition, the driving forces behind the development of conservation agriculture must be duly considered; they include economic policies (subsidies and incentives, input supply and prices), training and extension services, and land tenure regimes.

19. National and local capacity-building is widely considered to be an essential condition for promoting an integrated approach to land planning and management. To translate the participatory approach into effective empowerment and self-reliance of local actors, particular emphasis has been given in the training of administrators, practitioners and local partners to planning and managing programmes such as national action plans and drought preparedness. The objectives are to decentralize skills, increase awareness, harmonize national and local strategies and match planned activities with local conditions. On the other hand, the promotion of good practices and innovative solutions and their adoption in the field need the full involvement of farmers and practitioners as well as of the people involved in research and extension. Several training approaches have been developed and applied at various levels. "Farmers field schools" (e.g., in Cuba) are promoting improved collaboration between farmers and researchers and, through that synergy, developing viable in situ demonstrations. "Farmer-to-farmer" programmes promote the role of farmers as extensionists building on successful farmer-driven practices. The "farmer innovators" approach stresses the capacity of farmers to adapt their farming systems to innovative techniques and to the changing requirements and the role of farmer as catalysts in the transfer of appropriate technology. These methodologies differ in name rather than in approach. They all show positive results in terms of:

(a) Integrating local knowledge and innovative technology;

(b) Adoption or improvement of sustainable land use practices by farmers;

(c) Improved relations and collaboration between research, land users and extension services;

(d) Cost-effectiveness and reduced dependence on external know-how and inputs.

20. Water resource limitation, both in quantity and quality, is intrinsically related to drylands. Most dryland societies are strongly dependent on agriculture, despite the risks involved. Drought mitigation and prevention strategies aim at helping people "learning to live with drought".⁹ The launching of decentralized drought preparedness and mitigation programmes contributes to the capacity of local communities to plan, develop and manage their own desertification and drought responses and strengthens their responsibility for the management of their land and water resources. This requires programmes tailored to local agro-climatic conditions and to the local social and economic factors, since they determine the type of agricultural development that is most relevant. A watershed and catchment approach is progressively adopted. The water-use strategies and technologies differ according to the prevailing local skills and socio-economic conditions and to the required investments. In Israel, for example, efficient water distribution methods make it possible to irrigate arid soils.

21. The use of drip irrigation has been shown to minimize losses and lower the salinity in the root zone. Brackish water can be used for salt-tolerant species, and organic material from urban and agricultural waste is also used as compost to rehabilitate saline soils. It is clear that these practices are heavily dependent on research and investments and may not all be applicable in poor dryland countries. However, there are basic concepts of land and water management that may well serve for site-specific (but transferable) solutions. The following can be mentioned:

(a) Optimization of available water by improving distribution and minimizing losses by, for example, increased water harvesting and storage, piped supply and localized irrigation;

(b) Recycling waste water from urban and livestock farming sources, after ensuring that its quality is suitable for crops and human health;

(c) Increasing the water retention capacity of the soil by applying, for example, mulching, soil cover and shading;

(d) Selecting and developing drought- and salt-tolerant crops, a practice that is linked to biotechnology, promotion of indigenous species and agro-biodiversity.

22. The ratification of the Convention to Combat Desertification by 159 countries is a binding commitment to combat desertification and related degradation problems and to integrate its initiatives into broader development policies and mechanisms. International agencies, including the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNSO, UNEP, FAO, the World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), play a key role in assisting countries to prepare their national action plans and to implement Conference-related activities. In most signatory countries, the process of elaborating national, regional and/or subregional action plans is under way with variable results and progress. In Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Togo and Uganda the national action plan has been completed and placed under the coordination of a national environmental action plan secretariat. The action plan itself constitutes the umbrella strategy for other specific land-related plans and programmes, such as the Soil Fertility Initiative. In Zimbabwe the district environmental action plans provide the framework into which the national action plan has been integrated. In Botswana and Ethiopia, national conservation strategies provide the framework for the national action plan. Due to the early stage of the national action plan building process, it is difficult to assess the short-term benefits realized at the regional, national, subnational levels and their concordance with longer term environmental and socio-economic objectives. Results to date are more visible in the advancement of the plan processes than in actual control of desertification. In resolution 54/223 the General Assembly invited affected developing countries that had not yet adopted their national action programmes or, where appropriate, regional or subregional action programmes, to try to finalize them no later than the end of 2000.

23. On a global scale, there is growing recognition of synergies. The secretariat of the Conference to Combat Desertification has signed memoranda of understanding with the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Consultations are also under way with the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The secretariat of the Conference to Combat Desertification has also developed or is in the process of developing memoranda of understanding with other institutional partners, such as FAO, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNEP, IFAD and GEF.

24. There is growing diversification as regards the establishment of financing mechanisms to fund plans and initiatives related to the Convention to Combat Desertification. For example, the use of debt-for-environment swaps for national desertification funds is being considered by several countries and by bilateral and multilateral donors. However, the problems of access to financial resources still remains a major constraint for rural dwellers. According to FAO sources, national desertification funds are being designed or established in 22 countries as small grants and loans schemes accessible to communities, non-governmental organizations and local actors. These instruments can provide a major boost to the adoption of the participatory approach and can empower local communities to advance their own initiatives without waiting for governmental or donor budget approval. Financing opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs are being considered by several funding and development agencies, such as UNDP and the African Development Bank. Since 1998, GEF support to land degradation and desertification activities has grown as the linkages between land degradation, deforestation and the GEF focal areas¹⁰ have been better defined and analysed. Also, the nature and functions of the Convention’s global mechanism as a broker for projects at the small-holder level are being developed.

25. The Convention principle of developing partnerships and cooperation on land resource management, in order to optimize the human resources available and minimize the risk of conflicts over land-use options, has been a driving force at various levels in the process of building national action plans and in the implementation of Convention-related activities. At the policy level, the dialogue between international agencies and financing institutions has been enhanced by developing agreed or complementary strategies, identifying common priorities (i.e., inclusion of land degradation issues in GEF focal areas), harmonizing financing procedures and establishing consultative mechanisms and networks for exchange and dissemination. At the research level, an increasing number of partnerships have been established between international research organizations and research and development institutions in the Convention countries, such as the national agriculture research systems. However, human resources and technical and financial means are often a limiting factor in these efforts. The participatory approach applied to the management of common property resources provides a comprehensive ground for partnership-building at the community level. The crucial involvement of civil society in the preparation of national action plans has raised the need for mutual support at the national and international levels, leading to the creation of a global non-governmental organization network, Réseau international des ONG sur la désertification (RIOD).

26. One of the main challenges of sustainable land management in drylands is to identify reliable indicators on desertification status and trends in order to assess the extent of the problem, forecast the evolution and monitor the impact of the various responses. Within the physical parameters, soil and terrain degradation or loss is the most reliable and measurable criterion of desertification. Vegetation coverage, density of species, soil fertility, erosion and salinization are among the most commonly used parameters, but their change may be also due to climatic cycles. The focus is currently more directly on socio-economic issues. Although socio-economic indicators, such as migration, income levels and conflict, may not be uniquely related to desertification, they may serve as early warning signals that desertification processes are beginning and may provide a useful monitoring framework for assessing the impact of related actions.

27. There have been growing demands from Convention signatory countries for standardized and reliable assessment methodologies and tools to be used in the national/regional action plan implementation process and to serve as reference systems for planning, managing and monitoring Convention-related activities. Although there is general agreement on the use of methods such as remote-sensing, soil maps and surveys, climatic data, socio-economic statistics, GIS and ground- checking, the parties have not reached a consensus so far on global methodology, scale or a common set of integrated indicators. During the third session of the Conference of the Parties, there was a general call for integrating energy, water management and forestry-related issues into a comprehensive assessment framework on land degradation. Special priority was given to the development of early warning systems and to an enhanced role for traditional knowledge and indigenous people in the decision-making process.

28. Drylands are, by definition, critical land systems. The effects of desertification and drought are even more acute as pressures on land resources increase. The pressures can become manifest in various ways and eventually turn into conflicts of interest between different users. Examples of critical land systems particularly relevant in dryland areas are described below.

29. Initiatives for controlling sand encroachment and desert expansion have been carried out in many drylands in the African Sahel by promoting agro-forestry, managing grazing land and mobility of herds, increasing water-storage capacity and maintaining the economic and social functions of oasis ecosystems. More emphasis is currently placed on improving traditional land management systems that are based on the capacity of local agro-biodiversity to respond and adapt to these extreme conditions.

30. In drylands, mountains are often the main source of water for downstream areas. Any land-use changes in the headwaters of rivers is of paramount importance for lowland irrigation and other water uses. The conservation of land and water resources in mountain areas is being carried out in several regions (e.g., the Guinea highlands at the sources of the Niger River, the Himalayas at the sources of the Indus and Ganges rivers) by improving farming systems and reducing the rate of deforestation. More information on this topic can be found in the report of the Secretary-General on sustainable mountain development (E/CN.17/2000/6/Add.3).

31. Lakes and groundwater reserves are a strategic source of water and development opportunities. Inland wetlands constitute an important land and water interface capable of mitigating the effects of hydro-climatic variations. However, fragile wetlands have been reclaimed for agriculture or urban development in several countries, and water resources have been overexploited for irrigation purposes. The Aral Sea in central Asia, which has been reduced to one fifth of its previous volume, is one of the worst environmental disasters in recent years and has become of global concern because of the resulting human health hazards and destruction of nature.

32. It is widely held that integrated approaches to macro- and micro-ecosystems facilitate an equitable sharing of water resources. This is particularly relevant for international water basins. An integrated approach also favours the monitoring and control of upstream/downstream interactions and the development of land-use options that combine resource conservation and increasing productivity.

33. The pressures of population growth and rural migration on land and water resources are particularly acute in coastal areas. Natural ecosystems — for example, wetlands, estuaries and deltas, mangroves and dunes — face competition from multiple land and water uses, such as urban and industrial development, farming, aquaculture and tourism. This land/sea interface has been addressed in many regions, including drylands. Integrated Coastal Area/Zone Management (ICAM or ICZM) approaches have been applied at various scales and can respond to different development objectives while taking into consideration the other issues at stake. The Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), which was adopted in 1995, has as its main objectives identification of the various land-based sources of pollution (including nutrients and sediments) and prevention of the degradation of the marine environment. A clearing-house mechanism is being developed by the UNEP/GPA secretariat.

34. Tree resources are usually scarce in drylands, and they are threatened by demands for timber products, fuelwood for households, shelter and food for animals and agro-forestry. To reduce the pressure on forests and tree resources, alternatives to unsustainable practices must be developed (e.g., non-wood energy sources, improved stoves in households). The multiple functions of forest resources must also be promoted and supported through resource conservation for the benefits they offer to farming as well as to other social and economic interests in local communities and the concerned countries. (See E/CN.17/2000/6/Add.1, on combating deforestation). The special needs and requirements of developing countries with low forest cover and unique types of forest are receiving more emphasis, especially by the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) of the Commission.

35. The major challenge in addressing critical land systems is to create an integrated framework of technical, social, economic and policy mechanisms that enable the decision makers and the stakeholders to anticipate and respond to the increasing pressure. This enabling environment should take into particular consideration the following factors:

(a) Land tenure and land security: stabilizing land ownership and use rights (including common resources) is a precondition for promoting among farmers and rural communities the concept of land as a renewable and dynamic resource;

(b) Economic long-term viability must be guaranteed for land users. Supportive trade, financial and fiscal policies must accompany the promotion of good practices. Farmers will not envisage investment in better land husbandry unless the resulting benefits will be fully appreciated and internalized;

(c) Visibility of benefits must be emphasized in the promotion of good practices. This includes socio-economic benefits, such as increased incomes, equitable sharing, improved livelihood and community and family cohesion, as well as environmental benefits;

(d) Empowerment and participation of stakeholders, whose roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined, in particular for common resource management and wherever interactions with other land users and actors are instrumental for the sustainability of the whole land system — for example, upstream/downstream relationships and production and marketing agreements;

(e) Complementarity between national policies and local initiatives (subsidiarity): creating platforms for dialogue and decentralized consultation mechanisms would facilitate the harmonization and integration between national strategies and action plans and local responses. Policies as well as legislation should enhance complementarity in the decision-making process and in the establishment of sound responsibilities and roles.

¹ The global nature of the problem is evidenced by the fact that an additional regional implementation annex to the Convention for the countries of Eastern and Central Europe is currently being drafted.

² Mahendra Shah and Maurice Strong, Food in the 21st Century: From Science to Sustainable Agriculture (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, 1999), pp. 63-64.

³ LUCC is a joint initiative of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). This multidisciplinary initiative has three main focal areas: land-use dynamics, land-cover changes and regional and global models.

⁴ See, for example, United Nations Environment Programme, Biological Diversity of Dryland, Mediterranean, Arid, Semi-Arid, Grassland and Savannah Ecosystems: Options for the Development of a Programme of Work (Nairobi, 1999).

⁵ WOCAT, a part of FAO’s Land and Water Digital Media Series, is implemented by a pool of international and national research and development agencies.

⁶ See, for example, the report of the third Conference of the Parties (ICCD/COP(3)/20 and Add.1).

⁷ FAO and Italy have jointly developed an Internet-based access to information and data relevant to desertification. See www.fao.org/desertification.

⁸ For example, Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa, a FAO project currently implemented in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe and funded by the Government of the Netherlands.

⁹ FAO, Sub-Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, Drought Impact Mitigation and Prevention — A Long Term Perspective (Rome, 1999).

¹⁰ GEF focal areas are climate change, biodiversity, ozone protection, and international waters.