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Establishment of Thematic Programme Networks (TPNs) for land degradation in the
Caribbean and LAC region
Irrigated land
losing productivity due to water-logging and salinization
Bonn,
13 June 2003.- Whereas demand for water is increasing with the global population
projected to reach from 6.2 billion in 2002 to 9.2 billion in 2050, about 12
million hectares of irrigated land in the developing world has lost its
productivity due to water-logging and salinity, among others.
Water and desertification and/or drought are inextricably linked especially in
arid, semi arid and sub-humid areas, where there is a finite resource of water
and its utilization is weighed up against a desired increase in agricultural
development. Water is therefore critical for the sustenance of life and the
ecological balance and an indispensable resource for social and economic
development necessary for poverty eradication. Consequently, sustainable water
resource management is imperative in order to fight both poverty and
desertification.
Land degradation, in reverse, affects water resources by reducing its
availability and quality. Also, it alters the flows of rivers and streams, which
may lead to flooding, groundwater depletion, water pollution and salinization.
As a result, arable land per person is declining from 0.32 hectares per person
in 1961-63 to 0.21 hectares in 1997-99 and is expected to drop further to 0.16
hectares by 2030, posing a serious threat to food security.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has therefore taken
action at the global and regional levels in recognition of the importance of
water. It launched Thematic Programme Networks (TPNs) on water in Africa and
Asia in 2000 and 2002, respectively, to precisely address this issue. In Latin
America and the Caribbean, it is being developed. These networks aim at
facilitating the sharing of technical information and know-how on integrated
water resources management for the promotion of efficient technologies, water
pricing and targeted subsidies as well as institutional capacity building. As a
result, already many successful water harvesting and irrigation schemes have
been identified and shared for replication. These initiatives will not only help
us to fight desertification and drought together with poverty, but also draw us
closer to the goals set in the Millennium Development Declaration and at the
Johannesburg Summit, to halve the proportion of people who do not have access to
safe drinking water by 2015, said Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the
Convention.
Further, Water Resource Management and Desertification will be the theme of this
year's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which will be celebrated
worldwide on June 17. The day was designated the General Assembly in December
1994 to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on that date nine years ago.
It is celebrated worldwide every year and serves as an occasion to raise public
awareness and renew political commitments to fight desertification. This year's
theme was established to support the International Year of Freshwater. The
Secretariat of the Convention will celebrate it this year in the City of Hamburg
at its kind invitation.
The UNCCD was adopted as a follow up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development and came into force in 1996. It is serviced by a
permanent Secretariat based in Bonn and counts 187 country Parties. The
Convention is the only binding international legal instrument to address the
issue of desertification and recurring droughts. http://www.unccd.int
For more information about this news release, please contact Ms. Cheemin Kwon at
(49-228) 815-2847 / ckwon@unccd.int
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