Desertification
African water and land policy coordination to be enhanced

afrol.com, 28 November - Tomorrow in Accra, Ghana, the regional network for the "Integrated management of international river, lake and hydrogeological basins" will be launched. Enhanced regional collaboration and the harmonization of policies for land and water management will be at the core of the launching meeting.

Few days before the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (Bonn, 11-22 December), the meeting takes place in the context of the Regional Action Programme (RAP) to combat desertification in Africa. It is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology of Ghana, by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in collaboration with the FAO Regional Office for Africa and with the financial support of Canada, Finland, Italy and Norway.

At the end of the Accra meeting, on Friday 1 December, representatives of specialized regional and sub-regional institutions of Africa, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and development cooperation partners are expected to adopt a common programme of work to address an issue of increasing concern for the region, as well as at the global level. 

Although endowed with immense renewable natural resources, in particular water and land, African countries are faced today with worsening environmental problems with heavy economic, social and political consequences.

Africa accounts for 80 international rivers; 17 rivers with catchment areas greater than 100,000 kmq; more than ten basins each shared by over four countries; more than 160 lakes larger than 27 kmq; vast wetlands, and limited but widespread ground waters. Such resources are essential for agriculture development which accounts for 34% of the region's GDP, over 70% of its labor force and 40% of its exports. 

Desertification. Photo by UNCCD.

However, the continent is faced today with problems such as water resource pollution and increasing scarcity; land degradation and desertification; recurring droughts; lack of agreements, or over regulations, on transboundary waters; and lack of cross sectoral and international coordination.

Watershed degradation caused by poor land use (uncontrolled woodfuel collection, land clearing, poor cultivation methods, and overgrazing) is altering hydrologic factors and increasing the vulnerability of important watersheds.

In this framework, specialized institutions and organizations will agree at the Accra meeting on the next course of action. In particular, they will define modalities to ensure coherence for more effective implementation of national and sub-regional action programmes and priority activities, facilitate the exchange of information and data, as well as technology transfer and adaptation through scientific and technical cooperation.

They will further address practical modalities for inter-institutional and inter-agency collaboration, the respective roles of each of the participants to the network, and propose means of financial and institutional support.

A total of six Thematic Programme Networks (TPNs) will be launched in the context of the Regional Action Programme for Africa, as identified and approved during the first Panafrican Conference on the implementation of the CCD (Burkina Faso 1997). These networks represent an operational tool to concretize regional cooperation on specific programme areas, bringing together institutions, organizations and other interested partners for more effective consultations, coordination and harmonization of policies and strategies.

Source: Based on UNCCD

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