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Articles ArchiveReturn
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2006: The
Desert Year
by Rene Wadlow
God created lands filled with
water as a place to live ; and the desert so that he can discover
his soul."
2006 has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly
as "The International Year of Deserts and Desertification."
The year marks the efforts begun in 1977 with the United Nations
Conference on Desertification held in Nairobi. The desertification
conference was convened by the UN General Assembly in the midst
of a series of catastrophic droughts in the Sudano-Sahelian regions
of Africa. The conference was designed to be a centrepiece of
a massive worldwide attack to arrest the spread of deserts or
desertlike conditions not only in Africa south of the Sahara
but wherever such conditions encroached on the livelihood of
those who lived in the desert or in their destructive path. The
history of the conference is vividly recalled by James Walls
in his book Land, Man, and Sand (New York: Macmillan, 1980).
Often the UN-designated "Years"
are half over before anyone is made aware that they are so designated
unless there are non-governmental organizations already working
on the issue and who use the year to highlight their concern.
The most successful of the UN years was 1975 - The International
Year of Women - because there were many different women's groups
world wide that were already organized. The general moment was
right as in a good number of countries 1975 was a time of heightened
activity concerning the rights of women. The International Year
became the International Decade of Women and the start of a series
of UN and non-governmental conferences that facilitated networking
and cooperation among women's organizations.
Deserts have no such already-existing
constituency, and the groups who live in or near the edge of
the deserts are not organized for possible public relations.
Therefore it is up to all of us concerned with ecologically-sound
development to use the year to draw awareness to both the dangers
and the promises of deserts. What is the core of the desertification
process? The destruction of land that was once productive does
not stem from mysterious and remorseless forces of nature but
from the actions of humans. Desertification is a social phenomenon.
Humans are both the despoiler and the victim of the process.
Increasingly populations are eking out a livelihood on a dwindling
resource, hemmed in by encroaching plantations and sedentary
agriculturalists, by towns and roads. Pressure of population
upon resources leads to tensions which can burst into violence
as we see in Darfur, Sudan and now spilling over into eastern
Chad.
Desertification needs to be seen
in a holistic way. If we see desertification only as aridity,
we may miss areas of impact such as the humid tropics. We need
to consider the special problems of water-logging, salinity or
alkalinity of irrigation systems that destroy land each year.
The value of UN-designated years is in the process of identifying
major clusters of problems, bringing the best minds to bear on
them so as to have a scientific and social substratum on which
common political will can be found and from which action will
follow.
Desertification is a plague that
upsets the traditional balance between people, their habitat,
and the socio-economic systems by which they live. Because desertification
disturbs a region's natural resource base, it promotes insecurity.
Insecurity leads to strife. If allowed to degenerate, strife
results in interclan feuding, civil war, cross-border raiding
and military confrontation as in Darfur, Sudan and Somalia.
Only with a lessening of insecurity
can cultivators and pastoralists living in or near deserts turn
their attention to adapting traditional systems. There can be
no reversion to purely traditional systems. But for insecurity
to abate, a lengthy process of conciliation must begin and forms
of conflict resolution strengthened. People must be encouraged
to understand that diversity is a crucial element of ecologically-sound
development. Judicious resource management breeds security and
an improved quality of life for everyone. 2006 can be a year
during which we can learn more of the lives of people in and
on the edge of deserts. We can see what efforts can be made to
encourage reforestation and to slow the unwanted advance of deserts.
It is a year in which we can all usefully participate.
Rene Wadlow is the editor of
the online journal of world politics- www.transnational-perspectives.org
(http://www.transnational-perspectives.org/) - and the representative
to the United Nations, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens.
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Articles Archive by Rene Wadlow God created lands filled with
water as a place to live ; and the desert so that he can discover
his soul." Often the UN-designated "Years" are half over before anyone is made aware that they are so designated unless there are non-governmental organizations already working on the issue and who use the year to highlight their concern. The most successful of the UN years was 1975 - The International Year of Women - because there were many different women's groups world wide that were already organized. The general moment was right as in a good number of countries 1975 was a time of heightened activity concerning the rights of women. The International Year became the International Decade of Women and the start of a series of UN and non-governmental conferences that facilitated networking and cooperation among women's organizations. Deserts have no such already-existing constituency, and the groups who live in or near the edge of the deserts are not organized for possible public relations. Therefore it is up to all of us concerned with ecologically-sound development to use the year to draw awareness to both the dangers and the promises of deserts. What is the core of the desertification process? The destruction of land that was once productive does not stem from mysterious and remorseless forces of nature but from the actions of humans. Desertification is a social phenomenon. Humans are both the despoiler and the victim of the process. Increasingly populations are eking out a livelihood on a dwindling resource, hemmed in by encroaching plantations and sedentary agriculturalists, by towns and roads. Pressure of population upon resources leads to tensions which can burst into violence as we see in Darfur, Sudan and now spilling over into eastern Chad. Desertification needs to be seen in a holistic way. If we see desertification only as aridity, we may miss areas of impact such as the humid tropics. We need to consider the special problems of water-logging, salinity or alkalinity of irrigation systems that destroy land each year. The value of UN-designated years is in the process of identifying major clusters of problems, bringing the best minds to bear on them so as to have a scientific and social substratum on which common political will can be found and from which action will follow. Desertification is a plague that upsets the traditional balance between people, their habitat, and the socio-economic systems by which they live. Because desertification disturbs a region's natural resource base, it promotes insecurity. Insecurity leads to strife. If allowed to degenerate, strife results in interclan feuding, civil war, cross-border raiding and military confrontation as in Darfur, Sudan and Somalia. Only with a lessening of insecurity can cultivators and pastoralists living in or near deserts turn their attention to adapting traditional systems. There can be no reversion to purely traditional systems. But for insecurity to abate, a lengthy process of conciliation must begin and forms of conflict resolution strengthened. People must be encouraged to understand that diversity is a crucial element of ecologically-sound development. Judicious resource management breeds security and an improved quality of life for everyone. 2006 can be a year during which we can learn more of the lives of people in and on the edge of deserts. We can see what efforts can be made to encourage reforestation and to slow the unwanted advance of deserts. It is a year in which we can all usefully participate. Rene Wadlow is the editor of the online journal of world politics- www.transnational-perspectives.org (http://www.transnational-perspectives.org/) - and the representative to the United Nations, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens. Home Page | AWC Goals | AWC Branches | Archives Resolution 2010 | Human Manifesto | AWC History United Nations | AWC Staff | Join Online Today | Worldometers Contact Us |