Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
SOUTH AFRICA CELEBRATES WORLD DESERTIFICATION DAY
South Africa and many countries across the globe will be celebrating World Desertification Day on 17 June to commemorate the signing of the Convention to Combat Desertification. South Africa signed the Convention in January 1995, which means that we have legally committed ourselves to seek solutions to combat desertification.
At the heart of the Convention is the commitment of affected countries to prepare and implement action programmes to prevent land degradation. The focus is on public participation, and helping people to help themselves prevent and reverse land degradation.
One of the most important issues that the Convention requires, is that South Africa should have a National Action Programme on sustainable solutions for the problems caused by desertification, as well as on how to combat desertification. In order to involve everybody, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, in partnership with the Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG), a non-governmental organisation, will develop a National Action Programme. Through a consultative process, the public in the provinces will be involved in giving inputs in the formulation of a policy document on desertification (White Paper). It is envisaged that the consultative policy process will be finalised at the end of 1997.
By having a policy on desertification, problems concerning desertification, as well as sustainable solutions to these problems, will be available.
Desertification is the degradation, through human and environmental factors, of the world's arid and semi-arid lands to the point where it can no longer sustain crops or other vegetation. It occurs when a piece of dry, but productive land loses its productivity - its ability to produce food and sustain life; this is worsened by human activity, climate change and loss of biodiversity, or all.
Desertification is inter alia caused by the following factors:
The people most severely affected by desertification are among the world's poorest. The Convention has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of affected populations by securing their environ- ments, increasing food security, and creating new opportunities for alternative livelihoods.
Successful implementation of the Convention would improve living conditions, and reduce poverty, while also helping to alleviate related problems such as migration, loss of plant and animal species, climate change, and the need for emergency aid to populations in crisis.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, PRETORIA, 13 JUNE 1996.
Enquiries: Wanda Langenhoven Tel (012) 310-3439 Lise Blignaut Tel (012) 310-3437