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North Africa sub-region represents the entire range of aridity index. The major issues of concern in the sub-region are rainfall variability, recurrent droughts, and possible impacts of climate change. Aridity is manifested by scarcity of water resources and arable lands which represent 26.4% of the total land area with extremely varied distribution among the countries of the sub-region. Presently cultivated areas occupy 45 million ha, mostly rainfed, with 8 million ha of irrigated lands. Rangelands occupy about 13% and forest / woodland represent 8% of the total land area of the sub-region. All land use categories are subject to land degradation processes, through more than three decades, due to several pressures including; rapid population growth, climatic stresses, human mismanagement practices, and inappropriate agricultural policies. Land degradation processes are varied and diversified under the conditions of rain-fed, irrigated, range and forestlands. Land degradation processes are conducive to serious productivity losses, reduction in return from capital investment, lower income of rural households, spread of poverty and increased rural to urban migration.

Through the last decade all countries ratified UNCCD and formulated NAPs. Most governments adopted reform agricultural policies. Measures were taken to curtail losses due to inefficient use of water resources in irrigated lands, activating water harvesting practices, enhancing the use of groundwater resources, and supplementary irrigation under rainfed conditions. Activities were enhanced to establish protective belts of trees and shrubs and formulate and implement projects for better management of rangeland and forestland. Setting up of coordination committees, enhancing the role of women and NGOs, and encouraging research activities were also addressed to varied extent. However, the execution of the aforementioned activities does not replace the dire need for adoption of a holistic approach to combat land degradation including formulation of integrated strategies for short, medium and long-terms based on priorities. The adherence to ecosystem integrated approach is a must, in addition to activation of synergies among the major three environmental conventions, i.e., UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC.

An integrated strategy should be planned to accomplish tasks of prime significance including; the elaboration of thematic databases, adoption of sub-regional indicators, activating unified networking for all six countries to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experience, and lessons learned in establishing Drought Early Warning Systems. Elaboration and coordination of activities to establish genebanks for indigenous plant species adapted to the harsh environment, and facilitation of the use of agro-biodiversity to combat desertification is important. National and sub-regional preparedness to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought should be promoted. Rational guidelines should be formulated for the use of vast but non-renewable groundwater resources, available in huge aquifers with varied water qualities. Focus must be placed on demand driven and coordinated research activities in multiple institutions throughout the sub-region. Concerted efforts are needed to curtail conflicts and local wars which present formidable constraints to development and enhance degradation. Implementing meaningful sub-regional projects and coordinating international funding and transfer of needed technologies, capacity building and collecting indigenous knowledge in a sub-region of very similar conditions are equally important.

Significant areas of unproductive and marginal lands create important economic and environmental imbalances at local, regional and national level, in many Eastern Europe countries. Despite available scientific and technological solutions for their enhancement, existing large degraded areas require major financing. Afforestation of degraded lands is acknowledged as an activity where environmental and financial synergies occur, as it generates a real carbon sequestration potential, besides other associated benefits at local, regional and global level. An opportunity to value carbon sequestration potential is represented by the flexible mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism (JI/CDM). An afforestation project includes several steps, that should ensure the integration of the project outcomes with social and environmental priorities at local, regional and global level, in the short, medium and long term, such as: preparation, implementation (afforestation technology and plantation maintaining frame), plantation management (administration, planning, management); forest sustainability (local & regional integration); and project’s carbon commercial aspects (baseline, carbon projections and validation, monitoring plan, reporting, transfer of carbon units). Carbon accumulation performance of the plantations influences potential revenues. Afforestation projects oriented toward carbon sequestration are exposed to multiple risks due to their long run, like vulnerability to illegal cutting, risks associated with unsustainable management practices or those related to climate change itself, biodiversity loss or social pressure.

Land degradation in the Mediterranean is as old as its history. There is ample evidence for instance showing that ancient Greeks cut their forests to expand cultivation on the sloping lands causing thus extreme erosion and leaving behind abandoned badlands. In the area of Aleppo, Syria called “hundred dead seas”, archaeological surveys demonstrate that 1–2 m of soil was washed away during the first century AD following invasion of several armies and massive deforestation. The same is true for eastern Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon showing evidence of forest clearing since Roman times. Lebanese cedars reached not only the Egyptian Pharaohs but they were used even in the Balkans for building deluxe homes.

In its closest meaning land degradation brings inefficiency to the natural ecosystem in performing its functions and services, including both productivity and environmental ones. The resource base is made of several components, including climate, biosphere, water, soils, etc, and is under continuous pressure from natural events (some of them disastrous) as well as from human-induced pressures. These last could mitigate/reverse or accelerate the intensity of degradation. As long as all the components of the resource base are included in the analyses, we are discussing . Once the same pressures are imposed only on the component, then we are talking that in its narrow sense means physical, chemical and biological degradation that inevitably brings inefficiency to the soil itself to perform its productivity and ecological functions.

is also land degradation but according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is confined within well-defined climatic domains that include arid, semi arid, and dry sub humid regions of the world resulting from various factors including climate variation and human activities. More closely desertification relates to drylands having an aridity index of 0.05–0.65 (excluding polar and sub-polar regions). Aridity index is calculated as the ratio of mean annual precipitation (PPT) to mean annual potential evapotranspiration (PET). Experience shows that scientists and policy/decisions makers alike use the terminology that better fits their agendas (including political ones). All the abovementioned forms of resource base degradation are present in the Mediterranean.

The European Commission (EC) has been very active in its Mediterranean policies and has tackled a number of environmental issues dealing with sustainable growth, natural resources management and integrated rural development, to point out a few. The need for these interventions derives from a set of factors ranging from food security, migration, economic development, as well as peace and political stability in the region.

One of the projects funded by the EC under the 5 Framework Programme is also the MEDCOASTLAND Thematic Network whose main goal is . The network brings together 13 countries (from northern Mediterranean Europe, North Africa, Middle and Near East) making a total of 32 partners, of whom 17 are research and educational institutions, 7 represent decision makers and the remaining 8 are farmer’s associations and/or non governmental organisations (NGOs). The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAI-B), in Italy is coordinating the project that runs from October 2002 until May 2007.

MEDCOASTLAND endorses the in natural resource management by giving equal importance to both biophysical and socio-economic features. Conclusions show that the fight against land degradation could be successful if land users meet their basic needs through income generating activities and if a good balance is found between bottom-up and top-down decision making and last but not least, if policy, legislation, and the institutional framework make their way towards implementation. Above all a stakeholder approach is needed where every one is aware of its duties and responsibilities.

For the United Republic of Tanzania, efforts to combat desertification and land degradation generally, are part and parcel of the national efforts to address poverty and ensure sustainable development. More concerted efforts to ensure sustainable land management and combat desertification came after the Rio Conference in 1992. Since then, major milestones include: the 1994 National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) prepared to carry out a national analysis and provide a framework to incorporate environmental considerations into government decision-making processes; the 1997 National Environmental Policy (NEP) formulated to define national goals and strategic objectives in environment; the National Action Programme (NAP) to combat desertification prepared in 1999 under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); and the 2002 Institutional Framework for Environmental Management (ILFEMP) in Tanzania. The National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) of 2005 provides a close relationship between reduction of poverty and the sustainability of the productive sectors, particularly agriculture that counts for 45% of the GDP and about 60% of the export earnings as well as livelihood to over 80% of the population. The NSGRP also views energy as critical for the attainment of the NSGRP and MDG targets. Hydropower, which depends on the functioning and wellbeing of the major water catchments and ecosystems including the dry land ecosystems, is the major source of energy in Tanzania accounting for over 70% of the total national energy sources.

In Tanzania, the impacts of global warming are already vivid. Measurements from 21 meteorological stations have shown a steady increase in temperature for the past 30 years. Because of this temperature increase/global warming, adverse impacts are now felt in almost all sectors of the economy. Severe and recurrent droughts in the past few years have triggered the recent devastating power crisis. The drop in water levels of Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Manyara and Lake Jipe in recent years, and the dramatic recession of 7 km of Lake Rukwa in about 50 years, are a manifestation of climate change. Eighty per cent of the glacier on Mount Kilimanjaro has been lost since 1912. It is projected that the entire glacier will be gone by 2025. The intrusion of sea water into fresh water wells along the coast of Bagamoyo and the inundation of Maziwe Island in Pangani is yet another evidence of the sea level rise.

Climate change coupled with unsustainable land management and destruction of the water catchments has aggravated the energy crisis and environmental degradation, particularly in the central semi arid areas and the dry sub-humid areas in the southern highlands. In order to address these challenges, the United Republic of Tanzania has recently enacted a National Environmental Management Act (EMA 2004) as a framework environmental law to provide a coherent environmental management approach including sustainable land management and the management of water catchment areas. More importantly in March 2006, the Government adopted a National Strategy for Sustainable Land Management and protection of water catchment areas. This is a comprehensive five year programme, intending to address twelve identified challenges, with an estimated budget of about US$ 30 million. For the first year, the government has already committed about US$ 9 million. The exemplary commitment of the government to address sustainable land management through this strategy, has already resulted in tangible outputs. Almost all pastoralists who had invaded the important catchment areas of Usangu (one of the largest catchment areas for hydro power production in the country) in the southern Highlands, have been relocated, and important catchment areas have been declared national reserves, putting them under legal protection from any more encroachments. Each District council has been requested to plant and care for 1.5 million trees annually. Under the strategy, each village has to have a title deed, with land set aside for livestock keeping and for crop production. Other measures, include the promotion of renewable energy as well as alternative sources of energy, particularly in the dryland areas, as a way of addressing the chronic problem of deforestation for energy needs.

Climatic change and land degradation are serious environmental issues for the Philippines given their implications to economic growth and millions of people, particularly the marginal poor. The location and topographic configuration of the Philippines makes it more susceptible to climatic anomalies. For years its people have developed coping mechanisms to the climatic changes in the country, in particular drought during dry spells and flooding during monsoon seasons. These capacities however, are becoming inadequate as the drive for economic growth, uncontrolled population increase, urbanization and changing consumption and production patterns are combining to create intense pressure on the country’s limited carrying capacities. The government fully recognizes the imperative for addressing these issues and has formulated strategic frameworks with the involvement of critical stakeholders that are directed to responding to these concerns. Current efforts are being pursued which are within the ambit of the climate change, land degradation and desertification and, biodiversity conventions. However, in all of these efforts, the role of scientific information particularly the collection, analysis and dissemination of climatological data cannot be understated. Not only is it critical for predicting climatic events but, more significantly the application and use of scientifically derived information is critical to devising adaptive measures especially for rural communities that would enable individual farmers cope with climate induced disasters including the arrest of further land degradation.

By the 1950s, a significant proportion (over 15 000 km) of the Ord River catchment in north-west Australia was severely degraded through excessive grazing pressure, in particular cattle and feral donkeys. Beginning in 1960, a ‘whole of government’ approach to rehabilitation of the degraded area was taken by the Western Australian government. This extended regeneration program was characterized by a combination of changed government land use priorities with legislative and regulatory backing, animal control, reclamation works and sequences of years of both favourable and unfavourable rainfall. Various factors, both technical and non-technical, influenced the success of the regeneration program. These included resumption by the State government of all or part of five grazing leases (following an initial abortive attempt at rehabilitation while cattle production activities continued), a complete destocking program to remove both cattle and feral donkeys, and the initiation of a Government-funded grassland replanting program. The Government enacted specific legislation, the Ord River Dam Catchment Area (Straying Cattle) Act, 1967, which passed control of all cattle in the rehabilitation area to Government. Assessment in 2002 suggested that the regeneration program was remarkably successful, to the extent that, in 2006, the area was included in the Western Australian conservation estate. Rehabilitation of this type requires a certain combination of factors to be successful, although some, such as rainfall, are outside management control. This paper examines the rehabilitation program, assesses the factors important in its success and identifies those factors which may be relevant to other situations.

In all eight out of the ten countries constituting Southern Africa region most people live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. In the region land degradation occurs mostly from soil erosion, chemical degradation (loss of nutrients, depletion of organic matter and acidification) and biological depletion. Other factors which contribute to land degradation in the region include compaction from overgrazing of rangelands, uncontrolled burning and improper cultivation of steep slopes, alternating flooding and crusting, salinization and pollution which all combine to cause degeneration of the fragile ecosystems covering large expanses of the region. Landscapes devoid of vegetative cover deeply incised by gullies that are difficult to reclaim, characterize large land expanses in the region classified as drylands. The portions classified as sub-humid or humid (highlands and wetlands) are prone to rapid soil loss from flash floods or periodic flooding. With a cycle of 2-3 and sometimes 5-6 years, droughts that have occurred in the region for over a century, worsen the land degradation problem making land management a formidable task particularly during the critical moisture deficient periods. Differing land tenure systems combined with high poverty and low literacy levels common among the rural population complicate land management process. Low technological capacity, poor governance, poorly conceived management policies and their implementation further complicate land management issues. Technology development, technology transfer and low adoption rates further exacerbate the situation. Pressure on the land and competition for land is of main concern throughout the region. Governments in the region as well as private organizations (including the numerous NGOs operating in the region), some communities and individuals (including researchers and academicians) have all identified the need to conserve land and reverse degradation to restore its productivity and improve the quality of life for those who depend on it for their livelihoods. The chapter examines the nature and causes of land degradation in the region, linking it to population characteristics, land ownership, low technological capacity, poverty, poor governance, low literacy and inappropriate land management practices. The chapter points out that numerous interventions targeted at reducing poverty and improvement in land resource management have not achieved their targets due to lack of coordination, rigidity and imposition which culminated in failure of the interveners to recognize and incorporate indigenous knowledge and peoples’ preferences and/or indigenous age-old land management strategies. Linkages to trade and unequal market access that encourages poverty and unwise use of the land resources are discussed. Adopting “people centered” interventions is recommended together with smart partnerships between the participating partners both from the north and those from the south. Solutions will largely depend on willingness to change and sharing information that will guide appropriate regional action. The region faces an enormous challenge part of which is to come up with viable solutions that will reverse the degradation of land and manage it sustainably.

Three case studies of successful measures of sustainable use of arid coastal and semiarid Andean mountain ecosystems from Peru are presented. The first case study is on agroforestry and silvo-herding systems located in the northern arid coast (Piura), where El Niño events, especially the 97/98 (December to May) one, had impacted the productivity of these systems. The second case study focused on conservation of Andean crops and their wild parents in northern (Piura and Cajamarca) and central (Huanuco and Huancavelica) Andean mountain ecosystems of Peru. In this case study, not only the crop areas and the conservancy culture of the traditional farmers were addressed, but also their natural environment ie., the soils, fauna and plant communities (pastures, bushes and forests) that surround them. This guarantees the continuity of the conservancy activity of the Andean cultures and, therefore, of the northern and central Andean mountain semiarid ecosystems of Peru. The third case study is located in the southern coastal desert from Peru, on an oases ecosystem locally called as: “Lomas”, which is inhabited by the Atiquipa peasant community. During the winter seasons (June-October), the Atiquipa Lomas support a strong presence of fog water, which is being “harvested” through “atrapanieblas” (“fog catcher”) that permit fog water to precipitate with a noticeable increase in volume. This harvested water is used for reforestation of the community high zones for livestock and human consumption, as well as for food crops that contribute to the food security of the community. So, the bases for a sustainable use of the desert resources of the southern coast from Peru are being established. These three case studies show the successful measures for the sustainable land use in the arid coast and semiarid Andean mountains of Peru.

Soil erosion and desertification are the physical expressions of land degradation, while the social and economic impacts are degraded lifestyles and pernicious poverty. An understanding of how to maintain healthy soil is essential to reverse and prevent land degradation.

Organic agriculture is a whole system approach based upon a set of processes resulting in sustainable ecosystems, safe food, good nutrition, animal welfare and social justice. It is more than just a system of production that includes or excludes certain inputs, particularly agro-chemicals, because it builds on and enhances the ecological management skills of farmers, fisher folk and pastoralists. Practicing organic or agro-ecological agriculture requires ecological knowledge, planning and commitment to work with natural systems, rather than trying to change them.

IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) is an organization that promotes such sustainable agricultural systems. The application and upholding of the principles of organic agriculture can help ensure that agriculture can be continued throughout the world while contributing to the prevention and reversal of land degradation, combating poverty and building a fairer world order for all people. In 2004, IFOAM published a scoping study on “The Role of Organic Agriculture in Mitigating Climate Change”. The study looked at how organic agriculture could contribute to reducing green house gas (GHG) emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Organic agriculture minimizes carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural ecosystems, and can also contribute to carbon sequestration because of the systematic application of manure and compost from animal and crop residues, crop-legume rotations, green manuring with legumes, and agroforestry with multipurpose leguminous trees. Soil is the most important sink for methane where high bacterial activity oxidizes it. Controlled anaerobic digestion of animal manure can contribute significantly to reducing methane emissions. Nitrous oxide emissions are minimized in an organic system.

In 1996, the Institute for Sustainable Development started to work with local farming communities and local development agents and experts in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, to rehabilitate their environment and raise crop yields through using compost. Since 1998, ISD has monitored the impact of compost on crop yields in farmers’ fields. Overall, compost generally doubles the yield from fields that have not had any input. In most cases it also gives a higher yield than the use of chemical fertilizer. Other benefits from using compost include increased moisture retention capacity of the soil and reduced crop pest problems.

The principles behind organic agriculture are also used in programs and projects focused on overcoming food insecurity, rural poverty and environmental degradation. In 2003, IFOAM reported that over 40,000 farms covering 235,000 ha of land were growing certified organic products in Africa.

According to the UNCCD (United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification) affected country Parties have to prepare, make public and implement National Action Programmes (NAPs) as the central element of the strategy to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought. NAPs could involve strengthening of drought preparedness and management, including drought contingency plans at the local, national, sub-regional and regional levels, which take into consideration seasonal to interannual climate predictions. In this paper the question on application of climate predictions in (Eastern) European countries is discussed. Results from a survey on CLIPS (Climate Information and Prediction Services) activities in the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) from Eastern Europe are considered. Capabilities of certain Eastern European countries in the development of their own seasonal to interannual predictions or adaptation and interpretation of predictions issued by specialized climate prediction centers are also listed. A short overview on the contemporarary approaches towards better seasonal to interannual prediction and climate forecasting is done within the paper, as well. Seasonal forecasts can be developed using mathematical models of the climate system. A recent trend is to examine the potential use of regional climate models. In Europe the multi-model approach seems to be the most adequate to produce reliable probabilistic climate forecasts. EU-funded project such as ENSEMBLES, EUROCLIM, CECILIA evaluating the merits of the current approaches and methods in the field are mentioned, too.