27 March 2007
Sustainable Land Management for Global Benefits
(UNU Briefing Meeting)
Land degradation has been identified as one of the key global problems today. It affects 2.6 billion people in more than 100 countries and costs an estimated $US65 billion annually.
The purpose of this meeting was to raise awareness about the fact that land degradation is a global concern primarily because of its effects on human beings and its linkages with global climate change. Sustainable land management appears to be essential to face this phenomenon and to protect essential ecosystems.
To address the question of sustainable land management, the UNU Office in New York hosted three speakers.
Following the introductory remarks by Jean-Marc Coicaud, Head of the United Nations University Office in New York, Professor Michael Stocking, Vice-Chair, Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and Senior Advisor in Land Management to UNU, made a presentation on the “Global Impacts of Land Degradation”. Prof. Stocking highlighted the fact that land degradation is a local process as well as a worldwide phenomenon. Land degradation costs $US 65 billion annually in terms of lost production and affects 2.6 billion people in more than 100 countries. As GEF emphasized in a recent report, land degradation has triggered large-scale population movements, disrupted economic development prospects, and aggravated regional conflicts. The main objectives of GEF is to create an enabling environment that will place Sustainable Land Management in the mainstream of development policy and practice at regional, national and local levels, as well as generate mutual benefits for the global environment and local livelihoods through the up-scaling of Sustainable Land Management investments.
Subsequently, Dr. Libor Jansky, Senior Academic Programme Officer, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme (ESD), UNU in Tokyo, addressed the role of UNU-ESD in the area of Sustainable Land Management in a presentation entitled “Knowledge, Capacities and Networks for Sustainable Land Management”. The ESD Programme based in Tokyo focuses on the interactions between human activities, the natural environment and their implications for sustainable human development. Networking and capacity building developments, particularly in the developing countries, are given high priority. UNU has undertaken a number of projects in different regions of the world, such as China, Mexico, Brazil and Ghana. The goals of UNU’s Sustainable Land Management Initiatives is primarily to upgrade knowledge, communication, and managerial skills necessary to address more effectively emerging issues in Sustainable Land Management and to promote information dissemination among local communities, policy makers, academics, researchers and other institutions.
Finally, Ms. Nevelina I. Pachova, Programme Associate, ESD, UNU, Tokyo, addressed the acute problem of Land Degradation in the Pamir Alai Mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, which are one of the region’s critical water towers, carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots. The Pamir Alai Mountains ecosystems are endangered by international hunting, habitat destruction, overexploitation, pasture degradation, and deforestation. This region is very vulnerable due to political instability, slow economic recovery, growing populations, natural hazards and climate change. Moreover, the lack of adequate legal and policy frameworks and effective governance and institutions makes the problem of land and resources degradation very relevant in this area. UNU-ESD has undertaken a project “Sustainable Land Management in the High Pamir and Pamir Alai Mountains”, which aims to restore, sustain and enhance the productive and protective functions of the trans-boundary ecosystems of the Pamir Alai Mountains, so as to improve the social and economic well-being of the rural communities and households utilizing the region’s ecosystem resources, while preserving its unique landscape and globally important biodiversity.
The three presentations were followed by an answer and question session. Approximately seventy people attended the event. The audience was composed by representatives of Permanent Missions to the UN, of UN Departments, such as UNDESA and UNDP and UN Agencies, FAO, UNEP, IFAD, as well as NGO’s and academics.
Global Impacts of Land Degradation
Michael Stocking
Land degradation is the hidden but menacing face of global environmental change. Not only does it impact directly on the essential services provided by ecosystems, such as provisions of food, fuel and water, but also it drives the destruction of other global environmental components such as biodiversity and carbon storage. ‘Land’ encompasses the habitat of all terrestrial living beings; it captures notions of aesthetic beauty and nature; but most importantly for human survival it is the provider of a productive landscape through the soil, water and vegetation. Land degradation includes processes such as soil erosion, water pollution, desertification and deforestation. Working closely with the Global Environment Facility in Washington DC and its Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, UNU has contributed to a major study on global impacts of land degradation, describing both the current state of knowledge and undertaking a gap analysis of what needs to be known. The over-riding conclusion is that land degradation is a global concern primarily because of its synergistic effects on human beings – driving poverty and food insecurity – and its inter-linkages with climate change, international waters and biodiversity. These scientific findings lay the groundwork for supporting Sustainable Land Management (SLM) as the primary means of tackling the global problem of land degradation. Through SLM, co-benefits are achieved simultaneously for the ambitious Millennium Development Goal targets of poverty reduction while protecting and conserving the earth’s vital resources and ecosystem services, thereby reducing the threats of global climate change and widespread loss of biodiversity.
Knowledge, Capacities and Networks for Sustainable Land Management
Libor Jansky
UNU fosters research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations and its agencies. Land degradation has been identified as one of the key global problems today. It threatens the security of close a one third of the world’s population, the economic and social stability of fragile states situated in the world’s drylands and mountain ranges, as well as the ecological value and functions of regionally and globally important ecosystems. In response to the challenge of land degradation, and in line with its mission and mandate, UNU has been supporting the initiation and implementation of a range of research and applied development projects in countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia over the past 15 years. UNU’s SLM project portfolio entails activities aimed at:
Generating knowledge on indigenous practices and technical solutions to land degradation, innovative approaches for integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge, and replicable models for mainstreaming SLM in mountainous and dryland regions;
Developing capacities for SLM through farmer-teach-farmer demonstrations of SLM technologies, land degradation and vulnerability assessment courses, policy and institutional framework analysis trainings, and various Master’s, Doctoral degree and Post-Doctoral research programmes;
Disseminating information through books, journals, policy briefs and E-learning modules on SLM, local, national and international stakeholder consultations, workshops, conferences, symposia and other forums.
Addressing Land Degradation in the Pamir-Alai Mountains in Central Asia
Nevelina Pachova
The Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan and the adjacent Alai mountain ranges in neighboring Kyrgyzstan are among the world’s major centers of biological and cultural diversity. Ice-capped peaks and glaciers in the Pamir-Alai mountains store and regulate the freshwater supply to the adjacent lowlands, while highland rangelands constitute carbon sinks of global importance. Over the past decade mountain people and resources in the region have been exposed to environmental, socio-economic and political pressures, which have triggered a downward spiral of impoverishment, growing socio-economic inequalities, land and related resource degradation with security implications for the whole of the Pamir-Alai region and beyond it. Empowering and involving the relevant stakeholders in addressing the intertwined problems of poverty and land degradation is a must for breaking and reversing the vicious cycle and ensuring human security and sustainable development in the region. Over the past three years, UNU has been supporting the governments of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to develop an integrated strategy for mainstreaming sustainable land management policies and practices in the region. The transboundary initiative aims to restore, sustain and enhance the productive and protective functions of the Pamir-Alai ecosystems, while improving the well-being of the rural communities utilizing the region’s resources to meet their livelihood needs.
