Desertification According to Brown, Desertification

Desertification

According to Brown, desertification affects one billion people in more than 110 countries around the world. Since the first major droughts affected sub-Saharan Africa, the subject of desertification has been a major topic for UNCED. Desertification has, however, remained a contentious issue because of its relative localization. It has been defined as "sustained land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting mainly from adverse human impact," (Brown 175). Difficulties defining desertification, and framing it as a global issue, have stymied efforts on the part of multinational and transnational agencies to act. Alternative terms such as "land degradation" have been put forth without any meaningful change to semantics. Even within a broader "land degradation" framework, desertification remains a localized issue that mainly becomes global for financial reasons.

Desertification is also difficult to include in the agendas of intergovernmental environmental institutions because the complexity of the issue. Causes are varied and depend on the region. Overpopulation, climate, agricultural practices, social and economic institutions, land-use policies, and foreign policies all have an impact on desertification. Desertification affects a disproportionate number of African nations, and is an environmental effect of the social and political causes of poverty. Unfortunately, plans of action and intervention have systematically failed since the 1970s, when the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification was first devised. The United Nations has, rightly, blamed the failure of governments to address the root causes of desertification: most of which are clearly within their control.

The United States has been an unexpected ally of Africa in supporting anti-desertification proposals in the United Nations. Agenda 21 ultimately included an initiative for a special desertification convention, which came to fruition in 1993 with the International Convention to Combat Desertification (INCD). Rather than focusing on the science, the convention brought to light the more pressing need to address political, social and economic policy and practice in affected regions. Creation and maintenance of strong community-based organizations were specifically stressed. By placing the African nations at the helm of discussions, issues related to trade and finance were also discussed within the convention.

Unfortunately, the convention talks broke down. Key points of communication breakdown included debt relief and commodity pricing. However, the industrialized countries also claimed that the specific nature of desertification made it impossible to hold non-local actors accountable. Unlike ozone depletion or climate change, industrialized nations do not have a direct impact on desertification. At best, the issues of debt reduction and commodity pricing may be viewed as indirect global contributors -- and not necessarily as causes.

Many of the participating nations therefore refused to entertain funding and financial aid related specifically to desertification even if ameliorating the problem is a critical environmental concern. In spite of setbacks, the Convention to Combat Desertification was ratified and implemented by 1996, with 191 countries party to it. In addition to the socioeconomic issues the convention listed, physical and biological facets of desertification were discussed as were issues related to technology transfer. The INCD continued to flounder, unfortunately. Lack of institutional support, infrastructure, and other practical barriers to implementation plagued the progress of anti-desertification programs. Currently, the focus of desertification policy programs is on how to effectively garner the genuine political, economic, and institutional support needed to combat desertification in affected areas.

In "Dynamics of the Southern Collective: Developing Countries in Desertification Negotiations," Adil Najam refers to the Earth Summit and how it impacted anti-desertification programs. The 1992 Earth Summit, officially the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), reinforced the "North-South" conceptualization of environmental politics. Using the "North-South" framework, Najam notes that in spite of its geographic and cultural diversity, the conglomerate of G77 nations that comprises the South does share several features in common relevant to global environmental policy. Those features include risk aversion, shared mistrust of the "prevailing world order," and "low expectations," (Najam 128). The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification highlighted some of the commonalities among G77 states.

The G77 did promote desertification as a critical issue in the United Nations, spearheading the Convention to Combat Desertification. This fact made the Convention to Combat Desertification unique as well as historic: for the first time, so-called South nations -- the developing and poor nations -- were championing an environmental cause and leading the related political discourse.

The convention also brought to light differences among G77 nations in terms of perceived risk and benefit. Moreover, the convention revealed schisms between North and South regarding the definitions and policies related to desertification. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was, in short, a polarizing event in global environmental policy history.