Desertification ... in perspective

Desertification remains high on the international agenda of critical environmental problems as the decade of the '80's draws to a close. The fact that this subject has attracted renewed high level attention over the past year is a source of considerable encouragement. The "bad news" is that such recognition reflects the failure of the international community to address the desertification problem in a meaningful way over two decades—this despite the considerable enthusiasm, detailed planning and extensive commitments of governments, international bodies and the private sector.While lack of adequate funding is often implicated, reasons for the woeful performance are found elsewhere: an initial underestimation of the depth and tenacity of the problem; the continuing absence of agreement on the dimensions and key indicators of desertification, prerequisites for measuring trends and progress; the erosion of public confidence and government support through failure to publicize and build on the few successes; and widespread civil unrest in many of the affected countries which has thwarted meaningful antidesertification efforts.Prospects for the 1990's depend upon new commitments and follow-through both by governments of affected nations and by the development assistance community. The former must provide a more favorable political and social context for success. This means tackling more aggressively problems of population growth, land tenure, and civil disruption. The donor community, for its part, must overcome the scattering of its intellectual, technological and financial resources, and rebuild its own and others' confidence by demonstrating that the resource base can indeed be stabilized and enhanced at a meaningful scale. Recognition of and commitment to the long-term requirements of antidesertification campaigns are also required of all parties.This paper was prepared for the symposium, Review of the 1977–87 Decade of Action to Combat Desertification, under the authority and sponsorship of the American Association for the Advancement of ScienceCommittee on Arid Lands. The views expressed are solely those of the author and not those of the OECD and/or its Member countries.