The SDGs, which tackle global food and environmental problems, eradication of hunger and poverty, and these activities are supported by the land at our feet. In the world, 2 billion hectares of land, including agricultural land, are devastated, and 12 million hectares are becoming a desert each year due to desertification, land deterioration and drought.

As the UN Secretary General António Guterres clearly stated, "Our planet is ailing, land degradation affects some 3.2 billion people, 70% of the world’s land has been transformed by human activity. I call for a new contract on nature through international action and solidarity. We can scale up land restoration and nature based solutions for climate action and the benefit of future generations.”

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)  was adopted on June 17, 1994, and since then this day has been designated as Desertification and Drought Day. In line with this, an online event will be held on June 14th with a high-level dialogue on desertification, soil degradation and drought. In addition, COP15 of the United Nations Desertification Prevention Treaty which has been postponed will be held around next summer.

JIRCAS has been also working to combat desertification during the period of the previous medium to long-term plan (2016-2020) through conducting researches on natural resource management to develop an appropriate watershed management model for Central Plateau in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia Highlands. One of the research results will be published in the Journal of Arid Land Studies.

In the highlands of northern Ethiopia, where the research was conducted, the state government has implemented a forest enclosure to manage the catchment area to prevent soil erosion. While this policy is very effective from a vegetation protection perspective, livestock raising, and livelihoods are threatened by the inability of farmers because of a restriction to gather firewood and bring animals in the reserved natural vegetation.

It is necessary to take measures to sustainably balance between a local livelihood and soil conservation. JIRCAS has developed a soil erosion risk map for the Adi Zaboy watershed, and clarified by model that only 10 % of a place in the watershed accounted for 71% of the soil erosion, and the risk of soil erosion increased, especially when an inclination angle was more than 6 degrees.  Since it is difficult to implement any conservation technologies such as stone bunds if the inclination exceeds 13 degrees, it is necessary to conduct an intensive enclosure in a higher risk area. On the other hand, it can be possible to balance the needs of the farmers with conserving natural vegetation by gradually opening the forest enclosure in a relatively gentle slope of 6 degrees or less during a specific period of the year.

Reference

・    UNCCD High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought: https://www.unccd.int/high-level-dialogue-desertification-land-degradat…

・    (The link will be accessible by the end of June)　Ogawa et al.(2021) https://doi.org/10.14976/jals.31.1_1

Contributor: HAYASHI Keiichi (Director, Environment Program)