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Irrigated land losing productivity due to water-logging and salinization
Not an official document
Bonn, 13 June 2003 - Whereas demand for water is increasing with the global population projected to reach from 6.2 billion in 2002 to 9.2 billion in 2050, about 12 million hectares of irrigated land in the developing world has lost its productivity due to water-logging and salinity, among others.
Water and desertification and/or drought are inextricably linked especially in arid, semi arid and sub-humid areas, where there is a finite resource of water and its utilization is weighed up against a desired increase in agricultural development. Water is therefore critical for the sustenance of life and the ecological balance and an indispensable resource for social and economic development necessary for poverty eradication. Consequently, sustainable water resource management is imperative in order to fight both poverty and desertification.
Land degradation, in reverse, affects water resources by reducing its availability and quality. Also, it alters the flows of rivers and streams, which may lead to flooding, groundwater depletion, water pollution and salinization.
As a result, arable land per person is declining from 0.32 hectares per person in 1961-63 to 0.21 hectares in 1997-99 and is expected to drop further to 0.16 hectares by 2030, posing a serious threat to food security.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has therefore taken action at the global and regional levels in recognition of the importance of water. It launched Thematic Programme Networks (TPNs) on water in Africa and Asia in 2000 and 2002, respectively, to precisely address this issue. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is being developed. These networks aim at facilitating the sharing of technical information and know-how on integrated water resources management for the promotion of efficient technologies, water pricing and targeted subsidies as well as institutional capacity building. As a result, already many successful water harvesting and irrigation schemes have been identified and shared for replication.
"These initiatives will not only help us to fight desertification and drought together with poverty, but also draw us closer to the goals set in the Millenium Development Declaration and at the Johannesburg Summit, to halve the proportion of people who do not have access to safe drinking water by 2015," said Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the Convention.
Further, Water Resource Management and Desertification will be the theme of this year's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which will be celebrated worldwide on June 17. The day was designated the General Assembly in December 1994 to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on that date nine years ago. It is celebrated worldwide every year and serves as an occasion to raise public awareness and renew political commitments to fight desertification. This year's theme was established to support the International Year of Freshwater. The Secretariat of the Convention will celebrate it this year in the City of Hamburg at its kind invitation.
The UNCCD was adopted as a follow up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and came into force in 1996. It is serviced by a permanent Secretariat based in Bonn and counts 187 country Parties. The Convention is the only binding international legal instrument to address the issue of desertification and recurring droughts. www.unccd.int
Note to Journalists: For more information about this news release, please contact Ms. Cheemin Kwon at (49-228) 815-2847 / ckwon@unccd.int
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