In the Middle East there is no resource more precious than water. For centuries the peoples of the Middle East have relied on the River Jordan for fresh drinking water, and for water to make the Jordan Valley and the land surrounding the Dead Sea one of the most fertile areas on earth. But now the River Jordan is dying and so is the Dead Sea -- because there is little fresh water flowing through the River Jordan.
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River Jordan may be the regions only safe place for baptisms
Christians come from around the world to the Yardenit - one of two sites on the River Jordan in Israel where Jesus is believed to have been baptized by John the Baptist. What many of these Christians don't know is that this is the only safe place where baptisms can take place. Further south, at a site thought to be more historically accurate than Yardinet, the River Jordan is too polluted to be used for baptisms.
Sea of Galilee
This is the Sea of Galilee, one of the world's largest fresh water lakes and the source of nearly all of Israel's drinking water. The Sea of Galilee feeds the River Jordan and the Dead Sea further south. For thousands of years the waters flowing out of the Sea of Galilee have nourished the River Jordan and have been the only source of fresh water for the Dead Sea. These clean waters enter the River Jordan at Yardenit where the baptisms take place but just a few kilometers south is where the river begins to die.
Beyond this earthen dam the River Jordan as we know it no longer exits.
Pollutants include sewage
Just out of eyesight, sewage from communities along the Sea of Galilee is dumped into one of the world's most sacred rivers. The environmental group, Friends of the Earth in the Middle East, says action must be taken to save the River Jordan before it is too late.
Gidon Bromberg
Gidon Bromberg is the group's director in Israel. "We have an earth dam here on the River Jordan. North of this point no fresh water flows down the River Jordan out of the sea of Galilee. From this point raw sewage and saline water diverted from the sea of Galilee is dumped into the River Jordan, a river holy to half of humanity has been turned into an open sewage canal."
Further south along the River Jordan here at the Gesher crossing on the Israel-Jordan border, bridges built by the Romans, the Ottoman Turks and British straddle the once mighty Jordan.
By the time the River Jordan reaches the Dead Sea it is a mere trickle, and as a result, the Dead Sea is dying.
In 1900 and 1917 a British expeditionary force traveled along this road, but they did it in boats as Mira Edelstein of Friends of the Earth in the Middle East explains, "Once the water was way up here they came by boats. On the Jordanian side, where the topography is different and more cliff oriented, you can see the straight drop. Here the gradiant is much less, so it goes a long ways. Now we are a few kilometer from the shore."
Over the last 50 years the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth and world's saltiest body of water, has dropped by 25 meters and shrunk by more than a third. Every year, the Dead Sea drops by more than one meter. These are results -- sinkholes
Mira Edelstein
The shoreline of the Dead Sea is opening up and will soon destroy the road that runs along the Israeli side of the sea, according to Mira Edelstein. "Sinkholes began appearing about 10 years ago. Today there are more than a thousand. What is happening is that the receding waters of the Dead Sea are taking the salt water further into the sea. And in their place is coming fresh water from all the springs around the sea. It is very dangerous and they are opening up along the western shores. There is no development of infrastructure or tourism whatsoever."
As the sinkholes continue to devour the shoreline of the Dead Sea, experts are warning that with no fresh water flowing from the River Jordan, one of the most unique environments on the planet is in critical danger
2007年9月21日星期五
UN Report Adds Pressure to Global-Warming Fight
Scientists from around the world have been meeting in Paris, working out final details of an exhaustive report on climate change and global warming. Now what? VOA's Paul Sisco reports.
The lights on the Eiffel Tower were switched off. It was a symbolic act, marking the end of a weeklong United Nations conference on climate change, and release of the most detailed scientific report to date on global warming -- and that human beings are responsible for it.
Kenneth Denman, an author of the report says, "We're hoping that it will convince people, you know, that climate change is real."
Hundreds of scientists and officials representing more than 100 governments concluded that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity is responsible for global warming. And it is likely to continue for centuries.
Panel member Susan Soloman says the change is rapid. "You can see this remarkable rapid rise that began with the Industrial era. There can be no question that the increases in these gases, these greenhouse gasses are dominate by human activity."
The report makes no policy recommendations but links global warming to rising sea levels, increased drought in some regions and violent storm patterns.
Dr. Achim Steiner directs the United Nations Environmental Program. He says policy makers must be committed. "We are also looking for an unequivocal commitment from policy makers, business leaders and civic society leaders to take climate change as truly the challenge of our century."
Some delegates wanted policy recommendations in the report, ranging from wider use of renewable energy resources, to development of so-called geo-engineering technologies -- giant mirrors in space, for example, to deflect some of the sun's rays.
A University of Arizona researcher, Roger Angel, is exploring the possibility of launching a huge quantity of small plastic discs into orbit, to shield the Earth by diffusing a small amount of the sun's radiation. "The effect could be to take our temperature back to pre-industrial levels."
These ideas are very experimental.
Climate scientist Michael MacCracken explains what can be done. "There are a host of things to do. First, many different technologies are cost effective right now, and what we need to do is [use] as many of them as we can, before we get into these geo-engineering technologies.
MacCracken, like most of the scientists at the Paris conference, says the immediate focus must be on reducing carbon emissions, not on looking to outer space for solutions to the global warming problem.
The lights on the Eiffel Tower were switched off. It was a symbolic act, marking the end of a weeklong United Nations conference on climate change, and release of the most detailed scientific report to date on global warming -- and that human beings are responsible for it.
Kenneth Denman, an author of the report says, "We're hoping that it will convince people, you know, that climate change is real."
Hundreds of scientists and officials representing more than 100 governments concluded that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity is responsible for global warming. And it is likely to continue for centuries.
Panel member Susan Soloman says the change is rapid. "You can see this remarkable rapid rise that began with the Industrial era. There can be no question that the increases in these gases, these greenhouse gasses are dominate by human activity."
The report makes no policy recommendations but links global warming to rising sea levels, increased drought in some regions and violent storm patterns.
Dr. Achim Steiner directs the United Nations Environmental Program. He says policy makers must be committed. "We are also looking for an unequivocal commitment from policy makers, business leaders and civic society leaders to take climate change as truly the challenge of our century."
Some delegates wanted policy recommendations in the report, ranging from wider use of renewable energy resources, to development of so-called geo-engineering technologies -- giant mirrors in space, for example, to deflect some of the sun's rays.
A University of Arizona researcher, Roger Angel, is exploring the possibility of launching a huge quantity of small plastic discs into orbit, to shield the Earth by diffusing a small amount of the sun's radiation. "The effect could be to take our temperature back to pre-industrial levels."
These ideas are very experimental.
Climate scientist Michael MacCracken explains what can be done. "There are a host of things to do. First, many different technologies are cost effective right now, and what we need to do is [use] as many of them as we can, before we get into these geo-engineering technologies.
MacCracken, like most of the scientists at the Paris conference, says the immediate focus must be on reducing carbon emissions, not on looking to outer space for solutions to the global warming problem.
Study Links Global Warming, Severe Droughts in Indonesia
As Indonesia copes with one of its driest rainy seasons on record, a climate change study indicates global warming will lead to prolonged and more severe droughts in Indonesia and Australia in the future. Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta.
Climate experts say new evidence suggests Indonesia's seasonal rains will diminish as global temperatures continue to rise.
That could mean a devastating blow to the country's tropical agriculture and spark more haze-producing wildfires each year.
A new study used samples of coral to track rainfall patterns from more than 6,000 years ago. The study was published a few days ago in the journal Nature.
Study co-author Nerilie Abram says the new data suggest an unexpected link between monsoons and droughts in countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.
"And so the implication is that with monsoon strengthening we expect that parts of Asia and India, where you receive monsoon rainfall, are likely to get wetter. But the knock-on effect is that parts of Indonesia and Australia are likely to get dryer," said Abram.
This year's drought in Indonesia is caused partly by a natural cycle of cooling in the Indian Ocean much like the El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
But droughts or heavy rainfalls generated by that warming cycle will increase if average global temperatures continue to rise. Many scientists think global warming may be caused in part by increasing emissions of gases from burning fuels such as oil and coal. They recommend cutting those emissions to halt the rise in temperatures.
Abram is a paleoclimatologist who works with the British Antarctic Survey at Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. In a phone call from Cambridge, she said recently that the coral study shows droughts also are shifting to a different time of year.
"And that the peak of drought could actually shift so that it falls at the time of year when this area receives its most rainfall," added Abram. "So that sort of change could have quite a critical effect on agriculture in the area, and actually change the way that we need to try and adapt to these events."
Millions of impoverished Indonesians in rural areas depend on subsistence agriculture, which could be harmed by drier weather.
In the past several months, the severe drought was blamed for massive forest fires in Indonesia, which caused thick smog and health problems in neighboring countries.
Climate experts say new evidence suggests Indonesia's seasonal rains will diminish as global temperatures continue to rise.
That could mean a devastating blow to the country's tropical agriculture and spark more haze-producing wildfires each year.
A new study used samples of coral to track rainfall patterns from more than 6,000 years ago. The study was published a few days ago in the journal Nature.
Study co-author Nerilie Abram says the new data suggest an unexpected link between monsoons and droughts in countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.
"And so the implication is that with monsoon strengthening we expect that parts of Asia and India, where you receive monsoon rainfall, are likely to get wetter. But the knock-on effect is that parts of Indonesia and Australia are likely to get dryer," said Abram.
This year's drought in Indonesia is caused partly by a natural cycle of cooling in the Indian Ocean much like the El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
But droughts or heavy rainfalls generated by that warming cycle will increase if average global temperatures continue to rise. Many scientists think global warming may be caused in part by increasing emissions of gases from burning fuels such as oil and coal. They recommend cutting those emissions to halt the rise in temperatures.
Abram is a paleoclimatologist who works with the British Antarctic Survey at Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. In a phone call from Cambridge, she said recently that the coral study shows droughts also are shifting to a different time of year.
"And that the peak of drought could actually shift so that it falls at the time of year when this area receives its most rainfall," added Abram. "So that sort of change could have quite a critical effect on agriculture in the area, and actually change the way that we need to try and adapt to these events."
Millions of impoverished Indonesians in rural areas depend on subsistence agriculture, which could be harmed by drier weather.
In the past several months, the severe drought was blamed for massive forest fires in Indonesia, which caused thick smog and health problems in neighboring countries.
Colorado Storms Trigger Avalanches
Avalanche!" is the most frightening alert a mountain traveler can hear. Uncontrollable snow slides in the world's mountainous regions -- from the Himalayas to the Alps to North America's Rocky Mountains -- claim many lives annually. Over the past 100 years, the overall death toll from snow avalanches may be well over 50,000 lives. Not only skiers, but those who live in mountainous areas or travel through them can be at risk. VOA's Paul Sisco set out to find what causes avalanches and what you should do if you are caught in one.
The most common and most dangerous types of avalanches look like an enormous "slab" of snow sliding down a mountainside. There can be many thousands of tons of snow -- enough to rip large trees from the ground, shift boulders and crush homes and cars.
The amount of snow resting on a mountainside, the angle of a slope and the weather are some of the factors that combine to trigger an avalanche. Scientists know the most dangerous slopes are inclined between 35 and 45 degrees, but beyond that there is no precise formula to decide when the risk is greatest. Almost anything can set the snow mass in motion -- a loud sound or the weight of a single person crossing a snowfield.
In the United States, there are about 100,000 snowslides every year.
A few days ago an enormous avalanche in the western state of Colorado swept two cars off a road. Those inside lived to tell about it.
Dave Boon and friend, Gary, are avalanche survivors
Dave Boon, is one such avalanche survivor. He said, "It's just amazing the force we were hit with, and that we are even alive today."
Dave Boon, his wife and a young friend survived.
Boon describes what happened. "So I pushed my hand out through the window and found daylight and started, started digging out at that point, ... asked June if she was with me and okay, ... asked Gary if he was with me, and they both answered, so I said we got air. We're going to be all right."
Gary adds, "When we got out of the car and looked at it, an Aspen branch of a tree or something was through the windshield, and right next to the passenger seat, and I was sitting right behind the passenger seat, so I just knew that I was lucky and somebody was watching over me."
These Americans were lucky. Experts say for every one killed in an avalanche, five survive.
At many ski resorts, crews trigger small snowslides deliberately, before conditions become dangerous.
But if a large avalanche develops, anyone caught in the snow's path should know it is impossible to outrun an avalanche. If you are caught up by a rolling wave of snow, the best tactic is to create space around you, by "swimming" through the snow.
Ethan Green of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center explains that the largest-volume objects in an avalanche -- cars, or people flailing their arms -- almost always wind up near the surface when the snow comes to a stop. "An avalanche rolling down the hill is going through a lot of motion, and the small particles tend to fall down into the cracks and that motion pushes the largest particles up onto the surface."
No one died in this week's near disaster in Colorado, and control teams are out on the slopes working hard to keep conditions safe for skiers.
The most common and most dangerous types of avalanches look like an enormous "slab" of snow sliding down a mountainside. There can be many thousands of tons of snow -- enough to rip large trees from the ground, shift boulders and crush homes and cars.
The amount of snow resting on a mountainside, the angle of a slope and the weather are some of the factors that combine to trigger an avalanche. Scientists know the most dangerous slopes are inclined between 35 and 45 degrees, but beyond that there is no precise formula to decide when the risk is greatest. Almost anything can set the snow mass in motion -- a loud sound or the weight of a single person crossing a snowfield.
In the United States, there are about 100,000 snowslides every year.
A few days ago an enormous avalanche in the western state of Colorado swept two cars off a road. Those inside lived to tell about it.
Dave Boon and friend, Gary, are avalanche survivors
Dave Boon, is one such avalanche survivor. He said, "It's just amazing the force we were hit with, and that we are even alive today."
Dave Boon, his wife and a young friend survived.
Boon describes what happened. "So I pushed my hand out through the window and found daylight and started, started digging out at that point, ... asked June if she was with me and okay, ... asked Gary if he was with me, and they both answered, so I said we got air. We're going to be all right."
Gary adds, "When we got out of the car and looked at it, an Aspen branch of a tree or something was through the windshield, and right next to the passenger seat, and I was sitting right behind the passenger seat, so I just knew that I was lucky and somebody was watching over me."
These Americans were lucky. Experts say for every one killed in an avalanche, five survive.
At many ski resorts, crews trigger small snowslides deliberately, before conditions become dangerous.
But if a large avalanche develops, anyone caught in the snow's path should know it is impossible to outrun an avalanche. If you are caught up by a rolling wave of snow, the best tactic is to create space around you, by "swimming" through the snow.
Ethan Green of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center explains that the largest-volume objects in an avalanche -- cars, or people flailing their arms -- almost always wind up near the surface when the snow comes to a stop. "An avalanche rolling down the hill is going through a lot of motion, and the small particles tend to fall down into the cracks and that motion pushes the largest particles up onto the surface."
No one died in this week's near disaster in Colorado, and control teams are out on the slopes working hard to keep conditions safe for skiers.
2007: Expected to be Hotter than 2006
Oil prices are at their lowest levels since mid-2005. That's the good news - or is it?
Unseasonably warm weather is responsible for premature cherry blossoms
Stronger typhoons, more flooding in low lying regions, deepening drought -- all possible, if not likely, according to a report from British climatologists. They say 2007 has a 60 percent probability of being the hottest year on record, citing high levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and El Nino, now underway in the Pacific and expected to last until May.
Temperature studies for 2006 are not yet complete. But the new study, noting that the world's ten warmest years since 1850 have occurred in the past decade, says 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest year globally, and 2007 is likely to set a new all time high.
Even as dangerous winter storms blanket parts of the Western United States, much of the rest of the nation is unusually warm. For the first time in 130 years, New York City has had no snow. In Washington DC, the spring cherry blossoms are already poised to bloom and botanists note southern species of flowers are being found further north.
Bernie Rayno
Meteorologist Bernie Rayno says, "We expected much of the country to be warmer than normal during the month of December. However, we also expect that scene to be turning around during the month of January." A benefit for many in the United States: crude oil prices are at their lowest levels since the middle of 2005.
Ira Epstein is a trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Mild weather in the Northeast -- we’re having ample supplies in this country domestically, and we came off kind of a lackluster year in '06."
Whether lower oil prices will hold is unclear, but for many on America's East Coast this is a winter, at least so far, unlike any they have seen before.
Unseasonably warm weather is responsible for premature cherry blossoms
Stronger typhoons, more flooding in low lying regions, deepening drought -- all possible, if not likely, according to a report from British climatologists. They say 2007 has a 60 percent probability of being the hottest year on record, citing high levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and El Nino, now underway in the Pacific and expected to last until May.
Temperature studies for 2006 are not yet complete. But the new study, noting that the world's ten warmest years since 1850 have occurred in the past decade, says 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest year globally, and 2007 is likely to set a new all time high.
Even as dangerous winter storms blanket parts of the Western United States, much of the rest of the nation is unusually warm. For the first time in 130 years, New York City has had no snow. In Washington DC, the spring cherry blossoms are already poised to bloom and botanists note southern species of flowers are being found further north.
Bernie Rayno
Meteorologist Bernie Rayno says, "We expected much of the country to be warmer than normal during the month of December. However, we also expect that scene to be turning around during the month of January." A benefit for many in the United States: crude oil prices are at their lowest levels since the middle of 2005.
Ira Epstein is a trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Mild weather in the Northeast -- we’re having ample supplies in this country domestically, and we came off kind of a lackluster year in '06."
Whether lower oil prices will hold is unclear, but for many on America's East Coast this is a winter, at least so far, unlike any they have seen before.
US Proposes Listing Polar Bears as Threatened Species
The United States is proposing to declare polar bears a threatened species because of their shrinking Arctic ice habitat. As we hear from VOA's David McAlary, analysts say the move is an unusual admission by the Bush administration that global warming is an environmental threat.
Polar bear
U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says he is making the proposal because receding Arctic sea ice may be responsible for polar bear population declines. He notes that Canada's western Hudson Bay polar bear numbers have dropped 22 percent and Alaskan polar bears may be suffering the same pressures, although he says their population decline is not yet statistically significant.
"Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors," he said. "They are able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments, but there is concern that their habitat may literally be melting. I, like all Americans, support conservation of the polar bear and will work in partnership on measures to achieve this goal."
Kempthorne's declaration initiates a year-long scientific review to study whether the Interior Department should actually declare polar bears threatened. If it ultimately does, government agencies will be obligated by the U.S. Endangered Species Act to ensure that any action they authorize, fund, or carry out will not jeopardize polar bears or their habitat.
The U.S. government decision is the result of a suit by three environmental groups, who argued that the Bush administration was slow to respond to the polar bear's plight. The government's announcement meets a deadline ordered by the court.
Environmentalists hope that the Bush administration's concession might lead it to step up efforts to reduce emissions of the so-called greenhouse gases blamed for warming the atmosphere and oceans.
"This is a watershed decision in terms of way we deal with global warming in this country," said Kassie Siegel, a lawyer at one of the environmental organizations that sued the U.S. government, the Center for Biological Diversity. "The science of global warming in the Arctic and the impact to polar bears is so clear that not even the Bush administration can any longer deny the science. This is the first major acknowledgment from the Bush administration and it's very encouraging, because we now have to move forward very rapidly to reduce greenhouse gas pollution."
Interior Secretary Kempthorne says that if his agency's 12-month review causes him to declare the polar bear is threatened, the department will work with scientists, industry, native populations in U.S. polar bear regions, and other countries with polar bears to seek a way to save the species.
But he says specific measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beyond the scope of the U.S. law he oversees that governs threats to species and must be implemented as part of broader national policy.
Polar bear
U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne says he is making the proposal because receding Arctic sea ice may be responsible for polar bear population declines. He notes that Canada's western Hudson Bay polar bear numbers have dropped 22 percent and Alaskan polar bears may be suffering the same pressures, although he says their population decline is not yet statistically significant.
"Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors," he said. "They are able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments, but there is concern that their habitat may literally be melting. I, like all Americans, support conservation of the polar bear and will work in partnership on measures to achieve this goal."
Kempthorne's declaration initiates a year-long scientific review to study whether the Interior Department should actually declare polar bears threatened. If it ultimately does, government agencies will be obligated by the U.S. Endangered Species Act to ensure that any action they authorize, fund, or carry out will not jeopardize polar bears or their habitat.
The U.S. government decision is the result of a suit by three environmental groups, who argued that the Bush administration was slow to respond to the polar bear's plight. The government's announcement meets a deadline ordered by the court.
Environmentalists hope that the Bush administration's concession might lead it to step up efforts to reduce emissions of the so-called greenhouse gases blamed for warming the atmosphere and oceans.
"This is a watershed decision in terms of way we deal with global warming in this country," said Kassie Siegel, a lawyer at one of the environmental organizations that sued the U.S. government, the Center for Biological Diversity. "The science of global warming in the Arctic and the impact to polar bears is so clear that not even the Bush administration can any longer deny the science. This is the first major acknowledgment from the Bush administration and it's very encouraging, because we now have to move forward very rapidly to reduce greenhouse gas pollution."
Interior Secretary Kempthorne says that if his agency's 12-month review causes him to declare the polar bear is threatened, the department will work with scientists, industry, native populations in U.S. polar bear regions, and other countries with polar bears to seek a way to save the species.
But he says specific measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beyond the scope of the U.S. law he oversees that governs threats to species and must be implemented as part of broader national policy.
Experts Ask 'What Now?' for Desertification
Only days away from the end of the United Nations' Year of Deserts and Desertification, four experts discuss the challenges of translating a decade's worth of research about the degradation of land in arid areas of the world. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's Dakar bureau, located in the arid Saharan region of West Africa.
A man walks by a jeep covered by sand in the village of Boumdeid, near Kiffa in Mauritania (2002 file photo)
In the decade since the United Nations adopted the convention against desertification, people understand more about the scope of the problem and what needs to be done. What is unclear is how this will all be put into action in the future.
David Mouat, the chair of a U.N. group of 25 experts who came together in 2002 to study desertification, said, "The danger of this is that it raises attention, but then we might feel that we have had all these meetings, that we have addressed this issue and can move on to something else and the problem will go away."
Most recently, Mouat and his colleagues met in Algeria last week to review the challenges ahead. One of the main challenges is coordinating the different organizations involved in the issue.
Pam Chasek, an editor for the Canadian non-profit International Institute for Sustainable Development, said, "The desertification convention has been hampered by the fact that you have got various different ministries responsible for different issues that all affect desertification."
"It is hard to break down those barriers between them, to realize that gosh, if you address some of these environmental issues, it will have an impact on development and vice versa," she added.
Desertification affects almost half of the earth's surface, home to more than a billion people, says Rattan Lal, a professor of soil science at Ohio State University in the United States.
He estimates that about six million hectares of land each year is lost to desertification. He points out that the problem is not only environmental.
"The desert-land degradation issue is a human issue. It is poverty driven. My general feeling is that when pepole are poor, hungry and miserable, they pass their suffering on to the land," he said. "It is the desperate people who drive the process of land degradation and desertification."
There are several factors that contribute to desertification: Harsh dry climates, for example, can ruin soil. Harmful farming and grazing practices can also deplete the soil's nutrients. Inappropriate irrigation and overgrazing of animals also contribute by decreasing food production.
He says that this problem is most serious in arid regions that also have a level of political and economic instability.
"West Africa is really a tragedy. It is a tragedy of poverty. It is a tragedy of harsh climate, of poor soil," he said. "And above all, resource poor farmers who cannot invest and then the political instability component. When there is political instability, then the support that farmers need does not exist."
The U.N.'s Mouat says fast action is needed.
"The race to affect the future is the race to make decisions when there is still an opportunity," he said. "We can project changes in landscape and develop very clear, relatively simple models that show that the trajectory of degradation will have such and such consequences."
"As we wait to make decisions along this trajectory, our opportunities to make a positive impact will become less and less," he continued.
Wafa Essahili is a director of rural development at the Libyan-based non-profit Community of Saharan and Sahelian Countries, which represents 21 African countries. She says the link between desertification and poverty cannot be ignored.
"The convention's recommendations need to be placed at the heart of countries' development plans and poverty reduction strategies," she said. "The fight against desertification cannot take place apart from economic development."
She says farmers can play a key role, if they are provided the tools.
"If we want this evidently poor population to decrease their pressure on the natural resources, we have to create alternative revenue generating activities. It is certain that they are not destroying the land because they want to, but rather because they have no other means," she said.
One idea circulating in the anti-desertification community is carbon credits. Ohio University's Rattan Lal believes that everyone will benefit from this plan.
"To break this vicious cycle, we have to replace the destroyed soil and ecosystem by encouraging farmers to adopt recommended agricultural policies," he said.
"If the farmers can restore the carbon soil, the world community pays these farmers for carbon credits, which will offset fossil fuel emission, which mitigates climate change. It is a win-win-win situation," he added.
Experts estimate that more than 100 million people are at risk of becoming what they call environmental refugees, or people who are forced to move in search of land that can sustain and feed them.
A man walks by a jeep covered by sand in the village of Boumdeid, near Kiffa in Mauritania (2002 file photo)
In the decade since the United Nations adopted the convention against desertification, people understand more about the scope of the problem and what needs to be done. What is unclear is how this will all be put into action in the future.
David Mouat, the chair of a U.N. group of 25 experts who came together in 2002 to study desertification, said, "The danger of this is that it raises attention, but then we might feel that we have had all these meetings, that we have addressed this issue and can move on to something else and the problem will go away."
Most recently, Mouat and his colleagues met in Algeria last week to review the challenges ahead. One of the main challenges is coordinating the different organizations involved in the issue.
Pam Chasek, an editor for the Canadian non-profit International Institute for Sustainable Development, said, "The desertification convention has been hampered by the fact that you have got various different ministries responsible for different issues that all affect desertification."
"It is hard to break down those barriers between them, to realize that gosh, if you address some of these environmental issues, it will have an impact on development and vice versa," she added.
Desertification affects almost half of the earth's surface, home to more than a billion people, says Rattan Lal, a professor of soil science at Ohio State University in the United States.
He estimates that about six million hectares of land each year is lost to desertification. He points out that the problem is not only environmental.
"The desert-land degradation issue is a human issue. It is poverty driven. My general feeling is that when pepole are poor, hungry and miserable, they pass their suffering on to the land," he said. "It is the desperate people who drive the process of land degradation and desertification."
There are several factors that contribute to desertification: Harsh dry climates, for example, can ruin soil. Harmful farming and grazing practices can also deplete the soil's nutrients. Inappropriate irrigation and overgrazing of animals also contribute by decreasing food production.
He says that this problem is most serious in arid regions that also have a level of political and economic instability.
"West Africa is really a tragedy. It is a tragedy of poverty. It is a tragedy of harsh climate, of poor soil," he said. "And above all, resource poor farmers who cannot invest and then the political instability component. When there is political instability, then the support that farmers need does not exist."
The U.N.'s Mouat says fast action is needed.
"The race to affect the future is the race to make decisions when there is still an opportunity," he said. "We can project changes in landscape and develop very clear, relatively simple models that show that the trajectory of degradation will have such and such consequences."
"As we wait to make decisions along this trajectory, our opportunities to make a positive impact will become less and less," he continued.
Wafa Essahili is a director of rural development at the Libyan-based non-profit Community of Saharan and Sahelian Countries, which represents 21 African countries. She says the link between desertification and poverty cannot be ignored.
"The convention's recommendations need to be placed at the heart of countries' development plans and poverty reduction strategies," she said. "The fight against desertification cannot take place apart from economic development."
She says farmers can play a key role, if they are provided the tools.
"If we want this evidently poor population to decrease their pressure on the natural resources, we have to create alternative revenue generating activities. It is certain that they are not destroying the land because they want to, but rather because they have no other means," she said.
One idea circulating in the anti-desertification community is carbon credits. Ohio University's Rattan Lal believes that everyone will benefit from this plan.
"To break this vicious cycle, we have to replace the destroyed soil and ecosystem by encouraging farmers to adopt recommended agricultural policies," he said.
"If the farmers can restore the carbon soil, the world community pays these farmers for carbon credits, which will offset fossil fuel emission, which mitigates climate change. It is a win-win-win situation," he added.
Experts estimate that more than 100 million people are at risk of becoming what they call environmental refugees, or people who are forced to move in search of land that can sustain and feed them.
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