Overview

The Global Development Challenge
The International Vision
CIDA's Strategy
Spotlight

Rural communities in Haiti no longer have to cut down precious natural forests to survive, thanks to a tree-planting project that provides food, fodder, timber, and income. Farmers in Mongolia are learning minimum tillage techniques and safe grazing practices to preserve their topsoil and sustain their vegetation cover. Improved irrigation practices in Ethiopia and Mali are helping restore soil productivity and ensure food supplies. All of these initiatives are supported by CIDA to help reverse land degradation in some of the world's poorest countries.

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The Global Development Challenge

Land degradation is the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of all kinds of soils: rainfed or irrigated cropland, rangeland, pasture, forest, or woodland. In arid, semi-arid, and drier sub-humid areas, this process is also known as desertification.

Land degradation is caused mainly by drought and poor resource management, including such practices as:

• overgrazing;
• slash-and-burn agriculture;
• unsustainable logging practices;
• over-cultivation of marginal lands;
• poor irrigation practices;
• excessive cultivation;
• chemical contamination by fertilizers or pesticides; and
• mono-crop agriculture.

These practices can eventually lead to loss of vegetation cover and soil erosion, which in turn contribute to water scarcity, climate change, and loss of biodiversity.

The poor, who depend most directly on natural resources, are the first to feel the affects of land degradation. As the soil becomes less productive, incomes drop and food becomes scarce, leading in turn to deteriorating nutrition, greater susceptibility to illness, and lower productivity. At its worst, land degradation can lead to famine, mass migration, and conflict over access to resources. Women, as producers of most of the world's subsistence crops and as chief providers of nutrition and health care within the family, are particularly affected.

The poor are also the least likely to be able to cope with the negative consequences of land degradation. Forced to live on marginal soils-steep hillsides, floodplains, degraded lands-and often lacking title to their lands, the poor lack the tools, the capital, and the technology to protect or rehabilitate their assets. They often cannot help depleting the soil and perpetuating their poverty.

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The International Vision

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, African countries called for a convention to address the issue of land degradation. In 1994, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) was adopted, and entered into force two years later. The objective of the convention is to combat desertification and to mitigate the effects of drought, using strategies that focus on poverty reduction and community participation.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was also created as part of the Rio Earth Summit process in 1992. It has three objectives: the conservation of biodiversity;

• the sustainable use of biodiversity; and
• the equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of biodiversity, specifically genetic resources.

Also relevant is the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), which represents the major post-Rio venue for high-level policy dialogue on forests and related issues.

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CIDA's Strategy

Canada, a strong supporter of the UNCCD, ratified the Convention in December 1996. Although Canada is affected by desertification, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, it is mainly as a donor that Canada participates in the Convention.

CIDA is the Government of Canada's lead agency in implementing the UNCCD, working in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, and the International Development Research Centre. CIDA also collaborates with Canadian, international, and developing country partners from the private sector, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations.

CIDA's approach emphasizes poverty reduction, capacity development, and local participation in improved natural resource management, land rehabilitation, and conservation measures. Equality Between Women and Men is integrated into all initiatives funded by CIDA, including support for such measures as equal access to land, training and resources, and equal inheritance rights. Advancing environmental sustainability is a program priority for CIDA.

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Spotlight