Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects - Disaster Management Center ...

Issues in Reconstruction Peculiar to Desertification
When working to prevent, mitigate, or recover from the results of desertification, an individual
should keep in mind the following information that can make reconstruction efforts more
successful.
Desertification Feeds on Itself
The need for action to combat desertification is all the more urgent because the process is a
dynamic one. Desertification can feed on itself and become self-accelerating. With delay,
rehabilitation becomes increasingly lengthy and expensive, and degradation may reach a
threshold beyond which it is irreversible in practical and economic terms. Fundamental
preventive measures should be introduced as soon as possible. These should be in the form of
socio-economically appropriate land-use practices that improve the fertility of microclimates and
soils and prevent desertification from making further encroachments.
Monitoring Dryland Conditions
Apart from limitations set by climate, dryland ecosystems will remain sensitive to land-use
pressure because their soils and dynamics are delicately balanced. The best-designed dryland
livelihood system will still require constant surveillance if balance is to be sustained. It is
therefore essential that campaigns against desertification must incorporate systems of
monitoring that will indicate how campaigns are proceeding and when people should be alerted
about pending problems. This requirement strongly underlines the need to develop indigenous
science and technology, so that assessment, monitoring and planning will not be added to the
list of imported items.
A Flexible Plan of Action
A geographical spread as immense as the drylands comprises a vast variety of biophysical,
economic and social settings. Desertification processes and problems are correspondingly
varied and complex. Any plan of action to combat desertification will recognize this, and with it
that there can be no single set of remedies. Recommendations must take account of different
situations and be flexible enough to encompass a wide range of conditions.
The Problem of Applying Current Knowledge
A review of the desertification problem strongly supports the contention that past failures to
maintain balanced livelihood systems in the drylands are the outcome of an inability to apply
existing knowledge of physical processes rather than lack of understanding of what those
processes are. The same is true of the design of measures to combat desertification.
Accordingly, plans of action should address, first of all, the application of existing knowledge,
the adaptation of existing knowledge to local situations in the social and physical spheres, and
problems of acceptance and participation among local communities.
Desertification and Government Goals
It should not be take for granted that action to combat desertification will take first place among
national commitments. A plan of action to combat desertification should not appear to pre-empt
already-established national priorities. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that action on the
ground will largely be carried out by national organizations, and presentation of the plan should
accordingly aim to influence governmental attitudes toward the problem of desertification and
should seek to secure the active commitment of governments. This is most likely to occur when
combative measures, linked to broad national plans for development, appear to be consistent
with national goals.