It has been almost a decade in the making, but South Africa’s national action plan (NAP) to halt desertification — essentially the degradation of land as a result of climate change, erosion, deforestation and overgrazing — is now ready to be sent to Cabinet for approval.
The NAP is required in terms of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which was ratified by South Africa in 1997, although work started on the details two years before then.
Among the UNCCD’s objectives is to ”combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought … through effective action at all levels”.
Briefing MPs on Monday, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism biodiversity head Maria Mbengashe said deciding which government department should lead the fight against desertification in South Africa had been one of the reasons for development of the NAP ”going on and on” for years.
Dry countries such as South Africa, where 91% of the surface area experiences an arid, semi-arid or dry, sub-humid climate, are especially prone to desertification.
Mbengashe told members of Parliament’s environmental affairs portfolio committee that desertification in South Africa, exacerbated by ongoing climate change, is a ”massive” problem.
Initiatives are in place to combat it, but not enough, and much more research is needed to develop ”robust indicators” by which to measure the scale of the problem.
The government has spent R280-million during the 2003/04 financial year, across all government departments, on projects and plans to combat desertification, she said.
Members warned that much of South Africa’s agricultural land — only 12% of the country’s surface area is deemed suitable for agriculture — is in fact ”marginal land”, and should not be used for either growing crops or as pasture.
Alternative uses should be found, including the creation of ecological or botanical reserves, which would foster tourism.
Speaking after the committee meeting, Mbengashe said the NAP will go to Cabinet this month, ”or by November at the latest”.
Although figures are available, she was not able to say immediately what the plan will cost to implement — a process set to start in 2005.
Desertification is seen by experts as a major threat to food security in Africa; worldwide, since 1990, six million hectares of productive land have been lost every year due to land degradation. — Sapa