World Day to Combat Desertification

Photo credit: Google – Imgres.jpg

 

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

World Day to Combat Desertification to be held on 17 June 

“Let us find long‐term solutions, not just quick fixes, to disasters that are
destroying communities,” urged Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.(See PRESS RELEASE below).

COMMENTS

Willem Van Cotthem: We keep hoping that success stories and best practices will be applied at the global level. Priority should be given to methods and techniques providing daily fresh food to the hungry and malnourished. It cannot be denied that hunger and malnutrition are constantly undermining the performances of people. Application of existing success stories in local food production (kitchen gardens, school gardens, hospital gardens, …) would positively influence the efforts to combat desertification (limiting erosion, stimulating reforestation, etc.). We keep hoping.

Reply: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification “Hi Willem Van Cotthem, would you like to share some success stories you have? We always welcome all to share!”

       Reply: Willem Van Cotthem : Hello Friends at the UNCCD Secretariat: It will be my pleasure to select a series of success stories in the literature. However, I am convinced that the UNCCD secretariat has the necessary documentation to compile even a book on this subject (to the best of my knowledge the documents, e.g. presentations at COPs and meetings of CST and CRIC, have been there during my active period in the CST and in Bonn). Please consider a consultancy to achieve top class work that would serve all member countries, the CST and the CRIC. To be presented at the next World Day June 17th 2016.

PRESS RELEASE

UNCCD’s Monique Barbut Calls for Long‐Term Solutions Not Just Quick Fixes To Drought Bonn, Germany, 22/02/2016 –

“Protect Earth. Restore Land. Engage People. This is the slogan for this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification to be held on 17 June. I am calling for solidarity from the international community with the people who are battling the ravages of drought and flood. Let us find long‐term solutions, not just quick fixes, to disasters that are destroying communities,” urged Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The droughts and floods beating down on communities in many parts of the world are linked to the current El Niño, which is expected to affect up 60 million people by July. In some areas, including in North Eastern Brazil, Somali, Ethiopia, Kenya and Namibia, the El Niño effects are coming on the back of years of severe and recurrent droughts. It is impossible for households that rely on the land for food and farm labor to recover, especially when the land is degraded.

What’s more, these conditions do not just devastate families and destabilize communities. When they are not attended to urgently, they can become a push factor for migration, and end with gross human rights abuses and long‐term security threats.

“We have seen this before – in Darfur following four decades of droughts and desertification and, more recently, in Syria, following the long drought of 2007‐2010. It is tragic to see a society breaking down when we can reduce the vulnerability of communities through simple and affordable acts such as restoring the degraded lands they live on, and helping countries to set up better systems for drought early warning and to prepare for and manage drought and floods,” Barbut said.

Ms Barbut made the remarks when announcing the plans for this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification, which will take place on 17 June.

“I hope that World Day to Combat Desertification this year marks a turning point for every country. We need to show, through practical action and cooperation, how every country is tacking or supporting these challenges at the front‐end to preempt or minimize the potential impacts of the disasters, not just at the back‐end after the disasters happen,” she stated.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 17 June as the observance Day to raise public awareness about international efforts to combat desertification and the effects of drought.

Ms Barbut thanked the Government and People of China, for offering to host the global observance event, which will take place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

“China has vast experience in nursing degraded lands and man‐made deserts back to health. This knowledge can and should benefit initiatives such as Africa’s Great Green Wall, the re‐ greening in southern Africa and the 20 X 20 Initiative in Latin America. We can create a better, more equal and climate change‐resilient world,” she noted.

“I also call on countries, the private sector, foundations and people of goodwill to support Africa  when the countries meet later in the year to develop concrete plans and policies to pre‐ empt, monitor and manage droughts,” Ms Barbut stated.

The 2016 World Day campaign is also advancing the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September last year. The Goals include a target to achieve a land degradation‐neutral world by 2030. That is, a world where the land restored back to health equals to, or is more than, the amount degraded every year.

For more information on the Day and previous events, visit: http://www.unccd.int/en/programmes/Event‐and‐campaigns/WDCD/Pages/default.aspx

For background information and materials for the 2016 Observance, visit: For information about the Global Observance event, visit: http://www.unccd.int/en/programmes/Event‐and‐ campaigns/WDCD/wdcd2016/Pages/default.aspx

Contact for World Day to Combat Desertification: Yhori@unccd.int

For Media information: wwischnewski@unccd.int

Farmers in Pakistan’s drylands love it, African farmers too ?

Photo credit: CGIAR

 

Please read:

A Prickly Cactus Journey in Pakistan

CGIAR Dryland Systems

EXCERPT

Since the 1980s, scientists at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in collaboration with a host of partners and stakeholders have been documenting lost knowledge of how indigenous communities used cacti in the past, and identifying the potential uses of cacti, such as:

1. Forage for livestock and animals;
2. Fruit and vegetable where young cladodes are consumed fresh or cooked;
3. Source of natural red dye accepted by health authorities worldwide;
4. Processed foods where a potential market for cacti-based concentrated juices, liquors, semi-processed and food supplements is viable;
5. Cosmetics industry, which might be a significant source of income;
6. Medicinal applications: promising results for the treatment of gastritis, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and for obesity.

 

ICARDA and ILRI scientists, in collaboration with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and the National Agricultural Research Center of Pakistan, supported by the CGIAR Research Program Dryland Systems and the USAID-funded Agriculture Innovation Program for Pakistan have been conducting a series of on-farm demonstrations and farmer field days in the Chakwal research action site in Punjab Province  to showcase the multiple uses of the cacti crop, including feeding livestock on chopped cactus pads.

The cactus pear was introduced to Pakistan in recent years through Cactusnet, an international technical network on cactus established back in 1993 through an initiative led by FAO and ICARDA. Network members from several countries shipped cactus cladodes to first to India, where different cultivars are being evaluated against criteria of suitability and adaptation to local conditions. Based on preliminary findings, the most prominent varieties are being identified and then shared with farmers in both India and Pakistan.

Many varieties of offspring cactus cladodes have been already produced and shared amongst local dryland farming communities. The farmers are now focusing on letting their cactus plants grow larger so that more cacti crop can be harvested annually.

It is hoped that in time, the cactus pear crop will be utilized as green forage to reduce the feed gap during the driest part of the year, when other crops fail to survive, and livestock mortality is the highest. The use of these high-energy, nutrient-rich cacti plants is not only helping to reduce risks associated with extreme climate variability and depleted natural resources; it is also providing farmers with an alternative source of income through the sale of cacti fruit and cacti seed oil to cosmetic companies. Cooked cladodes are also appropriate from human consumption, therefore contributing to increased food security for Pakistan’s dryland communities. As knowledge of the benefits of the cactus pear spreads from one community to another, scientists are helping farmers refine the cultivation, harvesting, and processing practices for this game-changing crop that has been resurrected from a mythical hellfire.

This research is being conducted in the framework of the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems under the South Asia Flagship and supported by the CGIAR Fund Donors.

For more information, please contact:

Mounir Louhaichi, Senior Rangeland Scientist, International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas and ICARDA Focal Point for the FAO-ICARDA Cactusnet at m.louhaichi@cgiar.org

Read the full article: CGIAR Dryland Systems

Farmers embracing prickly pear cactus as a multipurpose, income-generating crop

Photo credit: CGIAR Dryland Systems

Farmers Day at cactus field managed by the National Agricultural Research Center of Pakistan, Photo:ICARDA

A Prickly Cactus Journey: From Hellish Plant to Farmers’ Darling

Submitted by Dryland Systems on July 5, 2015

Farmers in Pakistan are now embracing cactus as a multipurpose, income-generating crop to reduce risks associated with climate change

EXCERPT

Today, the reality is very different. Farmers have not only changed their mind and beliefs about the cactus pear; they have actually increased their demand for its production.

Adapted to extreme conditions, the cactus pear can grow and survive in severely degraded soils and areas, where not much of anything else will grow. Given its high water efficiency and content, the cactus pear can sustain livestock through the driest of seasons. Compared to many other common crops and fodder, the cactus pear is easy to establish, maintain, and utilize. Its well-developed root system, which avoids wind and rain erosions, makes it an ideal feed crop in the face of climate change conditions.

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ICARDA and ILRI scientists, in collaboration with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and the National Agricultural Research Center of Pakistan, supported by the CGIAR Research Program Dryland Systems and the USAID-funded Agriculture Innovation Program for Pakistan have been conducting a series of on-farm demonstrations and farmer field days in the Chakwal research action site in Punjab Province  to showcase the multiple uses of the cacti crop, including feeding livestock on chopped cactus pads.

It did not take long before farmers started to ask cactus pads to be planted in their fields. The farmers’ change of heart towards the cactus pear has generated a new problem. There is not enough supply to meet the demand.

A self-sustaining value chain

Photo credit: ICARDA

With the help of the project, more efficient processes and higher quality products are generating additional incomes for rural women

Connecting rural women to global markets

In remote regions of Central Asia, where many households depend on goats and sheep for their livelihoods, a harsh climate, poor access to markets, and lack of know-how, limits income-earning opportunities. An ICARDA initiative targeting rural women used a market-driven approach to establish a self-sustaining value chain, from improved breeding and husbandry practices to the production of world-class yarns and appealing products, linked to export markets.

For small producers of sheep and cashmere and angora goats in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, international fiber markets can seem a world away. Local fiber processors – mostly poor rural women – who add value by spinning, weaving, knitting and felting, are equally cut off from these distant markets where handmade, luxury clothing and handicrafts fetch a high price.

Furthermore, the collapse of state-run breeding programs after the breakdown of the Soviet Union has left them without access to new knowledge and training programs to adequately meet market standards.

These conditions pose a serious threat to the sustainability of the yarn sector in a competitive world, and with that, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families in Central Asia who live in a harsh climate and rely on livestock production as their only source of income.

Breeding animals for higher yields and quality 

In 2009, ICARDA began collaborating with small-scale producers in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to establish new breeding programs, using imported genetics and artificial insemination with frozen semen to improve flock quality and yields.

 

Read the full article: Icarda

 

Enabling women to combine farming with bringing up children and running household

Photo credit: ICARDA

Cactus thrives on very little water and does not require frequent labor inputs. 

Female farmers show the way

In parts of Egypt’s arid New Lands, female farmers are choosing to grow prickly pear, a type of cactus, rather than more conventional crops such as wheat. Prickly pear is better suited to desert conditions than most of the crops promoted by the Egyptian government. It also generates an income which helps women to pay for their children’s education. Against a backdrop of climate change and associated water shortages, ICARDA researchers have identified ways that the government can support female farmers in the New Lands and promote the cultivation of prickly pear and other drought-tolerant crops throughout desert settlements.

OPUNTIA BIOGAS ELQUIGLOBALENERGY P9270040_2 copy.JPG

Due to climate change and population growth in the Nile Basin, Egypt is set to face severe shortages of irrigation and drinking water in coming years – it is predicted that by 2050, Egypt will need to use around 50 per cent of the Nile’s water for drinking alone. At the same time, up to 15 per cent of agricultural land in the fertile Nile delta could be inundated as sea levels rise.

Since the 1980s, the Egyptian government has been resettling farmers in desert regions, the so-called ‘New Lands’, in response to land and water shortages and as a strategy for boosting food production. Each settler is provided with a plot of land, a shared irrigation pump, and a house. ICARDA researchers have been investigating how female settlers have adapted to farming in these arid conditions.

PRICKLY PEAR: AN ADAPTATION TO A THORNY PROBLEM

Female farmers in some New Lands settlements grow spineless prickly pear, Opuntia ficus-indica f. inermis, to supply the tourist sector in Cairo and Alexandria. This is partly a response to their marginalization from support programs, such as agricultural extension activities, which promote more conventional cash crops such as wheat.

In fact, prickly pear suits desert conditions better than other produce grown in Egypt, such as fruit trees. The cactus thrives on very little water and does not require frequent labor inputs. Because of these characteristics, it has sometimes been dismissed as a ‘lazy farmers’ crop. These same features, however, enable women in the New Lands to combine farming with bringing up their children and running their households, which are often located some distance from their farms. The cash they earn from selling prickly pear fruits has helped them to fund their children’s schooling and provide for their daughters’ marriages.

BARRIERS TO EXPANDING THE PRODUCTION OF DROUGHT-TOLERANT CROPS

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For more information:

Najjar, D. (2015). Women’s contributions to climate change adaptation in Egypt’s Mubarak Resettlement Scheme through cactus cultivation and adjusted irrigation. In Buechler, S and Hanson A.S. (Eds). A Political Ecology of Women, Water and Global Environmental Change. Chapter 8.

Read the full article: ICARDA

To promote gender equality

Photo credit: CGIAR

The gender strategy will promote gender equality and improve women’s access to, and control over, resources such as land and income- (Photo credit: ICARDA/Dryland Systems)

A gender strategy for the drylands

Submitted by Dryland Systems CGIAR

Agricultural livelihood systems in the dry areas consist of many interactions between the natural and social environments. Gender relations help to shape, and are also shaped by, these interactions. In many dryland communities, socio-cultural norms and values disadvantage women. Discrimination against women, whether direct or indirect, is a human rights issue in its own right. It also makes agricultural value chains less productive than they could be, undermining prosperity and well-being.

Ensuring women get a fairer share of increased production and income –
(Photo credit: ICARDA/Dryland Systems) – http://drylandsystems.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/resize/gender-1-300×244.jpg

In recognition of these realities, the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems has developed a gender strategy for 2014–2017. The strategy is helping Dryland Systems researchers to strengthen the systems approach to improving dryland food security, livelihoods, and resilience.

What is the goal?

The goal of the strategy is two-fold: to promote gender equality (especially regarding socio-economic, legal, and political rights) and also improve women’s access to, and control over, resources such as land and income.

Achieving this goal means:

• Developing a systems research approach that takes gender differences into account from the very start
• Building a better understanding of the context-specific factors that underlie gender inequalities across the dryland regions where the initiative works, and identifying ways of addressing them
• Helping to design appropriate systems interventions that empower women, increase their participation in decision making and strengthen their resilience and well-being
• Making sure that women get a fairer share of increased production and income, by strengthening their capacity to independently manage their newly generated income or by creating technologies that meet women’s needs.

Putting the strategy into practice

A key commodity throughout the Arabian Peninsula, date palm

Photo credit: Arab News

On August 12, 2013, photo shows a young farmer carrying a palm frond bearing dates during the dates harvest season in Disa, around 200 km from the northwestern city of Tabuk. (Reuters)

Date palm: a strategic crop for the Arabian Peninsula

Date palm is a key commodity throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to its nutritional value, the crop is also an important source of feed and fuel, and can be used as building material in the construction of houses.

In order to improve the region’s date palm production, ICARDA’s Arabian Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) has initiated a number of capacity strengthening events targeting engineers, extension agents, technicians, and farmers.

A field day training at the El Hamrania Research Station in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced new date palm production techniques to staff from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, including fertigation, post-harvest operations, and integrated pest management (IPM), a practical and environmentally-friendly approach to pest control that emphasizes the use of cultural and biological interventions, and only supports the targeted use of chemical interventions when alternative methods have been exhausted, costs are not excessive, and there is no threat to existing agro-ecosystems.

The training combined lectures and practical applications, including pollen handling and storage, and compared the advantages of various pollination methods such as liquid pollen suspension, dry pollination, and traditional hand pollination.

Moving forward, it is recommended that liquid pollination be applied early in the growing season and that further capacity strengthening be provided to equip practitioners with the necessary skills to effectively apply this methodology.

Read the full article: ICARDA

Up and down a canal

Photo credit: IWMI

Farmers cultivating lettuce, while another farmer digs a small canal (marwa) with a donkey, Egypt.
Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI

How Egyptian farmers are adapting to water scarcity up and down a canal

Heads or Tails : At first glance, it might seem like these farmers are foolishly growing the wrong crop in the wrong place.

Read the research report:

Ghazouani, Wafa; Molle, Francois; Swelam, A.; Rap, Edwin; Abdo, A. 2014. Understanding farmers’ adaptation to water scarcity: a case study from the western Nile Delta, Egypt. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 31p. (IWMI Research Report 160) [DOI]

If you wander up and down one of the many irrigation canals in Egypt’s Nile Delta, you’ll see a wide range of crops being grown. Fields of swelling water melons sit alongside leafy greens. Twirling grape vines back on to rows of cucumbers. But why have the farmers chosen to grow one crop rather than another? Is it simply because they have differing access to water? A new study undertaken by IWMI and partners* sought to better understand the reasons for crop choice, and has come up with some surprising conclusions.

Farmer preparing his land for cultivation. Egypt. Hamish John Appleby. IWMI – http://i2.wp.com/www.iwmi.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Farmer-preparing-his-land-for-cultivation.jpg?resize=625%2C416

The study investigated how a group of Egyptian farmers were adapting to water scarcity along the al-Bayda secondary canal in the northwestern Nile Delta. While predictable differences in irrigation use were observed (e.g. night irrigation, reusing drainage water), the study reveals some unexpected crop choice; this challenges the assumption that farmers choose which crops to grow based only on water availability and profit maximization. These findings show the limitations of oversimplified recommendations and policies, which do not explore the numerous factors that influence farmer behavior.

Read the full article: IWMI

 

Sustainable Agriculture Efforts in Drylands (Land-l.IISD)

Read at :

http://land-l.iisd.org/news/icarda-newsletter-documents-sustainable-agriculture-efforts-in-drylands/

ICARDA Newsletter Documents Sustainable Agriculture Efforts in Drylands

The March Newsletter from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) describes ICARDA’s efforts to encourage long-term salinity management investments in Iraq’s agriculture sector, micronutrient research in lentils, conservation farming in Iraq, and training on characterizing goat and sheep diversity for conservation and sustainable use in Ethiopia.

In Iraq, the ICARDA-led Iraq Salinity Project is linking research results to action by policy makers through advocacy activities and the development of dialogue. Research activities include: irrigation system management; ground-surface water interactions; new salt-tolerant crops; and farmer led innovations at the field level. On conservation farming in Iraq, ICARDA is working to develop locally produced and low cost seeders in response to the high cost of imported farm equipment.

(continued)

Agricultural research ‘key to easing climate-change impacts’ (SciDevNet)

Read at :

http://www.scidev.net/fr/agriculture-and-environment/desert-science/news/la-recherche-agricole-serait-la-cl-de-l-att-nuation-des-effets-des-changements-c.html

Rasha Dewedar

[CAIRO] Agricultural research should be a strategic priority of the UN’s efforts to lessen the impacts of climate change, according to a report launched at a UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar.

The report, released by a group of leading international experts in climate change and agriculture last month (30 November), is intended to inform policymakers and agricultural planners about the risks climate change poses to dry areas. It offers practical solutions to reduce these threats and boost the productivity of this type of land.

‘Strategies for Combating Climate Change in Drylands Agriculture’ was produced by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) with two CGIAR research programmes — on Dryland Systems and on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) — and the Qatar National Food Security Programme.

Drylands constitute more than 40 per cent of the world’s land surface and are home to 2.5 billion people, says the report. Those lands have less than eight per cent of the world’s renewable water sources and are vulnerable to temperature extremes, frequent drought, land degradation and desertification, it adds.

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Infrared camera to see how drought affects plant physiology (ICARDA)

Read at :

http://icardablog.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/hot-shot-a-camera-that-measures-drought-tolerance/

Hot-Shot! A camera that measures drought tolerance

ICARDA scientists use the infrared camera to see how drought affects plant physiology.

The one thing dryland farmers fear, above all else, is drought. In many parts of the world, droughts are becoming more frequent, and more severe, as a result of climate change. ICARDA scientists are using a new tool — the infrared camera — to study how plant physiology is affected by drought. The results are helping to better understand the mechanics of drought tolerance, and develop new drought-tolerant varieties that could transform the lives of millions of farmers worldwide.

(continued)

Simple approaches to improve crop yields and capture carbon in the soil (ICARDA)

Read at :

http://icardablog.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/trapped-carbon-sequestration-and-soil-organic-matter/

Trapped! Carbon Sequestration and Soil Organic Matter

This article describes a series of long-term experiments conducted at ICARDA. They show how the organic content of soil can be improved by better management of soil and crops, and suggests simple approaches to improve crop yields and capture carbon in the soil – a process that helps balance the effects of climate change.

Three of the world’s biggest problems are food security, soil degradation and global warming. All are related, to human activity. They are also influenced by another common but largely unappreciated factor – soil organic matter. Soils with high levels of organic matter are more productive and more resistant to land degradation. They can also contribute to reducing climate change, because they contain more carbon (sequestered from the atmosphere) than do soils with low organic matter content.

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