Durban - Africa is setting the example in tackling land degradation with some encouraging results.
Countries like Niger have managed to regenerate five million hectares in the last 20 years but there is still much more than can be done to deal with desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD).
Some parts of Africa - the West African Sahel region, Sudan, northeast Ethiopia and Kenya - are particularly vulnerable to land degradation, resulting in soil erosion, deforestation, and loss of woody vegetation which makes them less able to bear crops and pasture.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe used the Land Day side event at COP17 on Tuesday to ask all stakeholders to put this serious issue on their agenda at Rio+20 and beyond.
"We meet at a time when there is growing despondence about the multilateral world governance system, where the world community has lost patience with too much talking and no action," said Motlanthe.
"You must at all times, starting here in Durban, Rio+20 and beyond, advocate the need for urgent agreement on action and funding for sustainable development and mitigating the effects of climate change."
Dennis Garrity, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Drylands Ambassador, during his address noted that achieving zero net land degradation and in turn overcoming poverty was very possible.
He said local communities were taking action but needed more support through policy and the creation of a rural resource centre.
Garrity said a fresh low-cost approach must be taken to regenerate land. Motlanthe said there was a need for everyone to enhance the implementation of the UNCCD as a global policy and monitoring framework to address issues of soil and land degradation.
"We also need to invest in infrastructure and services that support sustainable land use and management...The actions that are required on the ground to achieve a zero net rate of global land degradation are in line with the Sustainable Land Management (SLM) approach," said Motlanthe.
The Deputy President said African ministers unanimously agreed that the time had come for the international community to commit itself to zero degradation of land.
"Achieving such targets will go a long way in addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation, thus building the resilience of the populations and the ecosystems affected by desertification and land degradation... Such action will also support efforts to preserve the resource base for food security and accelerate poverty eradication."
Motlanthe said it was encouraging that legislation and policies of many countries embraced the principle of sustainable development, particularly in as far as matters of land-use management were concerned.
