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Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas due to various factors: including climatic

variations and human activities.[1] Desertification is one of the worlds most alarming global environmental problems. It takes place worldwide in drylands. At least 90 per cent of the inhabitants of drylands live in developing countries and they suffer the poorest economic and social conditions. Drylands occupy 41 per cent of Earths land area and are home to more than 2 billion people. It has been estimated1 that some 1020 per cent of drylands are already degraded, the total area affected by desertification being between 6 and 12 million square kilometres, that about 16 per cent of the inhabitants of drylands live in desertified areas, and that a billion people are under threat from further desertification.[2] A major impact of desertification is reduced biodiversity and diminished productive capacity, for example, by transition from land dominated by shrublands to non-native grasslands[citation needed]. For example, in the semi-arid regions of southern California, many coastal sage scrub and chaparral ecosystems have been replaced by non-native, invasive grasses due to the shortening of fire return intervals. This can create a monoculture of annual grass that cannot support the wide range of animals once found in the original ecosystem[citation needed]. In Madagascar's central highland plateau[citation needed], 10% of the entire country has desertified due to slash and burn agriculture by indigenous peoples[citation needed]. Desertification is a historic phenomenon; the world's great deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts are large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, some extending beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara.[3] Dated fossil pollen indicates that today's Sahara desert has been changing between desert and fertile savanna. Studies also show that prehistorically the advance and retreat of deserts tracked yearly rainfall, whereas a pattern of increasing amounts of desert began with human-driven activities of overgrazing and deforestation[citation needed]. A chief difference of prehistoric versus present desertification is the much greater rate of desertification than in prehistoric and geologic time scales, due to anthropogenic influences

Ministry moves to fight desertification 16:07' 18/08/2007 (GMT+7)


VietNamNet Bridge The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is taking various measures to fight desertification in an attempt to protect the environment and ensure a sustainable development. The measures include giving priority in compiling documents and a new law related to environment and anti-desertification issues and co-ordinating with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to boost information dissemination and training to increase public awareness of environmental protection and anti-desertification. The Ministry is also accelerating economic development programmes in conjunction with the programmes to develop forests, upgrade irrigation systems, protect water sources and prevent floods, aiming to reduce poverty in the desertification-affected areas, especially the central coastal, north-western, the Long Xuyen Quardruple and Central Highlands. Deputy Minister Hua Duc Nhi said the move is expected to increase the efficiency in the use and management of forest, water and land resources, contributing to minimising droughts-caused losses. Since 1998 when Vietnam joined the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the country has received assistance from its member countries and international organisations in its effort to fight desertification. At present, the country is mapping out a programme on managing forestry land in a sustainable manner, with funding from the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Trust Fund for Forests (TFF). With assistance form UNCCD member countries, Vietnam has developed and implemented two important national programmes relating to desertification i.e. the programmes on growing 5 ha of forest and on comprehensive growth and poverty reduction. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, international organisations have provided 192 million USD for Viet Nam to carry out a number of projects to prevent desertification. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), GEF, TFF and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) have approved aid packages totally worth 8.2 million USD for Vietnam's three projects on sustainable management of forestry for economic development and experimental improvement of land in central Quang Binh province. Within the framework of UNCCD activities, Vietnam will attend the 8th conference of the UNCCD member countries slated for Spain from September 3-14. High on the agenda will be measures to prevent desertification and climate change which is seriously threatening people's lives. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's initial survey showed that more than 4.3 million ha of bare land, exerting impacts on about 20 million people nationwide.

Vietnam faces increasing desertification


Due to massive environmental pressures, Vietnam is struggling to contain encroaching desertification that is turning formerly cultivatable land into arid wastelands. Vietnam is now home to more than 9 million hectares of uncultivable land that accounts for 28 percent of the countrys total land mass, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments Forestry Department. Uncontrolled forest exploitation and prolonged droughts in many places, especially the central, central highlands and Northwestern regions, are said to be the main factors that are increasing the pace of desertification, environmental experts said. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Vietnam has 462,000 hectares of coastal sand or 1.4% of the countrys land area. These dunes that are predominantly located in the central coastal provinces stretching from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan and the Mekong Delta provinces with 87,800 hectares of them being considered as mobile. This means they move and take root in other areas and cause significant soil erosion along the way. In a bid to contain the problem, Vietnam has implemented a 5 million hectare reforestation programme and with the assistance of the World Bank, the Global Environment Fund and the Trust Fund for Forests is building a programme on sustainable forestland management. The initiative looks to protect and maintain the fertility of forests nationwide

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