Declaration of Niamey: "The Drylands towards Rio +20: A Global Challenge and African focus"
28 October 2011
About hundred participants, scientists and policymakers coming from African countries, Brazil, Argentina and France, and international organizations, met in Niamey, Niger, on October 24 and 25, 2011, in a conference entitled The Fight Against Desertification in Africa, also known as ICID+19 Africa, a tripartite initiative lead by African Countries under the guardianship of The African Union, The Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall, in close collaboration with the Institut de la Recherche pour le Développement - IRD (France) and the Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos - CGEE (Brazil).
The purpose was to assess the situation of dryland regions (arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid lands), with a special focus on Africa, in order to foster sustainable development and the fight agains land degradation and desertification in the Drylands. From this analysis, the participants have reached conclusions and adopted action oriented recommendations addressed to policy makers and in particular to the Rio + 20 Summit in June 2012.
A global challenge
More than 2 billion people live in the world’s drylands and the majority of them live under the poverty line. Desertification and land degradation result from unsustainable agriculture and animal husbandry and poor management of natural resources, including water, soils and biodiversity, and climate variability and change.
An African focus
The Africa Region is recognized as the most vulnerable to desertification, land degradation and the effects of droughts (DLDD). According to the World Bank, 40% of the Sahelian population lives under the poverty line. The present situation is already very serious because of food insecurity, malnutrition, and human activities pressure on the natural resources. In addition to that, vulnerability may be even worse because of population dynamics and climate change effects.
Background
The present declaration takes into account the 3 Rio conventions (UNFCCC, UNCBD and UNCCD). The Participants endorse the Declaration of Fortaleza, A Drylands Call for Action, adopted at the ICID + 18 in Fortaleza, Brazil, in August 2010, and the Declaration of Mendoza, adopted at the ICID + 19 in Mendoza, Argentina, in September 2011. The recommendations contained in the third part of the present declaration complement the above mentioned declarations, with a special focus on Africa.
