Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 9 • 13th May 2005
AG Trade May Worsen Desertification, Experts Say
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Joint efforts by national agricultural and environmental departments are necessary to address the impacts of agricultural trade on desertification and poverty, according to a report released by Unisfera on 6 May. The report, entitled “From Boom To Dust? Agricultural Trade Liberalisation, Poverty, And Desertification In Rural Drylands: The Role Of UNCCD“, analyses the impact of the Doha Round of trade negotiations on agriculture, land degradation and poverty in the context of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The report argues that although liberalisation may increase rural income and thereby enhance food security, it can also lead to increased vulnerability of small-scale developing country farmers. Agricultural trade affects desertification, the report says, through the intensification of production that often goes hand in hand with increased international trade. It argues that such intensification can also lead to the replacement of small-scale agriculture by intensive industrial monocultures with adverse effects on rural livelihoods. Whereas the change from subsistence to cash crops can increase incomes, it also enhances the competition for land and water and may force small-scale farmers either off their land or to employ unsustainable practices such as logging which in turn may lead to desertification. In order to counter these possible harmful effects, the report calls for targeted joint programmes involving environmental and agricultural expertise. National action programmes should be adapted to include concrete measures reflecting the challenges and opportunities generated by liberalisation of the agricultural sector. The report was presented at a side event of the third session of the UNCCD’s Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC-3).
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