Why we should invest in arid areas?

Issue 5
Why Why
we should we should
iinvest in arid nvest in arid
areas?areas?
Comité Scientifique Français de la Désertification
French Scientific Committee on DeserCSFD
Les dossiers thématiques French Scientific Committee on Desertification
du CSFD
Issue 5 The creation in 1997 of the French Scientific Committee on
Desertification (CSFD) has met two concerns of the Ministries in
charge of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
First, CSFD materialises the will to involve the French scientific Managing Editor
community versed in desertification, land degradation, and
Marc Bied-Charreton development of arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas, in generating
President of CSFD knowledge as well as guiding and advising the policy makers and
Emeritus Professor at the University of
actors associated in this combat. Its other aim is to strengthen the Versailles-Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ, France)
position of this French community within the international context. Researcher at the Centre of Economics and Ethics for
Environment and Development (C3ED-JRU IRD/UVSQ) In order to meet such expectations, CSFD is meant to be a driving
force regarding analysis and assessment, prediction and monitoring,
information and promotion. Within French delegations, CSFD also Author
takes part in the various statutory meetings of the organs of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: Conference of the Mélanie Requier-Desjardins
Economist, Regional Councillor, Parties (CoP), Committee on Science and Technology (CST),
Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS, Tunisia) Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention.
melanie.requier@oss.org.tn
It also participates in meetings of European and international scope.
Editing and iconography CSFD includes a score of members and a President, who are appointed
intuitu personae by the Minister for Research, and come from various Isabelle Amsallem (Agropolis Productions, France)
specialities of the main relevant institutions and universities. CSFD is agropolisproductions@orange.fr
managed and hosted by the Agropolis Association that gathers, in the
Design and production French town of Montpellier and Languedoc-Roussillon region, a large
scientific community specialised in agriculture, food and environment Olivier Piau (Agropolis Productions)
of tropical and Mediterranean countries. The Committee acts as an agropolisproductions@orange.fr
independent advisory organ; it has neither decision-making powers
nor legal status.
agropolis productions
Its operating budget is financed by subsidies from the French
Photography credits Ministries of Foreign and European Affairs and for Ecology and
Sustainable Planning and Development. CSFD members participate
voluntarily to its activities, as a contribution from the Ministry for
Research.
Danièle Cavanna (INDIGO picture library of
the Institut de recherche pour le développement, IRD),
More about CSFD:Centre d'Actions et de Réalisations
www.csf-desertification.orgInternationales (CARI), Krishna Naudin (Agricultural
Research Centre for International Development, Cirad),
Jean-François Richard (French Development Agency,
AFD) as well as the authors of the pictures shown
in this report.
Translated by Coup de Puce Expansion
Printed by Les Petites Affiches (Montpellier, France)
Copyright registration on publication ISSN : 1772-6964
1 500 copies (also available in French)
© CSFD/Agropolis International, August 2007
For reference: Requier-Desjardins M., 2007. Why we should invest in arid
areas. Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD. N°5. June 2007.
CSFD/Agropolis, Montpellier, France. 40 p.
Editing, production and distribution of Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD are ,Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD ar
fully supported by this Committee through the backing of relevant French
Ministries. Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD may be freely downloaded from the
Committee website.
une réalisationFo reword
ankind is now confronted with an issue Marc Bied-Charreton
of worldwide concern, i.e. desertification, President of CSFD
Emeritus Professor of the University of Versailles which is both a natural phenomenon and
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ, France)Ma process induced by human activities.
Researcher at C3ED-UMR IRD/UVSQ Our planet and natural ecosystems have never been so
(Centre of Economics and Ethics degraded by our presence. Long considered as a local
for Environment and Development) problem, desertification is now a global issue that affects
us all, including scientists, decision-makers, citizens from
both the South and North. Within this setting, it is urgent
to boost the awareness of civil society to convince it to get
involved. People must first be given the elements necessary
to better understand the desertification phenomenon and
the concerns. Everyone should have access to relevant
scientific knowledge in a readily understandable language
and format.
Within this scope, the French Scientific Committee on
Desertification has decided to launch a new series entitled
'Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD', which is designed to
provide sound scientific information on desertification,
its implications and stakes. This series is intended for
policy makers and advisers from the North and South, in
addition to the general public and scientific journalists
involved in development and the environment. It also
aims at providing teachers, trainers and trainees with
additional information on various associated fields. Lastly,
it endeavours to help disseminate knowledge on the combat
against desertification, land degradation, and poverty to
stakeholders such as representatives of professional, non-
governmental, and international solidarity organisations.
A dozen reports are devoted to different themes such as
global public good, remote sensing, wind erosion, agro-
ecology, pastoralism, etc, in order to take stock of current
knowledge on these various subjects. The goal is also to
set out ideological and new concept debates, including
controversial issues; to expound widely used methodologies
and results derived from a number of projects; and lastly to
supply operational and intellectual references, addresses
and useful websites.
These reports are to be broadly circulated, especially
within the countries most affected by desertification, by
e-mail (upon request), through our website, and in print.
Your feedback and suggestions will be much appreciated!
Editing, production and distribution of 'Les dossiers
thématiques du CSFD' are fully supported by this Committee
thanks to the backing of relevant French Ministries. The
opinions expressed in these reports are endorsed by the
Committee.Preamble
This special feature was one of the basic elements introduced for Denis Loyer
discussion at the international workshop on the ‘costs of inaction Head of the Environment and
and investment opportunities in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-Natural Resources Division
humid areas’ organised by the French Scientifi c Committee on at the French Development Agency
desertifi cation (CSFD) in Rome in December 2006, with backing
from the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertifi cation (UNCCD), the French Ministry of Foreign
and European Affairs and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Backing was also provided by several other partners such as the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the
technical arm of the German Development Agency (GTZ, Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World
Bank (Terrafrica) and the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS).
This international workshop was one of the events organised for
the international year on deserts and desertifi cation. It brought
together about eighty people from both the North and South,
representing development agencies and ministries, stakeholders
such as non-governmental organisations and professional bodies,
scientists and economists.
This document was prepared by the French Scientifi c Committee
on desertifi cation with support from the Global Mechanism
and the French Ministries for Scientifi c Research and Foreign
and European Affairs. It is based on an analysis of the socio-
economic costs of desertifi cation and a few benefi ts of combating
desertifi cation actions, particularly in Africa. The work was done
in 2005-2006 with backing from the French Development Agency
(Constance Corbier) through the Centre of Economics and Ethics
for Environment and Development at the University of Versailles
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France, Mélanie Requier-Desjardins,
Marc Bied-Charreton). The fi nal report attempted to synthesize
the studies available to date, in particular the study undertaken for
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by Dregne
and Chou (1992) and the more recent ones undertaken for the
World Bank, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the Global
Mechanism by teams working