IFAD Calls for Sustainable Agriculture to Stop Desertification

17 June 2008: In a message on the occasion of UN World Day to Combat Desertification, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) highlighted the role of poor farmers and herders in stopping or reversing land degradation in areas affected by desertification.

The message underlines that ill-conceived agricultural practices can worsen the situation “as poor populations often have no choice but to adopt short-term survival methods, putting more pressure on increasingly scarce local resources.” In light of increasing pressures from climate change, the agency called for more efficient water use, improved cropping systems and better forest management, adding that hardier seeds will also help poor farmers withstand droughts and floods. The message further notes that its poverty reduction programmes and projects, 70 percent of which are in ecologically fragile, marginal environments, are routinely screened for potential adverse effects on the environment, natural resources and local populations. [UN press release] [IFAD statement]