HELP PROTECT THE FERTILITY OF THE EARTH March 98
(This is a special Action Alert directed to the nations of Botswana, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda, countries that US President Bill Clinton will visit on his March 1998 trip to Africa.)
One of the most important issues affecting Africa and the world today is the rapid degradation of the land on which people depend for their livelihoods. This degradation is known as ‘desertification’, because in many places, previously fertile farmlands have already become so badly damaged that they are in a desert-like condition The main causes of desertification, which in some cases irreversibly destroys the soil’s ability to sustain life, include overgrazing, over-cultivation, drought, deforestation, poor irrigation and acute poverty.
President Bill Clinton will visit your country this month, and meet with your head of state. This is your chance to press the USA to meet its commitments to prevent the degradation of the land.
The US President will visit six African nations—BOTSWANA, GHANA, RWANDA, SENEGAL, SOUTH AFRICA and UGANDA—beginning on 22nd March. While there, he will meet with heads of state and government ministers to discuss A number of important issues.
One of the most important issues affecting Africa and the world today is the rapid degradation of the land on which people depend for their livelihoods. This degradation is known as ‘desertification’, because in many places, previously fertile farmlands have already become so badly damaged that they are in a desert-like condition The main causes of desertification, which in some cases irreversibly destroys the soil’s ability to sustain life, include overgrazing, over-cultivation, drought, deforestation, poor irrigation and acute poverty.
Land degradation is a serious social, economic and environmental problem. Twenty-four billion tonnes of topsoil are lost to desertification worldwide every year. Two thirds of Africa’s land is threatened. Everybody depends on the fertility of the soil, but that fertility, in many places, is rapidly disappearing.
In 1996, the UN Convention To Combat Desertification and Drought came into force. This treaty was a major African initiative, and has been ratified into law by 117 countries, including all the African countries the President will visit. Every country which signs this Convention commits itself to take action to combat and reverse land degradation, at the national and international levels. The Desertification Convention is of great importance to Africa
The USA signed the Desertification Convention in 1994, but President Clinton has done little to see that it is ratified by the US Senate to make it national law. The United States—the world’s richest and most powerful nation—bears a special responsibility to put the Convention into practice.
The Convention would commit the US government to provide for appropriate technology transfer to help affected countries. While it would not commit America to providing ‘new and additional’ money to combat desertification, the US would be required to undertake to ‘mobilise substantial financial resources’ among the international community. It is likely that US aid agencies will make more funding available for anti-desertification projects once the US has ratified the Convention.
America must show it is serious about the threat to the land in Africa and around the world. Clinton’s visit is an opportunity to send him a strong message about the importance of this vital issue.
What You Can Do
The Desertification Convention needs to be ratified by the US Senate for the US to become a ‘Party to the Convention’ and be bound by its obligations. Clinton does not control the Senate, but his strong backing for the Convention is essential to get it ratified. Please contact your President or Prime Minister, and urge him to put the following question to Clinton when they meet:
Will President Clinton make a personal commitment to aggressively promote ratification of the Desertification Convention by the US Senate before November 1998, when the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention takes place in Senegal?