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Combating Desertification in Asia
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities". About 40% (5.2 billion hectares) of the earth's land area is currently threatened by desertification and it is estimated that every year about 12 million hectares worldwide are lost to land degradation including the disappearance of 75 billion tonnes of soil. Every year, desertification contributes to an estimated $42 billion in lost income. Desertification is exacerbated by climate change and it is estimated that by 2030 water scarcity in some arid and semiarid places will displace up to 700 million people.
Nine Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member countries (DMCs) have large land areas within the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones. These are the Central Asian republics (CARs): Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; People's Republic of China (PRC); India; Mongolia; and Pakistan. A further two DMCs have significant areas affected by land degradation. They include Nepal with its eroded mountain slopes and Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) with its deforested and overgrazed highlands. In terms of number of people, Asia is the most affected by desertification.
Problems of land degradation are closely linked to poverty in Asia, where it creates economic, environmental, and social hardship for millions of poor farmers who practice subsistence agriculture in fragile environments subject to periodic droughts and other desertification processes. These communities are the caretakers of fragile drylands and their decisions about land management can either accelerate or reverse desertification.
Under its Strategy 2020, ADB is increasing its operational emphasis on the environment to realize environmentally sustainable growth for the region. As part of its strategy to address climate change, ADB supports the sustainable management of land, water, forests and other natural resources to combat land degradation. ADB works with its partners at the country and regional levels to address land degradation problems. ADB also is one of the 10 executing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF)*, the financial mechanism of the UNCCD, and provides funding to help countries implement programs to meet their obligations under this convention.
Find out more Desertification and its effects  Desertification is described by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as "land degradation in drylands resulting from various factors including climate variations and human activities."
About 40% (5.2 billion hectares (ha)) of the earth's land area is currently threatened by desertification and it is estimated that every year about 12 million ha worldwide are lost to land degradation. This includes 4 to 6 million ha of cultivated land lost to human-induced soil degradation. Additionally, 75 billion tonnes of soil are lost due to wind and water erosion (Source: IFAD* and UNCCD*). Land degradation is increasing in severity in many parts of the world with more than 20% of all cultivated areas, 30% of forests and 10% of grasslands undergoing degradation (Source: FAO*). Fifty two percent of land used for agriculture is affected by soil degradation which is one of the main causes of desertification. Much of this is due to unsustainable agricultural practices.
Around 2.6 billion people (44% of the world's population) are affected by desertification (Source: UNCCD 2009) and 1.5 billion people depend directly on land that is being degraded for their livelihood. Ninety percent of dryland populations live in developing countries where they experience high population growth rates and low human well being and development. The gross domestic product (GDP) in dryland areas is 50% lower than in non-dryland areas and drylands are home to 45 % of the world's hungry and 70% of its malnourished children. The infant mortality rate for all drylands in developing countries averages about 54 per 1,000, exceeding that for non-drylands by 23 % or more (Source: CGIAR*). Every year, desertification contributes to an estimated $42 billion in lost income.
Desertification results in induced human migration and is exacerbated by climate change. Globally, the number of environmentally displaced people is between 17 and 24 million and under the current climate change scenario it is estimated that by 2030 water scarcity in some arid and semiarid places will displace up to 700 million people (Source: UNCCD*). Such forced migration has serious consequences, potentially leading to conflict over scarce resources and contributing to ethnic strife and political turmoil.
As well as societal impacts, desertification has strong biophysical impacts that affect non-dryland areas located thousands of kilometers away from the desertified areas. Such impacts include dust storms, downstream flooding, impairment of global carbon sequestration capacity, and regional and global climate change.
Causes of desertificationThe causes of desertification involve a complex interplay of natural climate variability affecting drought patterns and unsustainable land use practices in drylands, which is further exacerbated by increased weather extremes associated with global warming. Unsustainable land use practices include:
 Desertification is evident in many different forms across Asia. Out of a total land area of 4.3 billion hectares, Asia contains some 1.7 billion hectares of arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid land reaching from the Mediterranean coast to the shores of the Pacific. Much of these areas are affected by desertification.
Nine Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member countries (DMCs) have large land areas within the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones. These are the Central Asian republics (CARs): Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; People's Republic of China (PRC); India; Mongolia; and Pakistan. A further two DMCs have significant areas affected by land degradation. They include Nepal with its eroded mountain slopes and Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) with its deforested and overgrazed highlands. In terms of number of people, Asia is the most affected by desertification.
Problems of land degradation are closely linked to poverty in Asia, where it creates economic, environmental, and social hardship for millions of poor farmers who practice subsistence agriculture in fragile environments subject to periodic droughts and other desertification processes. These communities are the caretakers of fragile drylands and their decisions about land management can either accelerate or reverse desertification. With limited access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, populations living in drylands are worse off than those living in other ecosystems.
Even in the humid tropics, deforestation and other contributing factors are reducing the productivity of soils upon which poor rural communities depend for their livelihoods. Without access to sustainable land use practices, institutional services, credit and technology, many poor farmers find themselves contributing to the degradation of the very lands upon which they depend for food and income. Thus, in many of Asia's countries combating desertification and promoting development are essentially one in the same.
ADB's initiatives to combat desertificationUnder its Strategy 2020, ADB is increasing its operational emphasis on the environment to realize environmentally sustainable growth for the region. As part of its strategy to address climate change, ADB supports the sustainable management of land, water, forests and other natural resources to, among others, combat land degradation. It supports programs and efforts integrated into agricultural and natural resources management projects. ADB works with its partners at the country and regional levels to address land degradation problems. ADB also is one of the ten executing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the financial mechanism of the UNCCD, and provides funding to help countries implement programs to meet their obligations under this convention. In cooperation with the GEF and the countries of East and Central Asia, ADB has helped to establish partnerships for combating drought and desertification, and is doing its part to help to address land degradation problems across the Asia-Pacific region. ADB has adopted a programmatic approach to address land degradation and supports two substantial programs discussed below. PRC-GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems Program ADB joined with the PRC government, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank and others to form the PRC-GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems Program to reduce poverty, arrest land degradation, and restore dryland ecosystems in the Western region of the PRC. A Country Programming Framework (CPF) covering the period of 2003 to 2012 supports a sequenced set of high priority activities to:
Land degradation is one of the greatest challenges facing the Central Asian countries of, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It directly affects the well-being and livelihoods of one third of the combined population of these countries by reducing the productivity of land resources and adversely affecting the stability, functions, and ecological services of natural systems. The loss of land productivity over the past two decades due to unsustainable land-use practices has also resulted in large losses of foreign exchange earnings and threatens national food security. The goal of this program is to combat land degradation and improve rural livelihoods through a multi-country and development partner coalition supporting development and implementation of national programming frameworks to guide comprehensive and integrated approaches to sustainable land management in each Central Asian Country (CAC) and across the region. CACILM provides a long-term strategic approach to organizing actions at the national and multi-country levels to address these problems with catalytic support from the GEF. With ADB serving as the lead international agency, CACILM will support implementation of a 10-year program of country-driven activities and resource mobilization covering the period of 2006-2015. Projects implemented under the CACILM program are described below.
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