Focus AreasTrust Funds and CentresCross-Cutting Areas and InitiativesSearch |
DDC in Asia (excluding the Arab States)From Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula to China and Mongolia, implementation of the CCD in Asia poses some of the most pressing challenges. About 40 per cent of the continent is drylands, home to over 40 per cent of the population. In real terms, this means a population density that is over three times as high as in Africa.In the Arabian Peninsula, where people have ingeniously managed scarce water resources for centuries, there is a growing problem of salinization as salt water fills the depleted freshwater aquifers. The countries in Western Asia have the fastest growing food deficit in the world and could face disaster if their remaining resources are not properly managed. Severe environmental deterioration has occurred in many of the nations that formerly comprised the Soviet Union and there has been devastating deterioration of some of the world's largest bodies of water, such as the Caspian, Black, and Aral Seas as well as Lake Sevan. Half the land in Kazakhstan is now considered desert landscape, and 60 per cent of the country suffers from desertification, mostly due to the excessive use of water in the past. Other Asian countries, including some of the most highly populated like China, Pakistan and India, suffer from the effects of desertification and recurrent drought. There is however a considerable wealth of knowledge
about drylands concerns in Asia but there has been, by and large little
experience or tradition with programmes that require popular participation.
Issues in political, religious and ideological nature pose major challenges
to the formulation of NAPs. Nevertheless the Convention process has
taken hold in several of the countries in Asia. Click here to
access a table that provides summary information on UNDP's support
to countries in this region and the results of this support in each
country. |
Land Management Topics
|
