Civil society organisations and trade unions have said community involvement is crucial to effectively combating land degradation, a condition that directly affects 1.5 million people around the world.
Organisations and unions presented 13 propositions to the general assembly of COP12, the desertification summit in Ankara, Turkey that started on October 12.
The document reads: “Desertification is a universal issue. Combating such an issue cannot be achieved through mere involvement of governments but also requires sustainable and effective community involvement.”
Speakers said modern social structures had caused traditional values regarding the relationship between nature and humanity to deteriorate.
“In the combat against the destruction of the nature, such traditional values must be reinforced and made functional through the support of culture and art,” the document reads.
The document says governments must organise widespread education programmes to raise social awareness about combating desertification.
Because of the close connection of land degradation to poverty, rural development is an indispensable and inevitable part of the process. Speakers said creating employment in the agricultural sector was part of the solution.
“It is necessary to … improve the economic status of poor farmers, unemployed people and the workers in agricultural and forestation [jobs],” the document reads.
The document calls for land transfer, ownership and inheritance laws to be reconsidered with an eye to preventing “fragmentation of agricultural land” and “the protection of optimum land size.”