Taarifa Kutoka IKULU:Rais Jakaya Kikwete Aelezea Kuhuzunishwa Kwake na Maafa ya Kuporomoka na kusababisha vifo vya watu na majeruhi Kwa Jengo la Ghorofa ya 16 Jijini Dar es Salaam

Desertification, defined as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities, is a world-wide problem. In Africa, desertification is a chronic problem which is exacerbated by frequent droughts.  It has reduced and continues to reduce the capacity of the land to produce food.

At the global level efforts to combat desertification started well back in the seventies, when the United Nations Environment Programme held a conference on Desertification (UNCOD) in Nairobi, Kenya in 1977. This conference called upon affected countries to prepare and adopt a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification. Tanzania participated in the 1977 Conference on Desertification and made efforts to prepare a Plan of Action. Several studies were undertaken to identify ways and means of combating desertification in the country in the context of this plan of action. Unfortunately the plan of action did not meet the expectations due to various reasons, including lack of adequate financial resources, lack of adequate coordination and little participation of the affected communities in the planing, design and implementation of the plan.

Tanzania also participated in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which was held in Brazil in 1992 and which noted that desertification was still a major problem threatening the sustainability of drylands and thus demanded concerted efforts in solving it. The United Nations General Assembly established an Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee on Desertification which consulted and negotiated amongest affected countries to produce the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) in those countries seriously affected by drought and/ or desertification, particularly in Africa. This Convention was adopted in 1994 and Tanzania ratified it in 1997.

The Convention requires affected countries to formulate National Action Programmes to Combat Desertification using the bottom-up approach and involving all stakeholders. These National Action Programmes are prepared through a process which has three phases, namely:-

1. Launching the NAP Process; 2. Implementing the 1st NAP Forum agreements; 3. Full implementation and monitoring of the implementation process.