About
Arid lands, defined as arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, are among the world’s most fragile ecosystems, made more so by periodic droughts and increasing overexploitation of meagre resources. Arid lands cover around 30 % of the world’s land area and are inhabited by about one billion people, a large proportion of whom are among the poorest of the world. Deforestation and degradation of tree and shrub formations (mainly for conversion to agricultural use) and overexploitation of forests and woodlands (through fuel wood collection and overgrazing) are among the major causes of soil degradation in arid areas.
Arid land forests and wooded lands count for 6 % of the world’s forest area. Forests and trees constitute the backbone of arid zone ecosystems and contribute to maintain suitable conditions for agriculture, for rangeland management and for human livelihood.
According to most predicting models Global Warming will affect arid lands through temperature increase and rainfall decrease all over the World (with few exceptions). This will lead to more severe water scarcity and increased desertification risks. Afforestation of arid lands is questioned because of competition of trees for water. Trees should be planted only when and where possible.
The potential role of forestry techniques in restoring degraded lands is presented in this Web Site. Past activities in degraded land restoration and in land protection (e.g. the China “Great Green Wall”, the Algerian “Barrage vert” ...) are presented as well as recent international frameworks (UN Conventions: UNCCD, UNCBD, UNFCCC), funding mechanisms (GEF, GM of the UNCCD), projects (LADA, Green Wall for the Sahara) and initiatives (LFCCs, NEPAD, TerrAfrica, etc.).