1. One of the most serious problems facing African nations in the long term is that of land degradation. The food security, the economic well-being and the quality of life of African people depend on the continent's croplands, pastures and forests all of which are threatened by land degradation.
2. Degradation of the lands involves the reduction of the renewable resource potential by one or a combination of processes acting upon it. Such a reduction can be the result of natural processes or human action either by its direct impact on the land or indirectly through possible man-induced adverse climatic change. The International Scheme for the Conservation and Rehabilitation of African Lands (ISCRAL), approved by the 1990 session of the Regional Conference for Africa was designed by FAO to assist African countries to prevent and combat land degradation in the region.
3. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio, June 1992) defined desertification "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities". These climatic zones, which correspond to a length of growing period less than 180 days, cover approximately 65 percent of the total land area of Africa. Therefore, for most countries of Africa land degradation and desertification are synonymous, at least on a part of their territory. Indeed UNCED made a special reference to Africa when it called for the adoption of an "international convention to combat desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa".
4. Implementation of the Convention on desertification and of the ISCRAL Programme are thus two closely related subjects which are proposed for review under this same agenda item of the Regional Conference. In its first part the document recalls the background to the Convention, summarizes its main elements and those of its annex for Africa and gives some indications on the possible contribution of FAO The second part presents briefly the scope and modalities of work of the ISCRAL Programme, the progress achieved so far in its implementation and the lessons learnt. In a concluding section the document proposes some issues for discussion related to the implementation of both the Convention and the ISCRAL Programme.