Lorenzo leads UN effort to combat desertification

ABU DHABI – Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. has pulled off a coup of sorts here when he engineered the quick approval of an impressive multi-nation agreement assuring an array of huge financial aid package for the Philippines and other developing Asian nations threatened by desertification and other forms of land degradation.

Lorenzo’s feat was a first in the meeting, where ministers of some 150 countries attending the Second Ministerial Conference on the UN Convention to Combat Desertification were hammering out the best approaches to effectively combat land degradation and hasten the economic development of affected countries.

In a report, the UN said desertification was jeopardizing the source of food of more than a billion people, and stressed there was a need to forge wide-ranging international cooperation to slow down the menace.

The UN blamed desertification on four human activities– wide scale and intensive use of agricultural land, which it said leads to soil erosion; over-grazing of animals which results to destruction of vegetation; the indiscriminate cutting of trees and over-irrigation which both lead directly to soil salination and consequently to desertification.

However, the Philippines and other Asian nations like Mongolia, Mynmar, Laos and Indonesia, were not in the convention’s initial priority list of beneficiary-nations as the meeting was originally intended to provide financial assistance to Middle East and African developing nations.

This prompted Lorenzo to vigorously lobby for the recognition of desertification’s grave threat on Asian countries. He said the Philippines and the other Asian nations have continuously suffered from advanced stages of desertification and as such, desperately require the cooperation and assistance of the international community to fight off land degradation.

Specifically, the Philippines suffers from seasonal aridity brought about by the El Niño phenemonen and this leads to the massive devastation of farmlands and other agriculture resources, Lorenzo said. He disclosed that government has been trying to control the spread of a desert in nothern Philippines, a grains and tobacco producing region.

Impressed by Lorenzo’s pleas, the convention participants immediately agreed to accept his proposal to recognize Asian nations’ needs and look of their individual financial needs. The participants elected Lorenzo as chairman of the convention, recognizing the importance of his leadership not only in the Philippines but in Asia as well.

Lorenzo said to combat soil degradation, a wider segment of society and the private sector must be involved as partners to a common goal of ensuring a better life to the people especially the poor.

He said the scientific and academic sectors play a crucial role in the program, claiming they need to innovate and provide doable solution on the problem at the soonest possible time.

In tthe country, Lorenzo said the Arroyo administration is fully ensuring sustainability of the country’s freshwater supply. It is fastidiously studying the use of Water Classification Scheme – which will help identify water resources best suited for agricultal, industrial, or domestic use – and adopting a Volumetric Pricing Policy – which will allow the government to impose charges on the basis of actual usage.

These will vastly improve that way we use water in the Philippines, Lorenzo said.

To help mitigate the effects of El Niño, Lorenzo said the government is mobilizing national, regional and provincial action teams composed of private and public sectors and farming communities to monitor vulnerable areas.

In fact, the government is now encouraging farmers to shift to less thirsty crops, and is providing irrigation support where necessary, Lorenzo said. "We have also adopted the concept of rainwater as a resource that we need to manage and subsequently divert to poorly irrigated areas," he said.

However, among all these efforts, the Department of Agriculture found that the most effective means to ensuring future freshwater supply is increasing public awareness, and training people, especially farmers on conservation and the efficient use of water today, he said.

Also, Lorenzo disclosed that as part of the Philippies concrete action program against desertification the department will soon stage a water summit that will be attended by leaders from the legislature, water experts and non-government organizations. The summit will recommend a set of National Water Policies, and legislative measures regarding the Sustainable Water Management of Water Resources.

Lorenzo also urged the participants to finalize the provisions of the conversion by attending the meeting in February next year where a "Manila Declaration to Combat Land Degradation and Alleviate Poverty in Food Insecure and Vulmerable Communities in Arid Areas" will be developed.