Integrating anti-desertification programmes into national sustainable development plans

The Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) was formed in 1973 to coordinate relief and recovery efforts following the droughts of the preceding years. Its members are Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal and it is allied with Club du Sahel, which includes in addition more than 25 major multilateral and bilateral donors. In 1984, the long-term strategy for these organizations was revised and now includes efforts to: (a) encourage private initiative and limit the extent of government intervention in development; (b) emphasize the need for policy reform and the establishment of sound economic foundations as preconditions for development; (c) link the food security objective to the overall development of the agricultural sector; (d) recognize that environmental stability is based on appropriate integrated planning in agriculture, forestry and livestock management. With donor support, two specialized institutions were set up within CILSS: (a) AGRHYMET (Sahelian Regional Centre for Agrometeorology and Applied Hydrology in Niamey, Niger, and (b) the Sahel Institute in Bamako, Mali.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Agenda 21 recommends: (a) developing national plans of action to combat desertification and, as appropriate, making them integral parts of national development plans and national environmental action plans; (b) adopting policies and establishing administrative structures for more decentralized decision-making and implementation.

National anti-desertification plans have been prepared for the six largest CILSS countries, preparation supported in large part by the Federal Republic of Germany.