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23
5.
UP! PINOY CHAIRS
UN SCIENTIFIC BODY ON DESERTIFICATION
Global science has caught up with the Filipino who
has talent and technique. William Dollente Dar, from
Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, has just been elected as
Chair of the Committee on Science and Technology
(CST) in the current (September 3-14) conference in
Madrid, Spain under the auspices of the UN Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD). It has taken the UN 30 years to realize that
the Filipino has the head and heart for what he himself has labeled
‘science with a human face’ (icrisat.org).
In 1977, the UN conference on desertification adopted a plan of action to combat desertification; unfortunately, the
plant that grew from the seed sown wilted, died. In 1994, the UNCCD was born; the Philippines signed on August 12
of that year. Some 13 years later, we have the Madrid conference, with a Filipino as head of the science committee.
Desertification? Some 200 countries have ratified the Convention, indicating how widespread the unease is.
Desertification is ‘denuding and degrading a once-fertile land, initiating a desert-producing cycle that feeds on
itself and causes long-term changes in soil, climate, and biota of an area’ (highered.mcgraw-hill.com). With denuded
mountains along with eroded farmlands, the process of desertification has already begun. Desertification results
in soils starved of water, crops starved of nutrients, farmers starved of income, citizens starved of nutritious
produce, countries starved of healthy economies.
With Dar as Chair of CST, the committee can tap his experience and expertise on sustainable use and management
of resources, having proven himself as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the