Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

sustainable land management practices, makes it relevant for all countries.Moreover, the drivers of desertification are common to the driversof land degradation elsewhere. Therefore, assessments of the cost of soilprotection and restoration, as well as efforts to improve livelihoods andthe ecosystems in degraded regions, are relevant to all regions.Good practice in educationThrough education about DLDD, we learn mundane things suchas the nuances between deserts and desertification. We also learnhow to address desertification and land degradation, and to mitigatethe effects of drought in order to achieve sustainable development.Citizens from the non-affected countries that may view desertificationas a distant issue learn how their lifestyles may cause or beaffected by desertification and drought that is in faraway places.Land degradation, which refers to soil degradation, has far-reachingconsequences for many realms of life as well. Sustainable landmanagement is a powerful solution to many of the major challengesof our time, including deforestation, energy deficits, food insecurityand poverty. Citizens of drylands countries also learn how to copebetter with these challenges.Education about DLDD occurs through formal, informal and nonformalprocesses.Formal training may be carried out during classroom instruction orindirectly by training teachers. For example, in Chile, the Governmentof the Netherlands financed an educational programme on desertification.A local non-governmental organization, Juventudes para elDesarrollo y la Producciòn (JUNDEP, which stands for Youth forDevelopment and Production), trained teachers in the local RecoletaSchool in the land management of an area that was highly degradedthrough mining and inappropriate agricultural practices. Then, withthe teachers, JUNDEP developed an appropriate curriculum for theschool. Its activities included theoretical learning by the pupils andteachers, practical training through the establishment of a nurseryand an aboretum, well drilling and maintenance of gardening tools,and reaping the rewards for these efforts through the sale of produce. 2To support such formal initiatives, the UNCCD, in cooperationwith UNESCO, has produced a teachers’ kit, ‘Learning to CombatDesertification’, for primary schools and a teaching resource kit fordrylands countries to be used in secondary schools. The kit is used as atool in the education initiatives under the DESD. It is available throughUNESCO’s Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet)with a total of 8,000 schools in 177 countries.Informal education initiatives are also part of theConvention’s strategy. The UNCCD’s informal educationprogramme targets everyone from school-agechildren to adults. For example, Lupo Alberto, a cartoonbook, educates young people on the importance ofcombating desertification. ‘Gaia: the Game of the Earth’,created by the Italian NGO, Ricerca e Cooperazione,is a board game for children aged 12 years and older.The Government of Italy financed both initiatives. Inaddition, the National University of Santiago de Estero,Argentina and a civil society organization, Fundacióndel Sur (South Foundation), designed an innovativeeducation project on combating desertification, targetingwomen aged over 60 years without prior art knowledge.Participants in the project produced paintings under thetheme, ‘Environment Vision of El Chaco from the VisualArts’. Story telling, workshops and seminars are the mostcommon avenues for informal education.The Convention promotes non-formal educationby encouraging the transfer of indigenous knowledgeand traditional practices across generations, throughexchange visits and activities that involve communities.Education initiatives on combating desertificationare carried out by many other actors. For example, theRecoleta School project was part of UNESCO’s educationactivities. Local communities, such as the Guédé-Chantiervillage in Senegal, have set up an eco-school programmethat educates children to combat encroaching desertification.3 The Africa Re-Greening Initiative is also supportinglocal initiatives to re-green the Sahel region in Africa.Measuring the success of educational activitiesIn their biennial reports on the implementation of theStrategy, Parties to the Convention will report theirperformance in education activities. The first reportson this measure will be submitted at the end of 2010.Parties will state the number and type of educationalinitiatives relating to DLDD carried out by their civilImage: © Gustavo Jononovich & UNCCD 2009 Photo ContestImage: © Griselda Duarte & UNCCD 2009 Photo ContestClearing land for agribusinessLand degradation is a global challenge[ 46 ]