Report on the implementation of the master plan for combating desertification and for the conservation of natural resources in West Africa

Abstract

Desertification affects 25 percent of the world's land surface and 900 million individuals in more than one hundred countries, especially in Africa. Implementation of desertification control and the conservation of natural resources has become, more than ever before, a topical issue and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has devoted itself to it. This explains why it decided to sponsor a study on the "Master Plan for the Co-ordination of Desertification Control Programs and the management of natural resources in the ECOWAS Sub-Region". This master plan has just been adopted by the organs of ECOWAS and the present report should be seen as a contribution to its implementation in accordance with the 1994/1995 of the work program of the West African MULPOC of the ECA. And also it deals with a brief analysis of the climatic elements at the sub-regional level and a presentation of the recent and future evolution of the climate in the sub-region in relation to the desertification process.