Our Efforts
Implementation of Projects to Combat Desertification
"Living with Desertification and Climate Change: An Approach to Upgrading Adaptive Capacity in the Gobi Region, Mongolia"
In the arid regions susceptible to desertification, it is said that droughts have increased due to climate change and the affected areas have expanded. In the arid Dundgovi Province in Mongolia, which is experiencing climate change, this project (1) studied methods to improve the ability of nomads to adapt to climate change with the help of experts from Japan; (2) based on the methods studied, implemented a model project involving local authorities and residents; and (3) from the experience and knowledge gained, proposed a model that can possibly be used to adapt to the climate change. Furthermore, in October 2011, the results of this project were announced at the side event of the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) held in South Korea.
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Human Livelihood and Combatting Desertification
Anthropogenic factors, such as excessive grazing and cultivation occurring due to the population growth and poverty, are closely related to desertification. For this reason, a critical issue is how to create a process that does not cause desertification while maintaining people’s daily living and their livelihood.
Based on the above recognition, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan carried out projects such as vulnerability assessments of desertification and pilot projects that concerned the transfer and diffusion of technologies to combat desertification using traditional knowledge and existing technologies in West Africa from 2004 to 2012. Those efforts of Japan to combat desertification, including the efforts of other Japanese agencies, are also summarized in this pamphlet.
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"Aggravating Desertification in Africa - Its Spacious Assessment and Countermeasures"
An important issue for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the biophysical/socioeconomic monitoring/assessment of desertification and land degradation that support policy decisions for land and water management.
With a view to contributing in the above issue, this project estimated the changes in erosion caused by water in the African region from the 1980s to the 2000s and evaluated the vulnerability to desertification using the standards of the severity of water erosion from previous studies.
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Technical Assistance of Traditional Knowledge and Local Technology Transfer Lessons learned and suggestions from Japanese experience of projects combating desertification
In resolutions of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), importance is attached to the utilization and diffusion of traditional knowledge that involve local experts and people in order to cope with desertification.
In Burkina Faso, which is subject to the impacts of desertification, this project implemented a pilot project related to technology transfer of traditional knowledge and local technology and produced the leaflet entitled "Technical Assistance of Traditional Knowledge and Local Technology Transfer" (from 2004 to 2007).