Today a large unanimity is concerned about the seriousness of desertification and degradation of natural resources in Africa. The climate, demographic pressure and exploitation ways on the surroundings constitute a determining factor of these plagues. 

The greater problem expresses itself through a certain number of contradictions and paradoxes at non negligible consequences over our countries’ rural development which its resolution becomes imperative for an efficient social economic development. 

The question revolves around: 

o The pursuit of food security in a persistent context of unfavorable climatic conditions. 

o Rational management of natural resources and demographic pressure over these resources accompanied by exploitation practices little respected by the environment. 

o Fight over the dryness effect facing the economic recession which the country and the state of poverty the population faces. 

o Fight against poverty of the rural world and the weak production levels of agriculture-silver-pastures, population’s main revenues. 

We should take notice that in average 80% of our population is rural and their activities are essential based on subsisting agriculture. 

These contradictions or dilemmas which usually express themselves interactively, face men, the natural environment and the climate. These contradictions exacerbate the desertification phenomena following mechanisms and multiple and different dynamics and variations in climate, demography, and weak technological level and poverty which constitutes determining factors in Africa. 
 
 

MAIN CLAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DESERTIFICATION AND DEGRADATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN AFRICA 
 
 

The Climate : The climate variability and desertification are linked. As a matter of fact the important inter-annual variability and inter-seasonal have caused rain decrease attaining 20 to 40%, the smallest these last 50 years. These droughts, by accentuation the climate’s dryness have initiated natural resources degradation. Thus we assist to profound modifications on the plant wooden country and fauna and flora patrimony through the reduction and in some cases, the disappearance of certain of those species. 

The degradation of the plant cover and lands has started a very active aeolian and hydrous erosion accompanied by a loss of very fertile land and the total or partial drying of the water’s plans and courses. 

In dry seasons, the frequent winds are often strong and lift from the land the constitutive elements that are indispensable to its structure and richness. 

In rainy seasons, rain water characterized by strong sudden showers carry through splashing and running the formation of vast slopes, the formation and enlargement of furrows and channels, floods and cleaning out of lands and infiltration reduction. 
 
 

HUMAN PRESSURE OVER NATURAL RESOURCES 

The negative effects on the climate over the degradation of resources have worsened because of the galloping demography growth and by environment exploitation practices for agriculture-silver-pasture and industrial productions. In fact, the demographic and economic variables closeness manifests a distortion between the population’s needs and the resources they have available. 

Thus, the production capacity pares down day by day and we assist to a speedy rise of poverty in Africa. This situation seriously accelerates the urban and rural environment’s degradation. 

Another aspect which aggravates the ecological’s balance is the great disparity of the geographic distribution of this population where more than 75% live in the southern part of our respective countries. These areas of our territories which generally confine the essential of the agriculture-silver-pastoral potential, find themselves subject to a human and animal pressure which translate by the extension of cultivated grazing land, of transhumance and clearing. The extension of land phenomena generates many conflicts among farmers and stock-breeders (specially in Sahel countries) and the retirement of protected and classified spaces. One of the main causes of this behavior is the reduction of agriculture profit facing an important demographic growth (financial situation.) 

As an explanation we can say that if nothing is done about this, the forest resources in Togo risk of disappearing. These resources estimated in 1’396 .200 ha in 1993, face a yearly deforestation of 15000 to 16000 ha against 1000 ha of forestation. In this way they face a total disappearing at a rapid rhythm growth of the population and the wood demand (wood for heating, carbon wood, and working wood). 
 
 

THE WEAK TECHNOLOGICAL LEVEL AND POVERTY 

The impoverished rural world exacerbated by an economic crisis which lasts, limits the carrying on of intensification at great levels which would rapidly permit the tendency of the environments degradation. The production intensification is being slowed down by social-economic considerations, that is to say financial ones. This situation forces producers to resort to non respectful practices for the environment (clearing, burning bushes, placing slopes, absence or reduction of un ploughed land’s time). 

The desertification and dryness of our land presents today serious development problems on the economic and social plan and also in terms of populations food. 

At an economic level, the desertification and dryness have had negative consequences on the economy in general and on the agricultural PIB in particular. In fact, for the agriculture which constitutes the main source of income for the rural world and the economic foundation for our countries, very low results have been registered with the natural resources degradation. 

To the social plan, these frequent hydro deficits have provoked an accumulation of food deficit towards more favorable areas, forcing some governments to ask for food aid. 
 
 

THE STRUGGLE CONVENTION OVER DESERTIFICATION 

The issue of the fight over desertification, has been registered at the request of countries which have been touched by this at the CNUED at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Convention for the fight against desertification has been adopted in Paris June 17,1994 after five negotiation sessions. 

The Convention was signed and ratified by 176 countries until today, which include all African countries with no exception. It came into effect on December 26, 1996. 

The specificity of this convention is the dimension it brings to the development and its struggle over poverty which is not found in other conventions. This convention does not aim to create another cooperation sector, which would have its part of cooperation, but advocates that the struggle over this phenomena should be treated through a more transversal approach, more integrated through the whole group of projects (agricultural-economic, pastoral, water and forest management…) in order to take into account the many causes of desertification, particularly social-economic. 

Thus, this approach consists in a more systematic insertion of a constituent struggle " against desertification" adapted to the typology of a considered project 

We can observe that a long term management of our forests and the fight against desertification are struggle strategies against poverty. 
 
 

STEPS AND MAIN CHARACTERS 
 The Convention’s goal is to guarantee a long term commitment of the parties through a non constraint legal document. It entails a main text and four annexes related to the setting at a regional level : 

1. Africa 

2. Latin America and the Caribbean 
 3. Asia 

4. Northern Mediterranean 

An adhesion annex has been validated by the COP 3 and 4 for Central Europe and the East.Yet the convention recognizes the nature of priority that African countries present. The convention’s promotion is taken care by an executive secretary whose center is in Bonn and its responsibility is to spread and explain its goal and promote all necessary actions. 
 
 

SUBSIDIARY AGENTS 

Due to the complexity of the desertification phenomena and difficulties to access into existing financing in particular for civilian society, two subsidiary agents have been created: 

- Science and Technology Committee (CTS) 

- World Mechanism or " Global Mechanism" 

The Convention asks countries that are hit to elaborate National Action Plans (PAN) which will address a specific place and suggest a fight strategy ( stages and steps to take in relation to each ecological system specificity). These plans should be prepared through a participation of Government, local Collectivities and NGO’s. 

Every two years, the country in question should present a National Execution Report. 

The Convention finally underlines the need of full participation of Civilian Society (Local Population, Associations, NGO’s…) and the need of a strengthening of local and national capability, formation, research-development, popularization, education and sensibility.