Forests for People

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Dryland forests – agroforestry

and people in drylands: a needed approach

Sergio A. Zelaya and Jasmin Metzler, UNCCD Secretariat

orests are critical to the eradication of poverty in the

drylands. They are also the first step towards healing

the drylands and protecting them from desertification

and drought.” (Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN

Convention to Combat Desertification)

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005),

drylands occupy 41 per cent of the Earth’s land area and are home

to more than two billion people.

The UN Convention to Combat

Desertification (UNCCD) defines drylands as arid, semi-arid and

dry subhumid areas, meaning areas, other than polar and sub-polar

regions, in which the ratio of annual precipitation to potential

evapotranspiration falls within the range from 0.05 to 0.65.

Dryland forests cover 18 per cent of the land in arid zones,

according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

The largest

proportion of dry forest ecosystems is found in Africa and the

world’s tropical islands, where they account for 70-80

per cent of the forested area. In South America they

represent only 22 per cent of the forested land but in

Central America almost 50 per cent.

The United Nations designated 2011 as the

International Year of Forests with an emphasis on

forests that serve people. 2011 is also the second year

of the United Nations Decade on Deserts and the Fight

against Desertification, and hence gives the opportunity

to focus on dryland forests. Furthermore, the World

Day to Combat Desertification 2011 was dedicated to

the call, ‘forests keep the drylands working’.

40 per cent of Earth is open or closed forest. Of this 42

per cent is dry forest, 33 per cent is moist forest and only

25 per cent is wet forest.

Despite being more extensive

than rainforests, public awareness of tropical dry habi-

Dryland forest

Image: Pablo Olivieri – UNCCD photo contest 2009

“