dc.identifier.citation | Grainger A, Wong G, KABUBO-MARIARA J, Mbuvi D, Low PK, Low PS. "Economic and Social Impacts Assessment of DLDD. Chapter 2 .". In: Economic and social impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought. White Paper I. UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference, prepared with the contributions of an international group of scientists; 2013. | en |
dc.description.abstract | There is a widespread consensus that the pressing issues of Desertification, Land Degradation
and Drought (DLDD) are inadequately addressed in today’s political agenda at the
global,
regional and national levels. It is therefore of vital importance to raise awareness on the issues,
not only on the negative impacts of DLDD in terms of socio
-
economic development, but also on
the opportunities that they may create to help to guide
current
and future
land management
practices to be more sustainable and resilient
Understanding
and evaluating
the economic and
social costs and benefits associated with DLDD is essential to
developing cost
-
effective policies
and strategies for addressing DLDD and in raising this awareness.
This paper discusses the
e
conomic and social impacts of
DLDD
based on the overall framework provided by the S
cientific
A
dvisory Committee (SAC).
L
ittle res
earch has been published in peer
-
reviewed academic journals on the economics of
desertification, or of land degradation in general. This severely constrains the scientific
knowledge which this working group can synthesize and evaluate for the Committee on
Science
and Technology
(CST)
. One reason for
the gap
is that formal economic modelling of land
degradation only began in the 1980s.
Another is that the volume of economic research in this
field has not expanded greatly since the early 1990s.
Direct economic costs are incurred through reductions in income obtained by land users as a
result of the lower productivity of land resulting from desertification. These 'on
-
site' costs are
experienced either by the land user who degraded the land or anot
her user who uses the site
subsequently. However
, estimates vary widely and are very inaccurate. For example, four
estimates of direct costs as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in single countries in
the 1980s were: 0.4% of GDP in the USA; 2% o
f GDP in India; 9% of GDP in Burkina Faso; and 0.9
-
12.5% in Mali. Large differences are also found between the direct costs estimated in different
studies for the same country, e.g. India and
China. Estimate
variation and inaccuracy can be
linked to the la
ck of reliable biophysical measurements of the extent and rate of change o
f
desertification; the use of different economic estimation methods;
the embryonic
nature of
economic research in this field; and isolation from estimates of the benefits of actions
that cause
degradation and are central to decision
-
making and its
appraisal.
Indirect economic costs are incurred throug
h off
-
site impacts that can be some distance from
the land use that is the source of degradation, and so are generally suffered by peop
le other
than those who cause degradation. For example, the erosion of soil by water and wind leads to
the siltation of rivers, reservoirs and irrigation canals which reduces their effectiveness and
exacerbates flooding. E
xcessive or inappropriate use of w
ater results in salinity and alkalinity.
Estimates of indirect costs are less common than those for direct costs, and
most indirect costs
are still not estimated because of lack of data
.
The annual indirect costs of soil erosion in the
USA have been estima
ted as $17 billion, compared with direct costs of $27 billion, raising total
costs of soil erosion to 0.7% of GDP
.
In China, sand and dust storms linked to soil erosion have
resulted in indirect costs due to airline delays and impacts on human health. The
range and
inaccuracy of estimates of indirect costs is explained in a similar way to those for direct costs,
with the additional complications that market prices are lacking for many of these impacts and
impact profiles vary from country to country. | en |