The Role of Science in the Global Governance of Desertification

Abstract

The problem of desertification sits at the interface of environmental and developmental concerns. In this article, we examine the institutional relationship between desertification science and policy through focus on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and its subsidiary body, the Committee on Science and Technology. We argue that the UNCCD’s limited impact on fighting desertification to date may be partly attributed—among other factors—to an inadequate institutional interface between the political convention process and the scientific community. A huge body of international scientific expertise could help to further operationalize the normative provisions of the convention for on-the-ground implementation; yet the institutional architecture for ideational interplay between the UNCCD and scientific community concerned with desertification restricts the extent to which this potential is harnessed. Decisions adopted at the most recent Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD in 2007 seek to rectify this, and although these mark an important step forward, it remains doubtful whether they are sufficient to curb the root causes of the convention’s underlying problems.