Parliamentarians must play a critical role in the fight against desertification, a UN forum on climate change has urged.

A special report to the seventh session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for parliamentarians held on Wednesday in Madrid called on MPs from Africa and the rest of the world to play an active role in the anti-desertification campaign.

The report, prepared by German Prof.

 Uwe Holtz, argues that parliamentarians especially in Africa should strategically strengthen their efforts in the fight against desertification.

"It is of paramount importance to ensure much greater visibility to the desertification cause by making it a priority on the agenda of decision-makers,” the report states.

It adds that the legislators have to be part of a real political will in order to tackle the problem of desertification affecting humankind worldwide.

Gregoire Kalbermatten, the UNCCD official, told the participants that the legislators are at the forefront of mainstreaming the desertification fighting measures into other national development strategies.

 This can be done through decision making with great consideration of whatever scientists unveil from their field research, Kalbermatten said.

"Scientists are the eyes and ears of the society to identify natural changes. Whatever they unveil from their research has a serious effect on global ecosystem,” he said.

He added that mainstreaming the data of scientists into other national or global social development aspects is what requires the effective legislative decision making on which way to go.

The president of Spanish Parliament, Manuel M Gonzalez, remarked that the world is continuously losing the arid land, and the whole process is becoming a great threat.

"This is a global problem and we (parliamentarians) should find a global solution,” Gonzalez said, adding that desertification is not only an environmental hazard but also an economic threat.    

The report also stressed that, whereas is it widely taken for granted that humankind has to protect the natural environment, the relevance of saving it is not adequately recognized by the concerned parties.

"Observations from all continents and in most oceans show that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly caused human activities” the report states further.

That China recently estimated the cost in environmental damage and lost of resources at $200 billion per year.

The same applies to Rwanda where the Ministry of Lands and Environment also anticipates over 500tonnes of soil to be annually lost through soil erosion.

Ends