Learning to Combat Desertification : A Teacher's Guide

261 Pages·1997·10.99 MB·English

by  United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Learning
to combat
desertification
Education Kit on desertification
A Teacher’s Guide
Learning
to combat
desertification
The oasis nourishes the body;
the desert nourishes the soul…
– (Berber proverb)
A Teacher’s Guide
An activity and educational guide to understand and combat the phenomenon
of desertification, developed from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Foreword
Desertification is a wide-ranging problem as it has both natural and human dimensions.
It generates environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources that
leads to poverty and hunger everywhere. To combat desertification is to contribute to
the eradication of poverty. Every one of us can get involved at our own level to combat
desertification. Children, who are particularly receptive and who demonstrate a
spontaneous interest in questions relating to nature and the environment, can be the
front line players in this collective combat. To help them better understand
environmental problems and stimulate their search for possible solutions, the
educational system should promote the notion of sustainable development.
Targeted to educators and their pupils during their final years at primary school, this
educational kit aims to clarify scientific knowledge on desertification. Environmental
problems present as many challenges as there are socially responsible and
imaginative solutions to preserve and restore fertility in the world’s drylands.
We are particularly grateful to the Governments of Italy and Switzerland for their support
in the UNESCO and UNCCD Secretariat joint initiative, encouragement that has helped
make this kit a reality. We hope that it will be a useful contribution to the on-going
efforts of the international community to combat desertification, a phenomenon that
can be contained once shared collective responsibility has been accepted and
understood. Famine and poverty are not inevitable. Let’s give the present generation,
and those generations to come, the means to preserve themselves.
Koïchiro Matsuura Hama Arba Diallo
UNESCO Director General UNCCD Executive Secretary
Contents
Teacher’s notes 6
Part One: The Situation 9 Part Two: The Solutions 59
1General presentation of desertification 2Solving the problems of desertification
UNIT 1. 10 UNIT 13. 60
What is desertification? Raising awareness about the problem
UNITÉ 2. 14 UNIT 14. 64
Where does desertification occur? The role of the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
UNIT 3. 18
How does desertification occur? UNIT 15. 68
Mobilizing and involving people
UNIT 4. 22
Climate change and desertification UNIT 16. 72
Measuring and evaluating the problems
UNIT 5. 26
Man and the drylands UNIT 17. 76
Re-establishing a favourable environment
UNIT 6. 30
Dwellings of the drylands UNIT 18. 80
Developing sustainable agricultural practices
UNIT 7. 34
Water resources UNIT 19. 84
Utilizing renewable energies
UNIT 8. 38
Plants UNIT 20. 88
Reintroducing indigenous knowledge
UNIT 9. 42
Fauna
Glossary 92
UNIT 10. 46
Biological diversity List of countries signatories to
the Convention 97
UNIT 11. 50
Environmental consequences
of desertification
UNIT 12. 54
Socio-economic consequences
of desertification
Teacher’s notes
Concept To present case studies intended to give teachers
concrete examples of projects undertaken,
Fruit of international collaboration, this kit has conforming to the objectives and within the spirit
been designed by the United Nations Educational, of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Desertification.
the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
It seeks to demonstrate that drought and To demonstrate that desertification, although a
desertification are worldwide problems affecting serious problem, can be tackled in a fun and
every region of the planet. A global effort from the exciting way. This is the role of the two cartoons
international community is necessary to combat included in the kit.
desertification and/or limit the effects of drought.
Beneficaries of the kit:
This kit will help bring the combat against
The kit is especially aimed at teachers and their
desertification into the classroom.
pupils at the end of primary school education.
It is composed of five elements:
1. a teacher’s guide; How to use
2. case studies from different regions throughout
The teacher’s guide
the world;
(this document)
3. a cartoon ‘The School Where the Magic Tree The educational guide contained in this kit is
Grows’, inspired from one of the case studies; addressed to teachers around the world living in
4. a second cartoon ‘There is No Rug Big Enough areas affected by or under threat from
to Sweep the Desert Under’ created on the desertification. For this reason, the guide should
occasion of the UNCCD’s First Conference of the be seen as a general presentation to be adapted
Parties held in Rome, Italy in 1997; to the specific realities and preoccupations of
each region or country. The guide begins with the
5. a wall poster for the classroom. different problems of desertification, which the
teachers could integrate into lessons (fauna,
Educational objectives of the kit flora, crop varieties or rearing, methods of land
To improve the visibility of the United Nations exploitation, socio-economic problems etc.). It
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). presents the major objectives of the Convention
To explain in simple terms the content and proposes several solutions to combat
of the UNCCD. desertification.
To provide teachers with a solid educational
– Presentation by unit
foundation on the themes of desertification.
The guide is composed of work units providing
To encourage teachers and pupils to act locally references for thought and activities for teachers
to combat desertification. and pupils with each work unit presenting a
To contribute to the diffusion of knowledge theme that contributes to the elaboration of small
on the theme of desertification. local projects. The teacher could compile the
lesson by using several units depending on
his/her time schedule, and could support each
unit with his/her own experiences and problems
encountered locally, without neglecting to explain
the problems and specificities of other countries.
After each lesson, it would be useful to provide
the pupils with a short summary of the most
important points.
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– Classroom Activities collection, presenting both the causes and
The class activities at the end of each unit can consequences of desertification as well as the
ideally be integrated throughout the school possible solutions in the different continents
curriculum through the diverse subjects that act affected by desertification, aims to raise
as a support to this teaching: geography, natural awareness among the pupils to the universal
sciences, maths, writing and oral skills, history, character of environmental problems. In addition,
gardening, art, theatre, music and song, sport comparing methods employed by different people
and nature excursions. While they are only will help all those concerned to think globally,
suggestions, everyone should take the initiative enlarging the horizons for each of them.
to adapt them to the specific geographic and
socio-economic situation encountered locally – Pratical activities
(characteristics of your natural and human At the end of each case study classroom activities
environment, production systems, etc) and to the are proposed to help the teacher incorporate the
teacher’s work schedule. case studies throughout the course. When
discussing a particular project in class, the
– Partnerships teacher could invite the children to respond by
It is recommended that before beginning a unit, asking them to locate the country on the map and
partnerships be forged, thus providing input to compare the situations to those featured in the
enhance lessons (in class or outdoor activities). study. Finally, tasks including drawing
Teachers could invite fauna and flora specialists assignments, question and answer discussions
who could present the results of their research and role-playing, could be assigned to
work. The participation of elders and parents is complement the classroom activities.
also recommended. Invite and involve families
who may require information to consolidate their – Glossary
knowledge so they can become involved in The words underlined throughout the text are
existing or future development projects while explained in the glossary at the end of the
sharing their experiences. Surprise your pupils by collection.
taking unexpected initiatives. They could prove
productive!
The cartoons (accompanying documents)
The two cartoons demonstrate that despite the
– Glossary seriousness of desertification, the subject can be
Words or expressions underlined throughout the approached in an attractive way that encourages
text are explained at the end of the guide. fun. The cartoons are intended for the pupils.
The cartoon There is No Rug Big Enough to
Sweep the Desert Under has been reprinted from
The case studies (accompanying document)
a previous version produced within the
The commitment by pupils to undertake small
framework of the First Conference of the Parties
school projects is the challenge posed by the kit.
of the UNCCD held in Rome, Italy in 1997.
By way of concrete and successful examples, the
The cartoon The School Where the Magic Tree
teacher can draw upon each of the case studies
Grows is a loose adaptation of a case study
that comprise the compilation, which have all
carried out by a NGO ‘JUNDEP’ that set up a
been carried out within the spirit of the United
school nursery project to combat desertification
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and
in Chile.
conform to its objectives. The teacher may
accompany classroom lessons on desertification
by using these positive examples. Attentive The wall poster (accompanying document)
reading of the case studies should provide the The poster is designed to visually present the
teacher with the required knowledge base in the different regions of the world affected by
field of combating desertification. They are desertification. It also proposes several simple
intended to encourage children to adopt an techniques to combat desertification.
environmentally friendly attitude towards the rare
natural resources found in their region and their
natural world. The global approach of this
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The situation
General presentation of desertification
1
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand Earth from Above / UNESCO
1
1
What is desertification?
OBJECTIVE: > To introduce the phenomenon of desertification
Definition of desertification
Is Earth, our planet, losing its name? The earth is being degraded. According to
estimates, 24 billion tons of fertile soil disappear annually and over the past 20
years, the surface area lost is equal to all of the farmland of the United States
of America. Roughly one third of the world’s land surface is threatened by
desertification, or put in another way; desertification already affects one quarter
of the total land surface of the globe today.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification defines the term
desertification as ‘land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas
resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human
activities’ (UNCCD Art.1.a). Desertification is a dynamic process that is observed
in dry and fragile ecosystems. It affects terrestrial areas (topsoil, earth,
groundwater reserves, surface run-off), animal and plant populations, as well
as human settlements and their amenities (for instance, terraces and dams).
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