Africa’s rapid urbanisation is placing ongoing pressure on available land and demanding far-sighted and coordinated national responses – like the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in May 2022 will highlight.
This event will be the 15th COP hosted by the United National Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and will review the progress made between 2010 and 2020 as well as evaluate its strategic framework for 2018 to 2030. It is likely to further explore the important linkages between land, water and energy management in the efforts to halt and reverse land degradation trends.
Desertification, drought and land degradation (DDLD) have long been on the radar of many governments and international organisations, alongside related issues such as tenure security, land governance and trans-boundary aquifer management. The sustainable management of water and land are clearly inextricably bound, but more recently the focus has also included energy.
Southern Africa, for instance, shares with much of the continent a number of development and migration challenges that are placing significant stress on land availability. At the same time, the region needs higher production from agriculture. Without effective water management, the productive capacity of the land is undermined. Similarly, the energy needs of growing cities can also erode land quality; consider the uncontrolled collection of wood for generating energy in emerging satellite settlements around existing cities where basic municipal
services are already stretched.
Complex factors
These challenges are by no means new, but our understanding of their complexity – and hence the way that we respond with appropriate policy and action – should gradually be improving. One of the ways this is being achieved is to better appreciate the ‘nexus’ (or meeting points) of these vital elements of land, water and energy (LWE).
