Desertification is one of the biggest threats to poverty reduction, food security and economic growth in developing countries. This year, the theme of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought reminds us that ‘forests keep drylands working’ and that we must renew our collective action to reclaim what we have lost.

“Drylands are a major focus for us,” said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze, in a video message for the Day. “They provide a livelihood for many of the vulnerable rural poor in the world. The women, men and children that IFAD invests in, the poorest and most malnourished on our planet, often live on marginal and fragile drylands.”

Desertification reduces the land’s resilience to increasing variations in climate. It disrupts the natural cycle of water and nutrients and is a major threat to biodiversity. It can lead to prolonged episodes of famine in countries that are already impoverished and that cannot sustain large agricultural losses. Desertification often forces poor rural people, who depend on the land for survival, to migrate or face starvation.

IFAD’s experience over the past 30 years has made it clear that to eradicate rural poverty we must also address the issue of how land and natural resources are managed.

In Brazil, for example, the families living in the small community of Sombras Grandes, in the semi-arid northeast of Brazil, struggled to make a living – especially during the yearly nine-month drought. But in 2004, an IFAD-supported project came to Sombras Grandes and changed the situation dramatically. The project facilitated strategic partnerships with businesses to refurbish wells and improve basic water-delivery infrastructure. Access to water has allowed the community to grow a variety of new vegetables, improving families’ health, and to sell the surplus, which has boosted incomes. In 2007, the project was awarded Brazil’s Best Rural Development Project.

An innovative IFAD-backed project in Egypt is creating work for the country’s large number of unemployed graduates and boosting the economy by reclaiming agricultural land from the desert. The project has improved the options for different irrigation systems, helped farmers create economies of scale and manage risks by setting up community associations, and linked producers to national and international markets. Heinz, the global food company, now buys more than 6,000 tons of tomatoes each year from 300 project farms. Heinz provides the farmers with seed of the needed quality and guarantees to buy half their harvest at an agreed price.

And in Mongolia, where the harsh climate and brief growing season force families to work hard during the short, ‘make or break’ summer months, an IFAD-supported programme has introduced sustainable land management practices and helped people grow more vegetables during the summer, improving family nutrition and incomes.

“For centuries tribal communities, pastoralists and poor communities have been managing the delicate balance of forests, water and pasture,” said Nwanze.

“But increasingly, their traditions and knowledge are no match for a changing climate, receding water tables, increasingly saline soil, and population pressures.

To support them, we need to rapidly scale up investments in sustainable smallholder agriculture, sustainable rangeland management and sustainable land management that build resilience of ecosystems and support livelihoods.”