Union denounces World Bank land scheme

By David Cronin

Date: 14/07/05

A World Bank initiative aimed at stopping the degradation of land in Africa has been criticised by the EU.

The TerrAfrica scheme, to be launched in October, is designed to address the effects of damage to the land on the environment, farming and the economy in poor countries.

The bank estimates that deterioration of land causes an annual loss of 3% of the national income derived from farming in sub-Saharan Africa.

But a document drawn up by the Council of Ministers' working party on international environment berates the scheme for lacking an estimation of costs, which is "fundamental in order to have a precise and realistic understanding of the magnitude of work envisaged".

Warren Evans, director of the World Bank's environment department, said that both government and non-governmental bodies in Africa had been consulted about TerrAfrica but that it would be "physically and practically impossible" to contact every community concerned with land management.

The EU's remarks reflect criticisms made by some anti-poverty advocates. "The bank's analysis about what is wrong about land use in Africa is not based on what local people said. It is based on what governments or other institutions have said," said Marie José van der Werff ten Bosch from Both Ends in Amsterdam.

A report published recently in the scientific journal Nature links climate change to the growth of deserts in southern Africa. Rising greenhouse gas emissions, it says, could cause the dunes of the Kalahari to spread, blowing shifting sands across vast areas of Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana and western Zambia by the end of the century.

The EU Council of Ministers' working party on international environment criticised a World Bank initiative aimed at stopping the degradation of land in Africa. The working group concluded that the scheme was lacking an estimation of costs, which was 'fundamental in order to have a precise and realistic understanding of the magnitude of work envisaged'.

The TerrAfrica scheme, to be launched in October 2005, was designed to address the effects of damage to the land on the environment, farming and the economy in poor countries.

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