This study is the product of a co-operative venture between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the international Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). UNRISD was requested by UNEP to prepare an annotated bibliography and a literature review of the principal issues concerning the social dimensions of desertification, as a contribution to the international workshop, "Listening to the People", organized by UNEP, in December 1993. At UNEP, work on the social dimensions of desertification falls under the newly-created Social Dimensions and Sustainable Practices sub-programme in the Dryland Ecosystems and Desertification Control Programme Activity Centre (DEDC/PAC). In recent years UNRISD has done extensive work in this area under the programme on Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Change. Likewise, IIED has developed considerable expertise on the social dimensions of desertification.
The bibliography is complemented by an issues paper, prepared by UNRISD as a contribution to the above-mentioned workshop entitled "Social Dimensions of Desertification: A Review of Key issues", which appeared in the UNEP publication Social Aspects of Sustainable Dryland Management .The present publication contains nearly 600 references over half of which are annotated. The references are grouped into six chapters: social processes accompanying desertification; local demographic and social structures; socio-cultural, economic and environmental impacts; resource use conflicts; local level adaptation practices; and desertification policies and programmes.It is hoped that this publication will be useful to a wide range of scholars, policy makers, field staff, development organizations and bilateral and multilateral co--operation agencies.. |
