ABSTRACT
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) 1 is the main international legal instrument dealing with the urgent global problem of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. This treaty is sometimes described as the world's ‘sustainable development convention’, in that it frames desertification as both an environmental and a development issue. 2
