ABSTRACT
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2019, deserts and drylands currently cover 46.2% of global land area, inhabited by roughly 3 billion people. The framing of desertification as both an environment and a development issue was key to conceptualize the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as a sustainable development convention rather than as yet another multilateral environmental agreement. While developing countries routinely emphasize poverty as both a cause and a consequence of desertification, developed countries remain reluctant to subscribe to the UNCCD as an additional instrument for development assistance. Ultimately, the strategic framing of desertification at the international level provides a strong case in point for the influence of non-state actors—in this case notably nongovernmental organizations and the UNCCD Secretariat—in the realm of intergovernmental politics. Having said that, recent issue linkages in the context of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have helped to increase political attention for desertification and the value of dryland ecosystems.
