From Desertification to Land Degradation
Neutrality: The UNCCD
and the Development of Legal Instruments
for Protection of Soils
Richard Byron-Cox
1 Introduction
Land was and remains central to the state, which is the traditional, original and
classic subject of Public International Law, that is to say, a state generally speaking
must have some territory (land) of its own. Land is important to the state as it, inter
alia, determines size of territory; its geo-political influence; and sometimes comes
with resources ranging from gold and silver to the free labour of conquered peoples.
Today, land maintains its importance to the state for some of the aforementioned
reasons, but there are additional very important factors including its social, environmental, and agricultural and agro-forestry values. Indeed, in this age of population
explosion
1 and the consequences following in train including demand for more food
and water; land’s bio-productive value is now of paramount importance to human’s
and this planet’s future existence. Hence, the need to protect and maintain this value.
In the context of the above, bio-productive lands essentially mean soils that are
really the fundamental basis of living land. And humans’ connection to and dependence on land cannot be overstated. As Joseph Conrad says, “Each blade of grass has
its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land
from which he draws his faith together with his life.”
2 Thus, there is a real and eternal
value of living, bio-productive land to humankind. But have we, the “masters of the
planet”, understood this? Does our behavior towards the land on a global scale reflect
an appreciation of its cardinal role in our everyday existence?
R. Byron-Cox (*)
Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Action Programme
Alignment and Capacity Building, Bonn, Germany
e-mail: RByronCox@unccd.int
1 See generally: Rosenberg (2019).
2 Conrad (1900), p. 207.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
H. Yahyah et al. (eds.), Legal Instruments for Sustainable Soil Management in
Africa, International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36004-7_1
1
Neutrality: The UNCCD
and the Development of Legal Instruments
for Protection of Soils
Richard Byron-Cox
1 Introduction
Land was and remains central to the state, which is the traditional, original and
classic subject of Public International Law, that is to say, a state generally speaking
must have some territory (land) of its own. Land is important to the state as it, inter
alia, determines size of territory; its geo-political influence; and sometimes comes
with resources ranging from gold and silver to the free labour of conquered peoples.
Today, land maintains its importance to the state for some of the aforementioned
reasons, but there are additional very important factors including its social, environmental, and agricultural and agro-forestry values. Indeed, in this age of population
explosion
1 and the consequences following in train including demand for more food
and water; land’s bio-productive value is now of paramount importance to human’s
and this planet’s future existence. Hence, the need to protect and maintain this value.
In the context of the above, bio-productive lands essentially mean soils that are
really the fundamental basis of living land. And humans’ connection to and dependence on land cannot be overstated. As Joseph Conrad says, “Each blade of grass has
its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land
from which he draws his faith together with his life.”
2 Thus, there is a real and eternal
value of living, bio-productive land to humankind. But have we, the “masters of the
planet”, understood this? Does our behavior towards the land on a global scale reflect
an appreciation of its cardinal role in our everyday existence?
R. Byron-Cox (*)
Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Action Programme
Alignment and Capacity Building, Bonn, Germany
e-mail: RByronCox@unccd.int
1 See generally: Rosenberg (2019).
2 Conrad (1900), p. 207.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
H. Yahyah et al. (eds.), Legal Instruments for Sustainable Soil Management in
Africa, International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36004-7_1
1