World Day Against Desertification and Drought in Chile

“Let it be fulfilled and carried out as Law,” is what is mentioned in its sole Article of Decree 2065 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published on February 13, 1998, which promulgates the “United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification ,” which the international community celebrates on June 17 of each year to keep in mind this condition, which in Chile affects 48,334,300 hectares (CONAF, 2016).

What does the convention define as “desertification” and “drought”?

• “Desertification is understood as the degradation of arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands resulting from various factors, such as climatic variations and human activities.”

• “Drought is understood as the phenomenon that occurs naturally when rainfall has been considerably lower than normal levels, causing an acute water imbalance that harms land resource production systems.”

(Article 1, letters a and c)

Since 1997, the "National Action Program against Desertification" (SEGRPRES, MINAGRI) has been in place, demonstrating the Chilean government's commitment to addressing this serious situation that affects the country's ability to conserve and maintain soils capable of producing food and ecosystem services, which are becoming increasingly important. In the Coquimbo Region alone, 92% of the soil surface exhibits severe or moderate desertification, a condition exacerbated by the ongoing drought (which has lasted for fifteen years).

In the nearly thirty years since the UNCCD came into force, and since we have had access to information on these situations, numerous initiatives have emerged to contain, mitigate, and, above all, restore soils. In this context, the various crops grown in the Atacama and O'Higgins regions have had to adapt, especially due to reduced water availability. Thus, we observed that since the early 1990s, farms cultivating Persea americana Mill also had to address this situation by optimizing their irrigation systems (which became 100% automated) and reducing their cultivated area.

Given this situation, CAZALAC began studying this situation in 2019, which continues to this day in terms of analyzing the contribution of moisture, CO2 capture and especially recovering soils that in some cases corresponded to degraded xerophytic formations.

In other words, the replacement or change of “land use”, especially on slopes that were not considered “suitable for cultivation”, made it possible to adapt and mitigate the effects of desertification and drought with what is now defined as “avocado forests”, based on the definition provided by Law 20283, which establishes in its Article 2 No. 2 that by “forest” is understood a “site populated with plant formations in which trees predominate and which occupies an area of at least 5,000 m2, with a minimum width of 40 m with tree canopy cover that exceeds 10% of said total area in arid and semi-arid conditions and 25% in more favorable circumstances”.

Consequently, considering what the convention and the country's regulations establish, it is possible to verify that avocado forests contribute to "the fight against desertification and drought," which Mr. Gonzalo Bulnes pointed out when he was President of the Chilean Avocado Committee AG before the Water Resources, Desertification and Drought Commission of the Honorable Senate in April 2019, and which originated the interest in investigating, knowing and analyzing what happens in the relationship of avocado trees with soils affected by desertification and drought.

It is important to highlight the good disposition and transparency of the partners of Paltas de Chile AG, which allowed us to learn about their production processes and actions to be efficient in the use of water, take care of the soils and take on challenges in terms of sustainability and environmental conservation.

Elir Rojas Calderón
Bachelor of Geography / Geographer+Hydrologist+CO2
elir.rojas@gmail.com