por CIARA CARVALHO
Fotos: LEOPOLDO NUNES

Those who live in the Sertão and have always been punished by droughts, are now facing another testing time. As if the unending dry spells were not enough, a far greater evil is now spreading quickly across the semiarid Northeast, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Once fertile land is being transformed into dry soil, where not even the most resilient vegetation of the Caatinga can survive. This desertification is like a plague advancing across the Northeast and has an even more devastating effect than the droughts. It effectively destroys the soil’s capacity to produce, to generate wealth. The fragile ecosystem of the semiarid drylands has exacerbated the situation, but it is above all a man-made problem. The immense scar of dead land in the Sertão has already grown to 18,000 square kilometres – almost the same area as the state of Sergipe. An area ten times this size is already heading the same way. The danger of the Northeast becoming one huge desert is alarming enough, but in fact, there is an even greater threat. The land in natural desert regions is fertile, and supports a rich variety of vegetation and fauna. In contrast the land where desertification takes place is quite desolate. Not even the rains can make plants sprout in the degraded soil. In this devastated environment the miserable lives of those affected by the phenomenon is even more tragic than the landscape itself. Over the course of ten days a team from Journal do Comércio travelled to four areas affected by desertification. In all four of them they found the same sorry picture of suffering and poverty caused by the lack of fertile land. The residents of the towns of Gilbués (PI), Iraçuaba (CE), Cabrobó (PE) and Seridó (RN/PB) have been punished by the phenomenon and have given up hope of seeing the scorched land yield again. The other people who suffer from the effects of desertification are the rural population. With no one to turn to, and with their land unable to support them, they have abandoned their houses and headed to the towns in order to survive. However, advancing desertification is not a problem exclusive to the Northeast of Brazil. It is very much the same story around the rest of the world. Every year 60,000 square kilometres of fertile soil are lost due to unsustainable human activities such as overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and burning. It is a problem that affects both rich and poor countries and is so serious that it has led to the founding of an international convention to combat its effects. As from tomorrow Pernambuco will become the main stage for these discussions, with the opening of the 3^rd Conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought. The conference will be held at the "Centro de Convenções" and will bring over 3,000 people together including ministers, diplomats, and representatives of financial institutions, NGOs and specialists. It is an event that could bring financial aid to Brazil as well as to the other poor countries affected by desertification, to help combat the problem. This is something that should have been started a long time ago.

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