At a meeting here, senior officials from the 179 states party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) heard a call for new research into climate change which is believed to be the chief cause of desertification.

The convention's secretary general Michel Jarraud urged the development of a data bank "to ensure systematic observation of land degradation in affected areas and to better understand and assess the processes and effects of drought and desertfication."

"Research into the causes and effects of climate variations and long-term predictions is essential, with a view to providing early warning capabilities," he said at the seventh conference of UNCCD state parties in Nairobi.

The world's 6.3 billion people currently depend on a mere 11 percent of the earth's landmass that has not been affected by desertification, according to the United Nations.

Experts fear that chronic food shortages could worsen as deserts eat up the remaining arable land, especially with experts predicting the earth's population will reach 8.2 billion by 2020, it says.

"Combating land degradation is an urgent priority in the context of global efforts to ensure food security and livelihood for millions of inhabitants in the world's drylands," Jarraud said.

Africa, home to about 800 million people, is greatly affected with 43 percent of the continent considered extreme desert.

Since the convention came into force in 1996, only 91 of more than 179 countries party to the convention have fully developed a national action plan to combat desertification.

Scientists have said emission of greenhouse gases are to blame for climate changes.

Carbon dioxide gases are produced from the burning of coal, oil and gas, mainly in power stations and motor vehicles. These and other so-called greenhouse gas emissions have collected in the atmosphere, raising average global temperatures and sea levels.

The emissions threaten to melt the polar ice caps and increase the number and intensity of droughts, floods and storms worldwide.

Another UN convention, the Kyoto Protocol, established in February, still lacks backing from key polluters who have refused to ratify the treaty.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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