TerrAfrica plans to invest four billion dollars (3.3 billion euros) over 12 years to stem the expansion of African deserts and promote sustainable land management as part of wider efforts to reduce the continent's crushing poverty, officials said.

The multi-agency partnership, made up of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), The World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), hopes to coordinate a concerted push to ease the problem which affects more than 65 percent of all Africans, they said.

Formed in response to calls to action by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), it aims to increase agricultural productivity by six percent a year and encourage governments to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets for agriculture, they said.

"It promises to be a real shot in the arm to restoring the health of the continent's fragile lands and overcoming the seemingly relentless slide," UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer told a news conference.

Environmental economists estimate that every dollar strategically invested in anti-land degradation measures can garner a three-dollar return, he said.

Despite increased financial resources, TerrAfrica officials acknowledged the need for community involvement to fully address desertification.

"The challenge is to not only mobilize the communities on this issue, but to include them so they become part of the elements of change," said Kenya's deputy environment minister and Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai.

TerrAfrica was formed as senior officials from the 179 state parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification are meeting at UNEP's Nairobi headquarters to discuss progress made on halting land degradation.

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