Seminar Legal Responses to Dust Storms
Modern International Study Centre
Dubai, February 9, 2014
Dust Storms, Land-Use and International Law
Prof. Dr. Ellen Hey
Abstract:
Dust storms are part of the Earth’s system and are a menace to many, including to people living
in the Middle East and North Africa.
As part of the Earth’s system dust storms transport particles over large areas, in the order of
thousands of kilometers. They transport nutrients to the world’s oceans, including the Red Sea,
and reportedly also to the Amazon, which may have positive impacts, but if too abundant may
also cause harm. Saharan dust storms have been reported as possibly also transporting diseasespreading spores to the Caribbean Sea, where they may negatively affect coral reefs, and as
compromising the ability of Spain, for its Castilla-La Mancha region, to meet its daily limits of
breathable particulate matter under European Union legislation. Dust storms, moreover, affect
atmospheric heating rates, and interact with the Earth’s hydrological cycle, nutrient cycle and the
climate system.
Dust storms are a menace because, among other things, they reduce soil fertility at the location of
their source while at the receiving location they reduce visibility, damage crops and mechanical
installations, lead to closure of airports, exasperate respiratory problems, enhance air pollution
by transporting pollutants across large distances, create dirt and may result in migration from
rural to urban areas.
Dust storms are regularly framed as an air or haze pollution problem. This presentation suggests
that dust storms should also be framed as a land-use problem.
While in terms of their effects dust storms are comparable to air pollution and haze pollution,
their root causes are very different from both the causes of air pollution in general and haze
pollution, more particularly. Air pollution in general is associated with industrial production
processes, the exploitation of certain natural resources, such as oil and gas, and transportation.
This means that in order to address air pollution, industrial production processes in general and
for the exploitation of certain natural resources as well as the transportation sector need to be
addressed. This involves, among other things, the identification and introduction of Best
Available Technologies (BATs). Agreeing on BATs is not easy to accomplish let alone in an
international context where different private actors and different states will have various
interests. Haze pollution finds its origin in fires associated especially with agricultural practices,
such as the clearing of land by way of fire for agricultural use, the use of fire in the harvesting
process, such as for sugarcane, or burning rice straw. Addressing haze storms involves
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identifying Best Environmental Practices (BEP), in particular in agriculture. Again no easy feat,
especially where these fire-using practices have been part of agricultural techniques over long
periods of time. Dust storms on the other hand relate to desertification and land-use more in
general. Addressing the root causes of dust storms, requires the protection of existing vegetation
and large scale rehabilitation of land. As most, or perhaps all, environmental problems the
reduction of dust storms will also require education and addressing governance arrangements.
Draughts, linked to climate change, as well as direct human causes of dust storms in the Middle
East have been identified. The latter include the building of dams in the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, resulting in reduction of the water and humidity content of soil downstream from the
dams; reduction of wetlands; urbanization; and shortages of power to adequately irrigate
farmlands.
Addressing dust storms then is a multifaceted problem that is interlinked with addressing air
pollution, climate change and land-use. In other words, depending on how one frames the
problem it will be perceived as a climate change problem, an air pollution problem or a land-use
problem. More correctly, dust storms involve all these frames and probably additional ones, such
as the reduction of poverty. However, if dust storms as such are to be reduced in the sense that
the root causes of dust storms are to be addressed, addressing land use is key. In terms of
international law this entails that conventions such as the Desertification Convention, the
Biodiversity Convention and the Wetlands Convention come into play as would the FAO. It also
entails that, besides climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation needs to be considered.
In addition, addressing governance issues will be paramount, for improving land-use ultimately
requires involving stakeholders, stakeholders who might not be aware of the long-term and longrange effects of their activities. The presentation besides characterizing, or framing, the problem
of dust storms will focus on what international law might have to offer in terms of improving
land-use. In addition, innovative examples of improving land use will be referred to.
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