---
kind: "section"
citation: "19 U.S.C. § 3741"
title: "19"
title_heading: "Customs Duties"
number: "3741"
heading: "Sense of the Congress regarding efforts to combat desertification in Africa and other countries"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/19/3741"
units:
  - "Chapter 23 — Extension of Certain Trade Benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa"
  - "Subchapter III — Economic Development Related Issues"
---

# §3741. Sense of the Congress regarding efforts to combat desertification in Africa and other countries

- (a) **Findings—** The Congress finds that—
  - (1) desertification affects approximately one-sixth of the world’s population and one-quarter of the total land area;
  - (2) over 1,000,000 hectares of Africa are affected by desertification;
  - (3) dryland degradation is an underlying cause of recurrent famine in Africa;
  - (4) the United Nations Environment Programme estimates that desertification costs the world $42,000,000,000 a year, not including incalculable costs in human suffering; and
  - (5) the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) can strengthen its partnerships throughout Africa and other [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3) affected by desertification, help alleviate social and economic crises caused by misuse of natural resources, and reduce dependence on foreign aid, by taking a leading role to combat desertification.
- (b) **Sense of the Congress—** It is the sense of the Congress that the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) should expeditiously work with the international community, particularly Africa and other [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3) affected by desertification, to—
  - (1) strengthen international cooperation to combat desertification;
  - (2) promote the development of national and regional strategies to address desertification and increase public awareness of this serious problem and its effects;
  - (3) develop and implement national action programs that identify the causes of desertification and measures to address it; and
  - (4) recognize the essential role of local governments and nongovernmental organizations in developing and implementing measures to address desertification.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 106–200, title I, § 131, May 18, 2000, 114 Stat. 274.)