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SUMMARY OF THE TENTH SESSION: OF THE INC FOR THE CONVENTION TO: COMBAT DESERTIFICATION:: 6-17 JANUARY 1997

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention to Combat Desertification (INCD) met for its tenth session at UN Headquarters in New York, from 6-17 January 1997. This was the last scheduled session before the first Conference of the Parties (COP-1), which will be held from 29 September to 10 October 1997 in Rome. At the end of the session, however, delegates felt it was necessary to hold a resumed session of INCD-10 from 18-22 August 1997, in Geneva, to address technical issues related to outstanding arrangements for COP-1.

INCD-10 was devoted to the preparation for COP-1. Although most delegates were pleased with the progress made at this session, some participants also sensed a lot of ambivalence. The sense of urgency that the coming into force of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) on 26 December 1996 should have brought about was absent. Key issues, such as functions of the institutions to host the Global Mechanism, the physical location of the Permanent Secretariat and the size and composition of the COP Bureau, were passed on to the COP.