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ARTICLE 19 -- RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT:

This article seemed to be the least problematic. The main issue relates to the choice of an institution to carry out the needed research. The developed countries favor an already existing institution while the South, led by the African Group prefer a new institution, arguing that existing ones lack the capacity to meet the current needs of the Convention.

Although delegates called for multi-disciplinary research that considers the socio-economic aspects, the linking of desertification to poverty was hotly contested. The developed countries want research on the links between desertification and poverty to be carried out only insofar as they are "relevant." The Africans argue that since the Convention is focused anyway, there is no need to elaborate on the "relevance" of the research. The African Group also argued for the deletion of any reference to "indigenous" knowledge.