Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP11)
“A stronger UNCCD for a Land Degradation-Neutral World”

On Wednesday, COP 11 convened in two parallel sessions throughout the day. The CRIC held its second and third sessions, completing consideration of documents on: the overall report on the fourth reporting and review process; promotion and strengthening of relationships with other relevant conventions and international organizations; collaboration with the GEF; and best practices in the implementation of the Convention. The CST held its third and fourth sessions, addressing: improvement of knowledge management, including traditional knowledge, best practices and success stories, through the Scientific Knowledge Brokering Portal; and reshaping the operation of the CST in line with the Strategy.

Six side events took place during the day on the following topics: rehabilitation approaches of land degradation in the desert; women empowerment for sustainable land management (SLM); planting trees by playing online games; the Scientific Knowledge Brokering Portal of the UNCCD; improving SLM and UNCCD policy-practice interaction in sub-Saharan Africa; building the resilience of landlocked developing countries to the impacts of climate change and desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD); DLDD for forests and non-forest trees; carbon sequestration as a valuable global benefit of SLM.

The theme of the day at the Rio Conventions Pavilion was the “Target Setting Approach.” Sessions explored the themes of: monitoring DLDD from the bottom up; a target-setting approach for a stronger UNCCD; practical tools for monitoring and assessment of DDLD; bridging the gap with conventions and national legislation on drylands biodiversity; and policy options and lessons learned from 75 years of US experience in pursuing land-degradation neutrality at the national and sub-national level.