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On Friday, 12 April, presentations at the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference and discussions in the third special session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-3) concluded in Bonn, Germany.
In the morning, the last parallel and plenary sessions took place for the Scientific Conference, followed by a closing plenary. The parallel sessions addressed: from agroecological practice to policy - bridging the gap in dryland management; DLDD and SLM assessment tools; and policy analysis and good examples. The final plenary session of the Scientific Conference explored strategies and policies for local, national and international levels. One regional presentation highlighted the work of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI), an enhanced partnership of countries in the Eastern Africa and Horn region that aims to shift the focus from emergency drought relief to resilience. Two others outlined the ongoing “green revolution” in Africa’s drylands, particularly in West Africa’s Sahel region. International initiatives highlighted included German development cooperation support for SLM-related policy making and GEF support for SLM-related projects.
During the closing ceremony, Scientific Advisory Committee Chair Davies welcomed progress made at the 2nd Scientific Conference, noting the discussions had underscored that: the extent of the threat posed by DLDD offers an opportunity to attract more scientific engagement and investment but also real challenges for land users; there is sufficient empirical evidence that the costs of inaction far outweigh the costs of taking action; and interdisciplinary scientific collaboration is contributing to new integrative measurement tools to capture the complexity of DLDD. Walter Ammann, GRF Davos, outlined the next steps in finalizing the outputs of the Conference. He said the draft report would be uploaded to the UNCCD website on 15 April 2013 and would be available for comment until 30 April 2013, when it would be forwarded to the Scientific Advisory Committee for completion. In his closing remarks, Executive Secretary Gnacadja welcomed the progress made at the Conference, but noted the need for more work to bridge the methodological gaps to build a strong knowledge base on how to combat DLDD for poverty eradication and sustainable development. CST Chair Magalhães thanked the organizers of the 2nd Scientific Conference for the broad scope and participation of high level as well as young scientists from different disciplines. He said it had provided an important benchmark for the knowledge process of the UNCCD and deepened the knowledge on the impacts, costs and benefits of policies to combat DLDD and would contribute to discussions at the next COP.
In the afternoon, CST delegates resumed their deliberations in a final plenary session. Following a presentation on the work of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group of Technical Experts (AGTE) on indicator refinement and discussion of the recommendations, delegates agreed to submit the document to CRIC 11 for review. Delegates then discussed the preliminary synthesis and recommendations from the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference, which sets out some of the key actions needed to improve scientific and technical knowledge, with specific recommendations for policy development and further development of scientific tools, methodologies and outreach. Executive Secretary Gnacadja indicated the Secretariat would forward the outcomes of this meeting to COP 11 for final consideration and would continue to work with the Bureau to ensure that delegates’ input is reflected. Following a statement on behalf of CSOs, supporting a role for the UNCCD in up-scaling field-tested agroecological approaches, together with farmer organizations and other CSOs, Chair Magalhães closed the meeting at 6:35 pm.
IISD RS will produce a summary and analysis of these meetings on Monday, 15 April 2013. Coverage of CRIC 11 will start on Monday, 15 April 2013.
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Daily web highlights
(click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
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UNCCD resources
 Second Scientific Conference website
Second Scientific Conference programme
Second Scientific Conference documents
CST S-3 website
CST S-3 documents
CST S-3 provisional agenda
CRIC 11 website
CRIC 11 documents
CRIC 11 provisional agenda
IISD RS resources
IISD RS coverage of the Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the UNCCD, 10-21 October 2011, Changwon City, Republic of Korea
IISD RS summary of the Second Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-2) of the UNCCD and CRIC 9, 16-18 and 21-25 February 2011, Bonn, Germany (English: HTML - PDF) (French: HTML - PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 9), 21 September - 2 October 2009, Buenos Aires, Argentina
IISD RS coverage of UNCCD CST S-1 and CRIC 7, 3-14 November 2008, Istanbul, Turkey
Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) coverage of desertification negotiations
LAND-L - A news and announcement list on land policy issues
Land Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Addressing Sustainable Land
Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news |
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UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference, Third Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-3) and Eleventh Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 11)
