Highlights for Wednesday, 30 January 2019

View of the room during the closing plenary.

On the final day of CRIC 17, contact group discussions continued throughout the morning to finalize the meeting's outcome documents. During the closing plenary in the afternoon, the Committee adopted three documents summarizing conclusions and recommendations from discussions over the first two days. The documents will be forwarded to the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14), taking place in New Delhi, India, in October 2019.

The following topics are highlighted in the CRIC 17 outcome:

• further implementation of the five Strategic Objectives
• Land Degradation Neutrality
• the UNCCD Gender Action Plan
• emerging innovative financing opportunities to combat land degradation
• improving communication and reporting procedures, and
• recommendations made by civil society organizations.

In closing remarks, outgoing UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut outlined the Convention’s success over the past five years. “Despite having a tiny budget, we got things done,” she said, noting that Land Degradation Neutrality is now seen as an accelerator and integrator of all Sustainable Development Goals. Many delegates expressed appreciation for her contribution in putting the Convention on a secure footing.

CRIC Chair Contreras thanked delegates for helping to achieve the objectives of the session, and closed the meeting at 5:12 pm.

In her final remarks as Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, Monique Barbut said during her time at the UNCCD the Convention became “something worth hearing about” and managed to get things done despite a “tiny budget."

Rapporteur Anna Luise presented the Report of the Meeting.

Belarus made a closing statement on behalf of Annex V (Central and Eastern Europe) countries.

One of the exhibition stands at the Green Guyana Exposition.

The CRIC 17 ENB team L-R: Wangu Mwangi; Suzi Malan; and Dina Hestad