After the uncertain close of the Copenhagen climate summit, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat is organizing “Land Day 2” to heighten attention among policy makers to land issues of relevance to the ongoing climate change negotiations.

The Copenhagen Accord that emerged from UNFCCC COP15 only makes thematic reference to the issues of deforestation and forest degradation. Thus, the next round of UNFCCC negotiations, especially COP16 in Cancún, Mexico, scheduled for the end of 2010, offers a new opportunity to fully address and include issues of land and soils in negotiations for an inclusive and well-rounded climate change treaty in the post-2012 period and beyond.

Abdullah M. Alsaidi, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Yemen to the United Nations and current Chairman of G-77, will deliver the opening remarks. Ian Johnson, Secretary-General, Club of Rome and former World Bank Vice President, will deliver the keynote address. Jato Sillah, Minister, Ministry of Fisheries, Natural Resources and Environment, Gambia, Yvo de Boer, outgoing Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, and Luc Gnacadja, UNCCD Executive Secretary, are among the high level speakers and panelists that will attend the event.

Land Day 2 will offer cutting-edge knowledge for direct use in the ongoing post-2012 climate change negotiations, with the policy recommendations from the event disseminated to the negotiators and stakeholders. The event will take place on 5 June 2010, in Bonn, Germany, on the margins of the 32nd session of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies (SB32) taking place from 31 May-11 June 2010 in Bonn, Germany.

The purpose of Land Day 2 is to demonstrate how the continuing climate change negotiations could benefit from a more inclusive and holistic approach to climate, biodiversity and land use. Specifically, the event will seek to foster constructive dialogue in line with the expected UNFCCC COP16 outcomes, offer practical suggestions on the priority thematic issues under negotiation and tailor such proposals to each sector. A key focus will be demonstrating how sustainable land management contributes to the climate change mitigation and adaptation.

By stimulating debate among panelists and participants and prompting new insights to help shape sound global policy, Land Day 2 aims to:

increase understanding, among climate change meeting participants, of the links between unsustainable use of land on the one hand, and worsening climate change on the other, so that land and soil are recognized and incorporated as important factors in adaptation and mitigation measures, especially at COP16 of the UNFCCC in Mexico and thereafter;
demonstrate the redoubled commitment of the UNCCD and UNFCCC Secretariats to strengthen and tighten their cooperation through synergetic implementation of their respective action programmes – the NAPAs and NAPS – at country level; and
reinvigorate the commitment made by countries for the implementation of the 2007 Bali Action Plan (BAP) as the main vehicle for generating concrete recommendations, supported by concrete examples and evidence, on food security, land and water management for the drylands, these being indispensable elements of the global climate change adaptation agenda.

More information: http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/landday/2010/menu.php or contact:

Ms Wagaki Mwangi
Email: wmwangi@unccd.int
Tel: (+49-228) 815 2820

UNCCD-Secretariat
Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10
53113 Bonn, Germany
Fax: (+49-228) 8152899

Web: http://www.unccd.int