Summary
Highlights for Wednesday, 11 September 2019
In the morning, the Conference of the Parties (COP) held the second open dialogue session with civil society, focusing on intergenerational equity, land tenure, food security, green jobs, and migration. The session was organized around two rounds of discussions: intergenerational “testimonies for legacy” aimed at stimulating an exchange between older and younger generations on how to sustain the earth’s resources for future generations; and learning from civil society initiatives on the ground.
Delegates watched a film about Yacouba Sawadogo’s contribution to restoring degraded land in the Sahel using traditional Za’i water efficient techniques. He described his motivation as “I don’t want to eat today and leave future generations with nothing to eat.”
The dialogue closed with a performance by Senegalese musician Baaba Maal, who recalled the rich cultural traditions of the Sahel that pass on messages of peace and love, and the imperative to protect the land for future generations.
In the afternoon, the contact group preparing draft decision texts by the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) concluded its work. Meanwhile, the Committee of the Whole (COW) contact group on other matters finalized draft decisions on collaboration with civil society organizations (CSOs) and the private sector, and continued consideration of decisions on drought and land tenure into the evening. The COW contact group on budget also worked through the afternoon and evening on the programme and budget for the biennium 2020-2021.
Events on the sidelines of the plenary sessions included, ‘Towards Common Goals: Achieving impact in land-based approaches for sustainable development,’ convened by the UN Environment Programme, and ‘100 Landscapes for 1 Billion People: Towards a Strategy for Scaling Locally-Driven Landscape Regeneration,’ hosted by the UN Development Programme.
The Rio Conventions Pavilion featured the Drought Preparedness Day, presenting successes and challenges of current drought tools, methodologies and policies, and featuring the UNCCD Drought Initiative and other important partnerships and frameworks in this area.For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB meeting coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from UNCCD COP 14. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report from this session, which is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Ángeles Estrada
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Testimonies for Legacy
Lessons from the Ground
Commitee of the Whole
Around the Venue
