UN Convention to Combat Desertification – UNCCD
The 1994 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention addresses the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found. Parties work together to improve the living conditions for people in drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought.
The UNCCD is particularly committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification and land degradation. The UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions—along with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—and was called for in Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or Earth Summit).
Events
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13th Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 13) to the UNCCD
The reporting process that informed the CRIC’s discussions revealed that gaps remain in implementation, and many suggested returning to the grassroots level to point the way forward to achieve the Convention’s purpose—to provide a platform on which to upscale sustainable land management— with an emphasis on the many grassroots pillars supporting the platform.
4th Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-4) and UNCCD 3rd Scientific Conference
The UNCCD has proven itself to be a “learning convention” with parties exhibiting willingness to take stock and adjust structures and institutions over the years. The Scientific Conference concept perhaps best exemplifies this reflexivity, and as participants gathered for its third iteration, they were asked to engage with a new format and approach.
11th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 11)
While the COP did not take the “brave and bold steps” that some delegations would have preferred, one noted that delegates did assign themselves and the Secretariat a number of tasks that could realistically be achieved by COP 12.
11th Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 11) of the UNCCD
As CRIC 11 delegates gathered in Bonn at the halfway mark of the UNCCD’s 10-year strategic plan, expectations were high that the recommendations of the 2nd Scientific Conference the previous week would inject new life into parties’ efforts to implement the Convention. But it quickly became apparent that reaching agreement on the diagnosis, let alone a prescription to restore degraded lands, was proving elusive.
3rd Special Session of the UNCCD Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-3)
Presentation after presentation at the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference revealed the extent of existing research and implementation experience with regenerating degraded land and developing best practices in the drylands.
UNCCD COP 10
COP 10 participants worked to reconcile high ambitions for their outcomes in a time of financial constraints, and found their decisions represented progress even though many aspirations remained unfulfilled.