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Decisions asking the Executive Secretary and Managing Director of the Global Mechanism to support regional coordination mechanisms and to establish the CRIC as a standing subsidiary body brought some resolution to long-standing debates within the Convention. Agenda items that have been a source of contention among delegates at many meetings—the Global Mechanism and the budget—dominated the conference, however.

These meetings were the first time  delegates convened to discuss progress in implementing the UNCCD’s ten-year strategic plan adopted at UNCCD COP 8.

The Dialogue was intended to facilitate a targeted exchange from a number of stakeholders on the UNCCD ten-year strategic plan and to foster awareness of and buy-in among relevant policy and decision makers.

Upon the recommendation of the Committee of the Whole, COP 8 decided to convene this extraordinary session to agree upon the level of increase in the Convention’s budget for the biennium 2008-09, without reopening negotiations on the remaining text of the draft decision.

The COP approved twenty-nine decisions including on the ten-year strategic plan, which attracted the most attention from COP 8 delegates who saw it as an opportunity to refocus the UNCCD’s institutions with the goal of furthering implementation.

The main focus of the review was the implementation of the UNCCD in affected country parties in regions other than Africa.

Although parties discussed a number of important issues, such as inclusion of an additional agenda on the procedure for the selection of an Executive Secretary, regional coordination units, and the programme and budget for the 2006-2007 biennium, the meeting's outcomes did not meet countries' expectations and the COP was not deemed successful in advancing the UNCCD's implementation.

Delegates convened in plenary sessions, regional consultations, and informal consultations, to review the implementation of the Convention in Africa, consider issues relating to the Convention’s implementation at the global level, share experiences, and make concrete recommendations for the future work of the UNCCD.