ENB:04:34
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SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION:
The first of these "core" issues is
the objective or scope of the Convention. Working Group I appeared
to reach agreement that "the objective of this Convention is to
combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought in
countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification,
particularly in Africa, through effective actions at all levels,
supported by international cooperation, in the framework of an
integrated approach, which is consistent with Agenda 21, with a
view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development
in affected areas." There is still disagreement, however, on just
how much the Parties will be obligated to do to accomplish this
objective. The Africans and other developing countries insist that
the socio-economic causes of desertification must be addressed in
this Convention. They believe that it will be impossible to combat
desertification unless issues such as external debt, international
market conditions, exchange rate variations, pricing and trade
policies, and poverty are adequately dealt with. The developed
countries, on the other hand, prefer to limit the scope of the
Convention so that it focuses more on the physical causes of
desertification and less on the socio-economic ones. The outcome of
this debate will have far-reaching consequences on numerous
articles in the Convention, including the Scope (Article 1 bis),
the Objective (Article 2), Principles (Article 3), Obligations
(Articles 4-6), Action programmes (Articles 9-16), as well as the
regional annexes.