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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INCD

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the elaborationof an international convention to combat desertification in thosecountries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification,particularly in Africa (INCD) is a product of the United NationsConference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio deJaneiro in June 1992. While the idea of a convention to combatdesertification had been discussed throughout the UNCEDpreparatory process it was only in Rio where language wasadopted, requesting the United Nations General Assembly toestablish an intergovernmental negotiating committee for thepurpose of negotiating the convention.

The General Assembly, during its 47th Session in 1992, adopted aseries of decisions that dealt with follow-up to the Rio Summit,including resolution 48/188 calling for the establishment of theINC with a view to finalizing a convention by June 1994. Thisresolution,among other things, decided that there would be oneorganizational session and five substantive sessions of the INCD;the UN Secretary-General would establish an expert group toadvise the ICPD Secretariat on technical matters related todesertification; and the INC would establish a special voluntaryfund to ensure developing country participation in thenegotiation process.

A SUMMARY OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION

The organizational session of the INCD was held from 26 - 29January 1993 at UN Headquarters in New York. The purpose of thesession was to adopt the rules of procedure and schedule ofmeetings, elect the officers of the Committee, establish the twoworking groups, agree on the agenda for the first substantivesession and discuss the financial aspects of the process. At thismeeting Ambassador Bo Kjell‚n of Sweden was elected Chair of theCommittee and Ambassadors Ren‚ Val‚ry Mongbe (Benin), T.P.Sreenivasan (India) and Jos‚ Urrutia (Peru) were elected to theBureau.

RULES OF PROCEDURE: The rules of procedure, as adopted bythe INC, are based on the relevant rules of procedure of theGeneral Assembly with modifications adapted from the rules ofprocedure of the Biodiversity and Climate Change INCs.Specifically, the Secretary-General of the UN or hisrepresentative is designated as the Secretary-General of theCommittee and decision-making will be based on the rules of theGeneral Assembly. Particular attention was paid to the rules ofprocedure for the participation of NGOs, especially in light ofthe changes underway within the UN system related to NGOparticipation. The Committee decided to invite NGOs to makecontributions to the negotiating process on the understandingthat they will have no role in the actual negotiations and thatthey will take into account the decisions of the UNCEDPreparatory Committee concerning the participation of NGOs.

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS: The organizational session adoptedthe schedule for the five meetings of the INCD. The firstsubstantive session was scheduled to be held in Nairobi withsubsequent sessions for 13-24 September 1993 (Geneva), 17-28January 1994 (New York), 21-31 March 1994 (Geneva) and the finalsession, where the convention will be adopted, will be held inParis in early June 1994.

SUBSIDIARY ORGANS: During the organizational session, itwas also decided that the INCD will establish two working groups.These working groups will meet for the first time during thesecond substantive session in September 1993 and each workinggroup will have a three person bureau. Amb. Kjell‚n will presenta proposal for the organization of work of the working groupsduring the Nairobi session. The bureaus of the two working groupsas of the end of the organizational session are: Chairs: AhmedDjoghlaf (Algeria) and vacant (WEOG); Vice-Chairs: Morad-AliArdeshiri (Iran) and vacant (Latin America); Rapporteurs:Frederick Mallya (Tanzania) and vacant (Eastern Europe).

FUNDS: General Assembly Resolution 47/188 also establishedtwo special funds for the INCD. The first is a trust fund for theoperation of the Secretariat and the second is a voluntary funddesigned to facilitate the participation of developing countriesin the process. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, the US, Germany,Norway, Japan, the UK, Canada and Denmark announced plans tocontribute to one or both of these funds.

THE PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR THE NAIROBI SESSION: Aprovisional agenda for this first substantive session was adoptedduring the organizational session. The agenda is divided into thefollowing parts: organizational matters, information sharing,discussion on the format and content of the convention; review ofthe situation as regards extrabudgetary funds; adoption of theprovisional agenda for the second substantive session andadoption of the report of the Committee.

ACTIVITIES SINCE THE ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION

The IPED was created by the Secretary-General of the UN at therecommendation of the General Assembly. The approximately 15members of the IPED are a diverse geographical and multi-disciplinary panel of recognized experts from the areas ofclimatology, soil science, pastoral systems, agro-forestry,geographical information systems, biodiversity, water resourcemanagement, historical geography, dryland ecology, land resourceplanning, alternative energy systems, socio-economics, waterconservation and protection of cultural resources. The members ofthe panel serve in their own capacity and not as representativesof their governments or any UN agency. The IPED, which met forits organizational session in March, held its first substantivesession in Geneva in April to discuss the format of the generalconvention to be presented at the first substantive session ofthe INCD. The IPED provided the INCD Secretariat with thesubstantive and technical input that is the basis of documentA/AC.241/7, "The Format of the Convention." The IPED has createdfour sub-groups that need to be addressed in the convention:global environmental issues and their linkages todesertification; connections to the Climate Change and BiologicalDiversity Conventions; socio-economic issues; and alternativesources of energy. The IPED will meet several weeks before eachof the remaining substantive sessions of the INCD to giveguidance to the Secretariat in the preparation of documents andthe drafting of the convention.

THE INTERNATIONAL PANEL OF EXPERTS ON DESERTIFICATION (IPED)

The IPED was created by the Secretary-General of the UN at therecommendation of the General Assembly. The approximately 15members of the IPED are a diverse geographical and multi-disciplinary panel of recognized experts from the areas ofclimatology, soil science, pastoral systems, agro-forestry,geographical information systems, biodiversity, water resourcemanagement, historical geography, dryland ecology, land resourceplanning, alternative energy systems, socio-economics, waterconservation and protection of cultural resources. The members ofthe panel serve in their own capacity and not as representativesof their governments or any UN agency. The IPED, which met forits organizational session in March, held its first substantivesession in Geneva in April to discuss the format of the generalconvention to be presented at the first substantive session ofthe INCD. The IPED provided the INCD Secretariat with thesubstantive and technical input that is the basis of documentA/AC.241/7, "The Format of the Convention." The IPED has createdfour sub-groups that need to be addressed in the convention:global environmental issues and their linkages todesertification; connections to the Climate Change and BiologicalDiversity Conventions; socio-economic issues; and alternativesources of energy. The IPED will meet several weeks before eachof the remaining substantive sessions of the INCD to giveguidance to the Secretariat in the preparation of documents andthe drafting of the convention.

THE INTER-AGENCY WORKING GROUP (IAWG)

This group, composed of representatives from the UN agenciesinvolved in programmes aimed at combatting desertification andmitigating the effects of drought, met in Geneva from 14-16 Aprilto review the recommendations of the IPED and add theirinstitutional viewpoints and perspectives to the proposed formatand possible elements of the convention. It was also decided atthis meeting that a representative of the NGO community would beinvited to participate in future sessions of this group.

AFRICAN EXPERTS GROUP MEETING

During the first week of May, a group of African Experts met inNairobi under the aegis of the Organization of African Unity,following the recommendations made by the Conference of Ministersof the OAU states. Its objective was to initiate a processthrough which a common African approach to the problems ofdesertification and drought could be found and to create aprocess through which the governments could identify commonelements in the Convention. As a result of this meeting, a six-member OAU Working Group on Desertification was formed to providetechnical information for the African delegates during thesubstantive sessions of the Committee. The African Experts Groupwill issue a report of its meeting as well as reports prepared bytwo working groups on African views and perspectives on globalelements of the Convention, and specific problems faced by Africaas a result of desertification and drought.

DOCUMENTATION FOR THIS SESSION

The following five documents have been prepared by the INCDSecretariat for the first session of the INCD.

• A/AC.241/5 "Provisional Agenda" contains the document adopted by the organizational session held in January 1993 in New York and includes notes by the INCD Secretariat explaining in more detail the expected programme of work of the Committee on each agenda item.

• A/AC.241/6 "Technical information and assessments on drought and desertification" is a note by the INCD Secretariat informing the governments and observers on the schedule for the information sharing segment scheduled to begin this afternoon and continue through 28 May (although the annotated agenda makes provision for continuation of this agenda item for Saturday, 29 May, if necessary.)

• A/AC.241/7 "Format and possible elements of the Convention" was drawn up by the Secretariat in consultation with the IPED and the Inter-Agency Working Group with the aim of providing the Committee with background information and a starting point for discussion. This document contains an It is an annotated outline of a possible Convention and the Secretariat expects that discussion of this document should provide input and guidance in a structured format so that further elaboration of the draft substantive elements of the convention can take place during the intersessional period.

• A/AC.241/8 "Report on the status of the extra- budgetary funds" lists the status of pledges made to the special Voluntary Fund and the Trust Fund for the negotiating process, as well as the contributions actually received.

• A/AC.241/9 "List of Non-Governmental Organizations recommended for accreditation" lists the 84 NGOs that have requested accreditation to the INCD process. There is a possibility that an addendum may be submitted to the Plenary later in this session.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY

PLENARY: The first meeting of the INCD Plenary willprobably be held this morning before the start of the informationsharing segment. The governments must dispense with a series ofprocedural matters, beginning with the adoption of the agenda(A/AC.241/L.2/Rev.1). The Plenary will then turn to the list ofNGOs recommended for accreditation to the INCD process(A/AC.241/9). There is not expected to be any problems withapproval of this document. The Committee is also supposed todecide on the work programme of each working group. Finally, theCommittee needs to elect the rest of its officers. At theconclusion of the organizational session in January, theCommittee had still not elected a Rapporteur. The Committee alsohas to elect the following working group officers: a Chair fromthe Western European and Others Group, a Vice Chair from theLatin American and Caribbean Group; and a Rapporteur from theEastern European Group.

INFORMATION SHARING SEGMENT: Following the election ofofficers, the Plenary will turn to Agenda Item 3, "Sharing oftechnical information and assessments" for the first of six daysscheduled for technical and informational multi-mediapresentations. Look for interventions and discussion on the firstof the seven segments, "Desertification, drought and the globalenvironment" with presentations by Robert Balling (USA), A.M.Imevbore (Nigeria), UNESCO and UNEP.

IN THE CORRIDORS: The first several days of the Nairobisession are expected to be more of an orientation session forboth delegates and NGOs, many who are unfamiliar with themultilateral negotiating process or traditional United Nationsprocedures. While the formal information sharing segment willtake place in the conference room, look for the exchange ofrelevant experiences related to combatting desertification anddrought in the corridors and breezeways of Gigiri. There also maybe informal consultations on the programme of work, as well asinitial reaction to the Secretariat's draft format and possibleelements of the convention.