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United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
The international community has long recognized that desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of concern to many countries in all regions of the world. In 1977, the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD). Unfortunately, despite this and other efforts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded in 1991 that the problem of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas had intensified, although there were "local examples of success". |
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As a result, the question of how to tackle desertification was still a major concern for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Conference supported a new, integrated approach to the problem, emphasizing action to promote sustainable development at the community level. It also called on the United Nations General Assembly to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INCD) to prepare, by June 1994, a Convention to Combat Desertification, particularly in Africa. In December 1992, the General Assembly agreed and adopted resolution 47/188. |
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Working to a tight schedule, the Committee completed its negotiations in five sessions. The Convention was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and opened for signature there on 14-15 October 1994. It entered into force on 26 December 1996, 90 days after the fiftieth ratification was received. Over 179 countries were Parties as at March 2002. The Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the Convention's supreme governing body, held its first session in October 1997 in Rome, Italy; the second in December 1998 in Dakar, Senegal; the third in November 1999 in Recife, Brazil; the fourth in December 2000 in Bonn, Germany; and the fifth in October 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2001, COP sessions will be held on a biennial basis. To find out more on the UNCCD,
click on the following link |
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International NGO's Network on Desertification and Drought (RIOD)
Background
Since the beginning of the text negotiation of the convention to combat desertification and drought (CCD), the participation of representatives of non-profit organizations (NGOs) and community based organizations (CBO's) as observers in all the sessions of the CND has been promoted. This unusual situation of opening has facilitated contacts and exchange between members of the civil society of all continents, as well as establishing the base for discussion of a common agenda.
In March 1994, in Geneva, Switzerland, a group of representatives of twenty-five NGOs that assisted the 4th session of the CIND participated in a workshop whose topic was the solidarity between North and South and cooperation concerning the negotiation process of the convention. One of the recommendations of this workshop was precisely to create a network in order to promote the two central elements of the CLD from the point of the civil society: to facilitate the popular participation and to promote the use of community-based methods of decision making. Consequently, an editorial committee for the preliminary documents of the constitution of the network was created. |
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The key objectives for the RIOD were:
- To enable members to exchange information aboutexperiences, as well as to influence the decision making process at all levels, according to the agreements of the CDL.
- To promote North-South solidarity
- To promote actions to combat tdesertification and give to the NGOs and the OCBs (BCOs?) an effective role in the preparation, implementation and revision of the programs of national action.
For its operation, RIOD adopted a system of focal points on national, sub-regional, regional and global scale, responsible for the facilitatation and promotion of the exchange the flow of information in their respective levels. Six regions were established (Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Australia) while as focal point was elected the international NGO (with headquarters in Kenya), Environmental Liaison Center International (ELCI). The global focal point and the six regional focal points shaped the international committee of RIOD. |
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The International Convention to Combat Desertification is considered to be one of the most promising for Africa among all the conventions dealing with environment. It recognizes Africa's special status and gives it priority. In this way, decisions were made to implement urgent measures for Africa before the convention comes into force, mobilizing all partners to design action plans responsive to the needs of local communities.
Currently ENDA in Senegal is the regional focal point for Africa and has prepared an action plan for the network aimed particularly at NGOs |
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