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UNCCD and UNDP Deepen Relations to Combat Land Degradation and Poverty

16/04/2010. At a one-day retreat held in Bonn on Thursday, 15 April, the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and representatives of the Drylands Development Center of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP-DDC) agreed on a two-year collaborative approach to support the Convention’s stakeholders to align their plans with the UNCCD 10-year strategy adopted in 2008, to support mainstreaming of the action plans into relevant policy processes, and to raise awareness about the Convention and its related issues, especially poverty alleviation.

Welcoming the participants, Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the Convention said the retreat must produce a “clear framework for collaboration that is actionable and with deliverables.” And in his opening remarks, the UNDP-DDC Director, Philip Dobie concurred, stating, “we need something that is practical, and whose results we can see, to support the process of the Convention.”

The retreat’s outputs respond to the secretariat’s work programme for cooperation with UNDP that was approved by the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP9), held in Buenos Aires, in September 2009. COP9 urged the secretariat to work with UNDP in two areas.

First, to enhance the effectiveness of initiatives countries aimed at aligning national, sub-regional and regional plans with the Strategy of work for 2008-2018 that was agreed to in 2007. And second, to support the integration of the action programmes, land degradation and sustainable land management issues in the national planning process in order to increase resource allocation for these activities. UNCCD then presented the potential areas for collaboration.

Noting the interest African governments have demonstrated in their joint policy analysis of Climate Change in the African Drylands, the two institutions agreed to advance work in this area. They also agreed to raise awareness on successful cases of alignment and mainstreaming, among other activities

The retreat acknowledged that the approaches the two organizations in efforts to address land degradation and poverty are complementary. While the UNCCD views poverty as a driver of land degradation, UNDP views poverty as a consequence of land degradation, which makes collaboration a comprehensive way to deal with land degradation.

“We have a roadmap,” said Dobie at the close of the retreat. “And that roadmap shows what our two institutions are willing to give up in order to show what we can give.” In reference to the proposals, Gnacadja said, “there is no doubt it is what we need, and I guarantee that we are committed to its implementation.” UNDP and UNCCD agreed that by 1 July all the background work needed to get the collaborative initiative going must be complete.

For more information, contact:
Ms Wagaki Mwangi
Public Information Specialist
UNCCD-Secretariat
Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: (+49-228) 8152820
Fax: (+49-228) 8152899
Web: http://www.unccd.int

Strategic Partnership between UNCCD and UNDP 4 - 5 June 2009, Bonn, Germany

The UNCCD/UNDP Retreat was held on 4-5 June in Bonn to build a common ground and a cooperate framework for partnership to combat desertification, land degradation and to mitigate effects of drought. The retreat was attended by 14 participants from the UNCCD secretariat, two from the Global Mechanism, and six from the UNDP Environment and Energy Group and Drylands Development Center.

After the productive meeting of two days, UNCCD and UNDP have agreed to establish a strategic working partnership on a pilot basis, motivated by the urgent need to draw attention to and catalyze international cooperation to address the needs of the 1 billion of the planet’s poorest people living in the drylands, in particular under scenarios of climate change.

This partnership will build on the complementarities and respective comparative advantages of the two institutions. UNDP and the Secretariat of the UNCCD have agreed to collaborate on a range of programmatic actions with the overall aim of reducing poverty by enhancing ecosystem functions and services in the drylands.