Meeting on UN desertification treaty encourages practices that stem tide of land degradation

Delegates have wrapped up their latest assessment of a United Nations treaty on fighting desertification, agreeing to encourage practices that stem the affects of land degradation.

The third session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) ended Wednesday in Bonn following a series of discussions aimed at harnessing best practices to help countries improve environmental sustainability, one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Ten years after the Convention was adopted, there is growing evidence that the risk of desertification will increase considerably around the planet. The conference encouraged stakeholders to "upscale" successful practices made through the rehabilitation of degraded land, such as reforestation, integrated farming and animal husbandry, rain water catchments, alternative renewable energies and the banning of slash and burn practices.

"The Convention to Combat Desertification is moving from planning to action," UNCCD Executive Secretary Hama Arba Diallo said. "National action programmes, the core objective of the Convention, are now being linked to poverty reduction and investment strategies. But this mainstreaming trend is still more formal than operational. The UNCCD policy tool should be better integrated to existing environmental policies."

The meeting also focused on capacity building and called for enhanced community participation in environmental management. Delegates echoed the recent call of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to foster women's empowerment as the best tool for development.

"Advocacy for community-based organizations and strong local initiatives is the backbone of the Convention," Mr. Diallo said. "Enabling support and awareness-raising need to be nurtured at the grassroots level, particularly for women, to promote integrative natural resources management."

The next international negotiations on desertification will take place in October at the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 7) in Nairobi.