JOURNAL

1 December 2025

1st meeting 

Opening of the session

The Chair of the Twenty-third session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention, Ms. Philippine Dutailly (France), opened the Twenty-third session of the Committee and made opening remarks.

His Excellency, Dr. Osama Ibrahim Faqeeha, Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made a statement on behalf of the COP16 Presidency

His Excellency Mr. Batmunkh Dondovdorj, Chairman of the Office and Executive Secretary of the COP17 National Committee of Mongolia, made a statement on behalf of the Host Country of the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention to Combat Desertification, Ms. Yasmine Fouad, also made a statement.

His Excellency, Mr. Juan Carlos Navarro, the Minister of Environment of Panama delivered a statement on behalf of the CRIC 23 Host Country.

Statements by representatives of the Regional Implementation Annexes as well as statements by representatives of regional and interest groups, and civil society organizations

Statements were made by the representatives of Burkina Faso (on behalf of the African Group), Bhutan (on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Group), Paraguay (on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Group), Spain (on behalf of the Regional Implementation Annex for the Northern Mediterranean (Annex IV)) and Azerbaijan (on behalf of the Regional Implementation Annex for Central and Eastern Europe (Annex V).

A statement was made by a representative of the European Union and its Member States.

A statement was also made by the representative of: Turkmenistan (on behalf of the UNCCD Interregional Group 'Central Asia - Russia').  

Further statements were made by Armenia, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Peru, the Syrian Arab Republic, Guyana, Egypt, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Dominican Republic, the Cook Islands and Iraq.

A statement was made by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

A further statement was made by Ms. Maria Esther De León Camacho from the Forest Stewardship Council Indigenous Peoples Foundation, on behalf of Civil Society Organizations. 

Organizational matters [Item 1]

The Committee began its consideration of the item.

Adoption of the agenda and organization of work [Item 1 (a)]

An intervention was made by the representative of the Russian Federation.

The Committee adopted its provisional agenda and tentative schedule of work as contained in document ICCD/CRIC(23)/1, with the exception of agenda items 4 and 5.

Following the statement by the Chair, the Committee decided to appoint Mr. Khalid Cherki from Morroco and Ms. Anastasiia Gotgelf from Germany as Co-facilitators of the CRIC Contact Group.

Appointment of the Rapporteur of the Committee [Item 1 (b)]

Following the statement by the Chair, the Committee appointed Mr. Charles Lange of Kenya as Rapporteur of the CRIC 23 and CRIC 24 sessions.

The meeting was adjourned. 

2nd meeting    

The meeting was opened by the Chair, Ms. Philippine Dutailly (France).

Development and promotion of activities for targeted capacity-building to further the implementation of the Convention [Item 2 (c)]

The Committee began its consideration of the item.  

A representative of the UNCCD secretariat introduced document ICCD/CRIC(23)/6.

Statements were made by representatives of India, Cameroon, Brazil, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan (on behalf of the UNCCD Interregional Group Central Asia-Russia and in its national capacity), China, the Republic of Korea, the European Union and its Member States and Cook Islands.

Interventions were also made by representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Partnership Initiative on Sustainable Land Management.

An intervention was further made by Ms. Sopiko Babalashvili from Young Professionals for Agricultural Development on behalf of civil society organizations.

The Secretariat responded to the interventions and questions raised.

The Committee concluded the general discussion under agenda item 2 (c).  

The meeting was adjourned.  

Registration

• Country Parties to the Convention, United Nations Secretariat units and bodies, specialized agencies and related organizations, Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) admitted as observers by the COP, Side Event Participants and Media may register to attend the sessions of UNCCD. The registration link for CRIC23 can be found here.
• In order to facilitate verification of requests for registration at the conference, all participants are required to upload a copy of their national passport and an official nomination letter confirming their capacity to attend the session.
• Participants are also required to upload a standard passport photo to accelerate on-site registration and badge collection.
• Please be reminded that multiple registrations for the conference are not permitted (e. g. registration as a Country Party and/or an observer organization and/or media representative). Only one registration with the corresponding conference badge can be issued to an individual at any given time.

Conference badge collection

• Conference badge is only issued to duly registered and approved participants.
• Upon first arrival to the venue, participants are requested to proceed to the registration desk and present their passport (or nationally approved photo identification card) and their pre-registration QR code (printed or electronic), for badge issuance.
• Participants with valid conference badges can directly access the venue through the security and badge control, where their badges will be scanned. There is no need to stop by the registration desk unless there are any registration or badge issues.
• Participants are requested to the wear their issued conference badges at all times in order to gain access to the conference centre.
• Kindly be aware that misuse of conference badge at all UNCCD conferences is prohibited and may lead to permanent suspension of your registration.

Registration desk opening hours

• Friday 5 December from 8:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Delegations are advised that wireless internet access is available throughout the venue. The network name is UNCCD-Public, and the password is: unccd1706.
 

A Computer Center is located in first floor of Panama Convention Centre, providing 20 workstations and printing facilities. An ICT Helpdesk counter is also available in the same area to assist with technical support.
 

A link to the stream of the meetings of the CRIC 23 session can be found on https://www.cric23.org/ and on the UNCCD website.

Requests for inclusion in the schedule of meetings of regional and interest groups should be communicated to:

Kayhan UI (kul [at] unccd.int (kul[at]unccd[dot]int)) or Mahamadou Tari Bako (mbako [at] unccd.int (mbako[at]unccd[dot]int)).

By its latest legislation, namely General Assembly resolution 79/248 on the Pattern of Conferences and the report of the Fifth Committee to the General Assembly (document A/79/643), the General Assembly reiterates its request to ensure the provision of high-quality conference services to member States and other participants in official United Nations meetings. In the interest of the smooth running of the meetings, participants need to maintain a normal speed whenever delivering speeches or making statements and would encourage country Parties to send their statements to estatements-cric23 [at] un.org (estatements-cric23[at]un[dot]org), if possible in advance, so that the provision of the required high-quality simultaneous interpretation services can be achieved to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.

The UNCCD Conference App is an easy tool for participants of official UNCCD events to have access to the latest conference schedules, all official documents and other relevant information related to the UNCCD process and conference logistics. It also provides information on the latest up-to-date schedule of events.

It is relevant for all delegates and other participants of all sessions of the UNCCD Conference of Parties (COP), the Committee of Science and Technology (CST) and the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC).