UNCCD Terminology
Regional knowledge-sharing system
A web-based system explicitly designed for the management and sharing of knowledge at regional level (such as data, information, tools, skills, expertise, best practices and success stories) among members within an organization or a network (for example, the Information Network on Desertification and Drought for Latin America and the Caribbean- DESELAC).
Regulations
They are official rules or laws stating how this should be done.
(Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/)
Rehabilitation
Actions undertaken with the aim of reinstating ecosystem functionality, where the focus is on provision of goods and services rather than restoration.
Relevance
The extent to which the objectives of an investment are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, the size of the problem, country priorities, development partner and donor policies, etc.
(Source: adapted from the OECD Development Assistance Committee (2002). Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results-Based Management. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/21/2754804.pdf and from IFAD (2009). Evaluation Manual: Methodology and Processes. http://www.ifad.org/evaluation/process_methodology/index.htm)
Relief
Actions taken directly before, during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.
(Source: adapted from http://www.unisdr.org/files/7817_UNISDRTerminologyEnglish.pdf)
Remittances
Remittances refers to personal transfers (i.e. all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from other non-resident households), plus net compensation of employees of non-resident persons and capital transfers between households. The term “total remittances” also includes social benefits directly to households from other institutional sectors, namely corporations, government and non-profit institutions serving households.
Remote sensing
Practice of acquiring and using data from satellites and aerial photography to infer or measure land cover/use. Remote sensing may be used in combination with ground surveys to check the accuracy of interpretation
Reporting
As per the annex of decision 7/COP.13 reporting on progress towards the strategic objectives is required by all Parties considering themselves affected by desertification, land degradation and drought, provided that (i) Parties have sufficient official national data/information to report or validate national estimates derived from global data sources; and (ii) reporting is provided primarily from official national data.
Since information on the three land-based indicators (trends in land cover, trends in land productivity or functioning of the land, and trends in carbon stocks above and below ground) will be also used to inform the sustainable development goal 15.3, all Parties to the UNCCD are invited to provide relevant information.
Reporting on implementation framework of the 2018-2030 Strategic Framework will be done through qualitative reporting and on a voluntary basis until the CRIC has considered refining the reporting guidelines
(Source: http://www2.unccd.int/sites/default/files/sessions/documents/2017-11/co…)
Reporting Entity
The sole reporting entities for UNCCD reporting are Parties to the UNCCD that submit official reports containing information on the implementation of the Convention and/or the 2018-2030 Strategic Framework at national level and/or highlighting activities providing support to those Parties affected by desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD).
Reports
Each country Party communicates to the Conference of the Parties for consideration at its ordinary sessions reports on the measures it has taken for the implementation of the Convention. Affected country Parties provide a description of the strategies established, and other relevant information. Developed country Parties report on measures taken to assist in the preparation and implementation of action programmes.
Réseau International d'ONG sur la Désertification (RIOD)
The French acronym for a world-wide network of non-governmental organisations for exchanging information and experiences involving activities to implement the Convention.
Resilience
The ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organization and the capacity to adapt to stress and change.
Resource mobilization
Resource mobilization refers to the mobilization of a mix of resources which include financial, human, technical and knowledge resources
Response hierarchy
The set of prioritized actions/interventions that may be planned and then implemented in response to past or anticipated future land degradation.
Restoration
The process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded. Restoration seeks to re-establish the pre-existing ecological structure and function, including biotic integrity
Results
Results are the output, outcome, or impact (intended or unintended, positive and negative) of an intervention.
Rio Conventions (The)
The three Rio Conventions — on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification —derive directly from the 1992 Earth Summit. Each instrument represents a way of contributing to the sustainable development goals of Agenda 21. The three conventions are intrinsically linked, operating in the same ecosystems and addressing interdependent issues.
Rio marker (RM)
Indicators developed by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in response to a request from the secretariats of the three Rio Conventions to identify aid activities targeting the objectives of the three Conventions.
Risk guarantees
Risk guarantees cover private debt against a government’s (or government entity’s) failure to meet specific obligations to a private or a public project.
(Source: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGUARANTEES/Resources/IDA_PRG.pdf)
Rotational crop system
The successive cultivation of different crops in a specified order on the same fields. Helps to reduce soil erosion and increases soil fertility and crop yield