Governing bodies meetings

More details of the event to follow in due course.

The twenty-first session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC21) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), will be held from 9 to 13 October 2023 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The second meeting of the UNCCD Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on Drought took place in Yerevan, Armenia 14-15 March 2023. The IWG on Drought, which previously gathered in Bonn, Germany, on 29-30 November 2022, was established by the UNCCD Conference of Parties at its fifteenth Session COP 15 for 2022-2024 triennium to identify and evaluate all options, including global policy instruments, regional policy frameworks and national plans to effectively manage drought under the Convention and support a shift from reactive to proactive drought management.   Thanking the government of the Republic of Armenia for hosting the meeting, UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw highlighted the importance of united efforts and a strong political commitment to global partnerships that transform actions and mindsets to enhance drought resilience, reduce human suffering and promote sustainable development.

The second inter-sessional meeting of the COP 15 Bureau will be held on 1 March 2023, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The IWG-MTE held its first meeting from 13 to 15 February 2023 in Bonn, Germany. The purpose of this meeting was to set the basis for the midterm evaluation and to consider the programme of work of the IWG-MTE. The group considered the content, implementation and monitoring of the Strategic Framework and discussed on the scope, focus and methodology of the independent assessment. The secretariat and the Global Mechanism, as well as the team of external evaluators that will prepare the independent assessment, made several presentations on these topics. Information was provided also on a variety of other processes that are interlinked with the midterm evaluation, such as the IWG on drought and the review of the Science-Policy Interface. The IWG-MTE considered its own tasks and work programme and agreed on a schedule for its work. Its first task is to ensure that the independent assessment is responsive to the objectives and criteria of the evaluation and conducted according to high evaluation standards, and many related measures were considered at the first meeting. The group also discussed in detail its task of advising the secretariat on the organisation of the participatory consultations on the conclusions and recommendations of the independent assessment. According to the COP decision on the terms of reference of the midterm evaluation, these consultations are to be organised during the CRIC, but they are not included in the programme of work for the CRIC. This leaves room for differing interpretations bon how and when the consultations would be organised. The matter is now with the CRIC Bureau, and it will provide its recommendation for the consideration of the COP Bureau. Next steps In the coming weeks, the IWG MTE members and observers will provide further feedback to the preparation of the independent assessment. By the end of March, the planning of the assessment will be completed and the team of evaluators will start the data collection. In April-May, the UNCCD national focal points, science-technology correspondents, accredited civil society organisations and other key stakeholders will be invited to participate in a survey, and some targeted interviews will be organised as well. The IWG-MTE will discuss on the emerging findings of the independent assessment in an online meeting of the group before the end of June. Its next in-person meeting will be held immediately after the CRIC session in October. That meeting will start the consideration of the report of the group, building on the independent assessment.

In their first meeting which took place in Bonn from 29-30 November 2022, the members of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought (IWG) underscored the urgency and importance of addressing drought holistically, given the world has never been affected by dry spells as much as today. Thinking ahead and acting in advance of drought has far lower costs than reacting and responding to the impacts once drought hits. The Group discussed the need to provide further guidance and advice for the next COP 16 to advance the global drought agenda. The group members also deliberated on the working modalities and further refined their workplan for the next two years.   The next IWG is scheduled to take place in mid-March 2023. 

The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the meetings of its subsidiary bodies will take place at the Sofitel Abidjan Hôtel Ivoire in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022.

  According to Rule 4.3 of the rules of procedure of the COP, the second extraordinary session of the COP (COP ES-2) shall be convened within three months of the request being communicated to the Parties by the UNCCD secretariat, provided that it is supported by at least one third of the Parties.  In the event that the above request is accepted, the secretariat would circulate a proposal for an interim budget for 2022 as soon as possible and no later than six weeks before the date of the COP(ES-2). It is envisaged that COP (ES-2) would consider the draft decision for approval through a silence/written procedure that would take place between 6 and 9 December 2021.  Should the COP (ES-2) be convened, it is requested that representatives of Parties to the Convention be provided, in line with Rule 19 of the rules of procedure, with full powers to participate in the session.

The third CST14 Bureau meeting will update the CST Bureau on the preliminary list of official documents for CST15 and set milestones for their development and completion, based on the status of the ongoing work of the SPI provided by the reporting team and the knowledge management team.

The nineteenth session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 19) to the UNCCD will be organized online from 15 to 19 March 2021. The CRIC 19 will review the effective implementation of the Convention at national, subregional and regional levels including updates on the voluntary land degradation neutrality target setting process, operationalization of the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund and implementation of the Drought Initiative. The Intergovernmental Working Group on effective policy and implementation measures for addressing drought under the UNCCD will present its interim report for consideration by Parties at CRIC19. More info...