Development of this white paper follows Decision 17/COP.9 of the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 9), requesting the CST to develop proposals, for consideration at COP 11, for the refinement of the set of the provisionally accepted impact indicators being developed to “…measure progress on strategic objectives 1, 2 and 3 of the 10-year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention (The Strategy)” .
It responds to the Synthesis and Recommendations resulting from the UNCCD 1st Scientific Conference , primarily to provide a scientific foundation for this refinement process and maximize possible synergies with other programmes pursuing related goals. It is a synthesis of a participatory, formative, and iterative process involving over 64 technical experts from the scientific community from September 2010 to January 2011.

This white paper was prepared for the UNCCD secretariat, with the financial assistance of the European Commission, in the framework of the scientific peer review for the refinement of the UNCCD set of impact indicators led by the CST Bureau. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the secretariat and or the Parties to the UNCCD.