High-level consultation on the UNCCD issues a call for urgent action on the Convention

Geneva, Switzerland, 6 September  2011 – A high-level consultative meeting held in Geneva over the weekend has issued the UNCCD Geneva Call for Urgent Action on The Implementation of The Convention to be transmitted to both the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the theme, “Addressing desertification, land degradation and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication,” which will be held on September 20, and to the UNCCD tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to be held from 10-21 October 2011 in Changwon, Republic of Korea. The Call was issued by the past Presidents of the UNCCD Conferences of the Parties, along with the forthcoming COP10 host nation, Republic of Korea.

The communiqué calls on the Parties to undertake actions to support the implementation of the Convention through building effective partnerships between national and international actors and deepening actions towards improving the conditions of the affected populations and ecosystems and generating global benefits. It also calls for synergies at the country-level among the three conventions on biodiversity, climate change and desertification, including through taking advantage of the UN Decade on Biodiversity and the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification. The Call also emphasizes the need to strengthen the UNCCD to become a global authority on scientific and technical knowledge on the issues of desertification, land degradation and drought and to align national actions with the 10-year strategy for 2008-2018 aimed at concretizing the implementation of the Convention.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary, UNCCD, noted the challenges facing UNCCD and said an “important achievement would be turning the UNCCD into a global authority on scientific and technical knowledge pertaining to desertification, land degradation and mitigation of the effects of drought.” He said the full engagement of investments in drylands is the UNCCD’s supreme challenge.

Mr. Gnacadja said “by working together, the COP Presidents can turn out to be a recognized group and could play an instrumental role in the UNCCD process, thus delivering strategic advice for the consideration of the Parties and the international community.”

For more information on the consultation contact: secretariat [at] unccd.int (secretariat[at]unccd[dot]int)