12/22/00 -- UN Says Desertification is Urgent Problem

UN Says Desertification is Urgent Problem

BONN, Dec. 22 - A two-week-long United Nations conference concluded today in Bonn, with delegates from 170 countries agreeing on a time frame to combat desertification

Desertification -- or land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas -- is affecting 1.2 billion people worldwide. It results from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.

Government ministers, senior officials and experts, gathered in Bonn, urged the need for exploring new sources of funding to help countries affected by desertification formulate national action programs and undertake adequate steps for the purpose.

This is to be done within the framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

It is a legally binding instrument resulting from the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992. The Convention entered into force in 1996 and 172 countries are currently Parties to it.

The Bonn Declaration, adopted today, stresses "the need to enhance special efforts to combat and prevent desertification and - or - mitigate the effects of drought during the first decade (2001-2010) of the 21st century, in order to address the severe situation prevailing in various affected developing country Parties, particularly in Africa."

Developing countries affected by desertification, that have not yet adopted their national action programs, are called upon to "accelerate the process of elaboration and adoption of their action programs with a view to finalizing them no later than the end of 2005."

The executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Hama Arba Diallo, agreed with the view that the Bonn Declaration was "some kind of a Kyoto Protocol -- though without specific targets."

The Kyoto Protocol is named after the Japanese city, where it was adopted at the Third Conference of Parties (COP3) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 1997.

In the Kyoto Protocol, adopted by ministers and experts from 160 countries, the industrialized nations resolved to reduce their overall emissions of greenhouse gases by five percent compared to 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012.

Such quantitative targets are not envisaged in the Bonn Declaration agreed at the Fourth Conference of Parties (COP4) to the UNCCD.

However, the six-page document specifies "the strategic areas for action at all levels," during the next decade. These have been selected "in accordance with national plans and priorities and in conformity with the provisions of the Convention."

This, according to conference sources, obliges countries -- particularly those in Africa -- affected by land degradation, to undertake adequate steps to combat degradation.

Among the areas included is sustainable land use management, including water, soil and vegetation in affected areas. The affected countries are also required to focus on sustainable use and management of range lands as well as on development of sustainable agricultural and ranching production systems.

Other areas include development of new and renewable energy sources, launching of reforestation/afforestation programs and intensification of soil conservation programs and the development of early warning systems for food security and drought forecasting.

However, the Declaration also expresses "concern that, despite important efforts made by all interested partners, adequate financial and other resources have not been mobilized."

This, says the Declaration, "has constrained the ability of affected developing country Parties to fulfil their commitments under the Convention."

Conference sources said this was a reference to the lack of a flow of adequate funds from the industrialized countries.

Executive secretary Diallo welcomed the Bonn Declaration, adding that the UNCCD "has come of age." High-level officials and government leaders represented both the developed as well as developing countries, he explained.

Germany's Minister of Economic Co-operation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, expressed satisfaction that the Bonn Declaration underlined "North-South partnership."

A case in point, conference sources said, was the call upon the international community, in particular the developed country Parties and the United Nations system, to support adequate steps to combat desertification.

The Bonn Declaration also invites multilateral financial institutions, the private sector and "all other interested actors" to help combat desertification by providing developing countries with financial resources and other forms of assistance.

A highlight of the Declaration is that it calls for facilitating the access of developing countries affected by desertification to the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This is what the developing countries were insisting upon.

The Global Environment Facility was established by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in 1990. It operates as the Climate Change and Bio-diversity (UNCBD) Conventions' financial mechanism. The GEF is not the financial mechanism of the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Established under the UNCCD, the Global Mechanism (GM) is in charge of promoting actions for the mobilization and channelling of substantial financial resources, including for the transfer of technology, on a grant basis, and/or on concessional or other terms, to affected developing country Parties.

The Global Mechanism is hosted in Rome by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and functions under the authority and guidance of the Conference of the Parties.

The Bonn Declaration calls for strengthening the Global Mechanism in order to enable it to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of existing financial mechanisms.

A strengthened GM will help promote actions leading to the mobilization and channelling of substantial financial resources, including for the transfer of technology, on a grant basis, and /or on concessional or other terms, to affected developing country parties, says the Bonn Declaration. Error: Unable to read footer file.