What is the Global Mechanism?

The Global Mechanism (GM) was established under Article 21 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and began its operations in October 1997.

The GM is defined as an organizational entity mandated "to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of existing financial mechanisms…[and]…to promote actions leading to the mobilization and channelling of substantial financial resources to affected developing country Parties".

 

The GM is therefore a subsidiary body of the UNCCD, whose original functions of general broker and match-maker have evolved over its first ten years of operations, in the wake of the changing international financial architecture, its new modalities for resource allocation and the increasing importance of domestic budgeting processes in developing countries.

 

As a consequence, the GM is increasingly specializing in providing a range of financial advisory services to the country Parties to the Convention in close cooperation with International Finance Institutions (IFIs) - in particular the World Bank Group, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the regional development banks. The European Commission and bilateral donor agencies are also long-standing partners of the GM. 

 

The GM is an innovative entity and takes pride in being one of the few UN institutions that directly responds to the Monterrey Consensus and Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness by supporting country Parties to the UNCCD in mobilizing financial resources to address the nexus between land and natural resource degradation, rural development and poverty reduction, within financial resource allocation frameworks.

 

The GM’s approach aims to be comprehensive: balancing poverty reduction and sustainable development with the sustainable use of natural resources, the GM promotes the positioning of the UNCCD in the broader context of development programming, which includes trade and market access for communities and households; education; policy processes which influence sustainable land management and rural development; and institution-building and governance.

 

The GM does not pretend to simplify the complexity of the changing international financial architecture and domestic budget allocation processes, but to facilitate understanding of this new context, the opportunities it offers, and the ability of focal point institutions of the UNCCD to work with it, so as to increase investments in rural livelihoods and to safeguard natural resources availability for future generations. 

 

The GM therefore works to generate enabling conditions for UNCCD country Parties and assists in capacity building to ensure that rural communities, especially those engaged in rural subsistence agriculture in the drylands find adequate recognition in development programming processes. 

 

Notwithstanding the focus of African development as called for by the UNCCD, the GM aspires to support all country Parties and hopes that its evolving experience will serve as a model for other Conventions and international processes.