GM illustrates funding options for achieving UNCCD targets

At the sixth session of the Committee for the Review of Implementation of the Convention (CRIC6), the GM presented a report on options for financing the achievement of targets related to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) implementation in the biophysical, socio-economic and financial domains.
The report emphasized the importance of prioritizing the establishment of monitoring and evaluation systems to reduce the vulnerability of affected areas and populations to desertification and drought. The Committee on Science and Technology (CST) has defined indicators for measuring progress towards these targets.

The report also called for more institutional coherence and synergistic action within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and national development strategies. It suggested that an effective and sustainable anti-desertification strategy can only take root when a consistent, public-funded inducement process is in place to generate a self-sustaining process that reduces dependency on external aid and public subsidies in the medium to long term.

A rich debate followed the presentation. In addition to the governments of Argentina, China, the Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, which had submitted case studies to the GM in preparation for the report, numerous delegations expressed their appreciation of the report’s quality and results-based orientation.