Joint Statement by the UNCCD Secretariat and the GM to the 3rd Regional Implementation Meeting on Sustainable Development

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)  is addressing issues including agriculture, rural development, land, drought and desertification - all of significant importance to the UNCCD - at its 16th and 17th sessions in 2008 and 2009.The GM participated in the Regional Implementation Meetings (RIM) for Europe and North America in Geneva on 27 & 28 January 2008, the outcomes of which will inform CSD-16 in May 2008.

 

Ms Elisabeth Barsk-Rundquist, Director of the GM's Strategic Programmes delivered a joint statement on behalf of Mr Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Mr Christian Mersmann, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism (GM) of the UNCCD. The statement highlighted the multiplicity of aims and goals of combating desertification in diverse country contexts, the evolving international environment in terms of aid architecture, trade liberalization, the climate change agenda, the imperative for local land management efforts and macro policies and incentives. It also addressed the opportunity for enhanced joint efforts to advance the UNCCD agenda, provided by the Ten-year Strategic Plan and Framework for UNCCD implementation, adopted by the 8th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP.8) in Madrid, in September 2007.

In the discussions, Governments and major groups assessed progress in implementing sustainable development goals in these thematic areas, identifying obstacles and constraints, and addressing the challenges ahead. They highlighted the need to to develop models and mechanisms that take into account social, cultural and environmental concerns, and the need to influence values and attitudes in order to achieve sustainable production and consumption, inter alia by providing incentives such as certification schemes, better regulation of biofuel production, and redirecting resources into risk management and disaster prevention than addressing the consequences.


For more information:

Ms Elisabeth Barsk-Rundquist, Director, Strategic Programmes
Tel. +39 06 5459 2471
e.barsk (at) global-mechanism.org