Partnering to regenerate lands in West Africa: GM and ECOWAS conclude agreement
11 June, 2009
On 13 May, the Global Mechanism (GM) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) concluded a partnership agreement to define a common framework for action spanning the next five years.
Cooperation between the two institutions is set within the context of their support to the implementation of UNCCD National and Subregional Action Programmes (NAPs and SRAPs) to combat desertification and drought.
Through the cooperation agreement, the GM and ECOWAS aim to support the elaboration of resource mobilization strategies and promote innovative approaches to finance sustainable land management (SLM) programmes. The institutions will work together to integrate SLM into the regional and national Agricultural Investment Programmes that are part of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in West Africa.
The agreement aims to strengthen the capacities of stakeholders in accessing innovative sources of funding including emerging financing opportunities stemming from the synergies between climate change and land degradation. In addition, the GM and ECOWAS will cooperate on the Great Green Wall initiative of the Sahara and the Sahel, which takes cross-sectoral actions to conserve natural resources with a view to improving rural livelihoods, strengthening infrastructure and reducing poverty.
The GM and ECOWAS see this new parntership as a fundamental contribution towards knowledge management and information exchange on SLM financing in the West Africa region within the framework of South-to-South cooperation.
Download press release in French (PDF, 56 KB)
For more information:
Mr Youssef Brahimi
Programme Coordinator, North Africa & South-to-South Cooperation
Tel. +39 06 5459 2584
y.brahimi (at) global-mechanism.org
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