Sixth Session of the Conference of Parties of UNCCD

Havana, 3 September, 2003

Madame Chairperson,
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am very pleased to have the honour of addressing the Conference of Parties at a time of particular importance for our efforts to end poverty, hunger, illiteracy and mass disease. The commitment made by world leaders at the Millennium Summit to reduce poverty and hunger by half by the year 2015 provides us with an explicit goal to inspire these efforts.

Madame Chairperson,

May I say at the beginning that I am making this statement on behalf of the Facilitation Committee of the Global Mechanism, comprising of the World Bank, UNDP, CCD Secretariat, UNEP, FAO, GEF Secretariat, CGIAR, and the Regional Development Banks, as well as on my own behalf. Our partner organizations will of course make their own statements to provide particular insights as well as information on initiatives that they are taking to support the CCD.

Among all the Conventions that grew out of the Rio process, the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) has perhaps the most clear and direct developmental impact. Hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers, herders and other poor rural groups live in marginal areas, at serious risk from degradation and desertification. Their livelihood, often their survival, depends on the sustainable use of vulnerable land and water resources.

The risk and reality land degradation and desertification are growing in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, and Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, where a cycle of droughts has placed growing stress on vulnerable land and water resources, the challenge is especially severe. Sadly, in Africa, poverty, life expectancy and other social indicators have actually deteriorated in recent years. Reversing these trends and achieving the Millennium Development Goals is an imperative in all developing countries, particularly those in the low-income bracket. The challenge of feeding a growing human population on a declining land base, in particular in dry lands, is real now and the focus of our collective efforts should be on mainstreaming implementation of sustainable land management activities in country food security and development frameworks.

The CCD provides a strong framework for developed and developing countries to join in undertaking collaborative action to combat land degradation and desertification in Africa and elsewhere. Developed countries have undertaken specific commitments in the Convention to enhance their support to overcome desertification and we look to their stronger engagement in this regard. On the other hand, developing countries must ensure that desertification is dealt with as a development issue as well as an environmental one.

For our part, the World Bank, UNDP, IFAD and the other members of the Facilitation Committee are deeply committed to results-oriented implementation of the goals of the CCD at strategic and operational levels. Promoting sustainable use of land and water is essential to enable the millions of rural poor in vulnerable zones to build more productive lives for themselves and their families and thus contribute to overall national growth and development.

Madame Chairperson,

IFAD, throughout its 26 years of operations, has had an explicit focus on reducing rural poverty by enabling poor farmers and other rural producers to raise their outputs and incomes. Thus, from the beginning, IFAD programmes have focused on marginal and ecologically vulnerable areas. This experience led IFAD in the mid-1980s to launch its Special Programme for sub-Saharan African Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification. The SPA mobilized about USD 700 million to fight desertification in Africa. Currently, IFAD provides about USD 75 million dollars per year to support specific programmes for land and water management, leveraging total investment for these activities of about USD 200 million per year.

Madame Chairperson,

The World Bank, UNDP and other members of the FC have made similar efforts in combating land degradation and these would be outlined in their respective presentations to this COP. We recognize that these collective efforts are substantial in size, and there are various success stories, but much more needs to be done to match the countries urgent and immense needs to mitigate land degradation and implement the Convention.

Madame Chairperson,

The diverse and extensive operational experience in land and water management led to IFAD’s selection in 1997 to house the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. In the five years since the appointment of its Managing Director, Mr. Per Rydén in 1998, the Global Mechanism has progressively developed in terms of staffing and operational capabilities. This has necessarily been a gradual process during which the Global Mechanism has sought to respond to a growing variety of requests for support by Member States. The Report of the GM, which is before you contains details in this regard, both on GM’s assistance for national and regional action plans, and the wider impact on resource mobilization that GM has started to make. One example of the latter is in Tunisia where some 24 million dollars have been mobilized to support the National Action Plan.

Developing countries legitimately have high expectations of the Convention as well as the Global Mechanism in terms of technical support and mobilizing resources. There has, however, been some feeling that while the GM has been effective with regard to the former, for example in helping to mainstream CCD aims in national strategic action plans and policies, it has been less successful in mobilizing “high-end” investment resources. In this context, two evaluations of the Global Mechanism have recently been undertaken.

The Independent Evaluation mandated by the COP and that commissioned by the World Bank, have both highlighted the need for the Global Mechanism to concentrate on investment resource mobilization. They have called on the GM to strengthen its collaboration with members of the Facilitation Committee, particularly IFAD, to generate programmatic convergence and cooperate on resource mobilization and communications. On the other hand, both reports have also stressed that for the Global Mechanism to succeed, FC members must enhance their support for the GM and for CCD objectives.

These two Evaluations, I believe, have been very valuable in highlighting what needs to be done by the Global Mechanism itself, and by IFAD and other FC members to ensure that the expectations of Member States are met more fully.

Madame Chairperson,

I would like to say on behalf of the Facilitation Committee that we are fully committed to carrying out our part. I would also underline my confidence that the Global Mechanism, after its initial phase of development and the re-focusing that is on-going, will be able to play an effective role in meeting its mandate.

An important development that creates significant new opportunities is the agreement by the GEF Council to include sustainable land management as one of the GEF Operational Programs. The World Bank and UNDP are both Implementing Agencies and IFAD is an Executing Agency of GEF. Thus, the decision to have a new focal area in GEF on land degradation will open up considerable additional catalytic resources for collaboration in implementing the CCD and we will work closely with GEF and its new Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Mr. Leonard Good in this regard.

Apart from official development resources, new possibilities have emerged to mobilize non-traditional resources to enhance sustainable land management and combat desertification while enhancing synergies between and among the conventions (UNCCD, UNFCCC, and UNCBD). For example, the World Bank’s Carbon Finance Program has within a short period of time demonstrated the potential of market-based public/private partnerships and initiatives to invest profitably in sustainable land management interventions for local and global benefits. These opportunities provide communities and countries access to additional non-ODA resources for implementing the CCD and reducing poverty. This is an area to which we will continue to give serious attention over the coming years.

In order to respond to these challenges, a new Business Plan has been developed for GM for the period 2003-2006 with the full endorsement of the Facilitation Committee. The new Plan re-focuses the GM to deliver solid results under three key objectives: 1) mobilize financial resources to support UNCCD implementation processes (pre-investment); 2) broadening the funding basis for UNCCD implementation; and 3) information system, knowledge, and communication strategy. In support of these key pillars of the Plan, the FC Member Organizations are committed to: a) enhancing their support financially and in kind, as well as designating specific staff to collaborate with GM; b) identify at least two full collaborative projects/activities per year that contribute directly to CCD implementation aims; c) integrate NAP/SRAP priorities into their own country and regional strategies; d) support advocacy efforts and resource mobilization; and e) work to integrate knowledge management and sharing activities. We will also actively work to secure the support of bilateral development agencies for carrying out the aims of the Convention and we would strongly welcome their close involvement in these efforts.

Collectively, these represent re-newed engagements that Facilitation Committee members have committed to undertake. They will provide the necessary collaborative framework for tangible implementation of the CCD through the Global Mechanism. The GM should be provided with the increased core budget to effectively carry out the range of activities under its revised Business Plan.

IFAD has a particular responsibility since we house the Global Mechanism. Among the FC members, IFAD with a contribution of USD 5.05 million, has been the largest contributor to GM. This USD 5.05 million is in the framework of a planned envelope of USD 10 million, which, however, is dependent on mobilizing contributions from others. In the light of recent discussions and following an internal review we have undertaken, we will in the coming weeks implement measures to strengthen our linkages with GM. The primary aim will be to enhance programmatic collaboration, and develop synergies for resource mobilization, communications and advocacy. We will also review, in coordination with our partners in the Facilitation Committee, ways to strengthen staff capacity in GM to carry out its mandate and the new Business Plan.

Madame Chairperson,

Achieving the goals of the Convention to Combat Desertification will be challenging but essential to achieving the wider human development goals to which we are all committed. For this purpose we need to collectively promote and support the strongest possible partnerships among Member Countries, FC members, civil society, bilateral development agencies, NGOs, and the private sector in order to succeed.

But the most important partnership, and finally the only one that will matter, is with the poor themselves. They have the skills and the knowledge, and certainly the will to improve their lives. What they lack is the opportunity. Our task is to create the enabling environment and opportunity for them to live in harmony with the natural resource base on which their lives depend.

Thank you.