Press Release No. IFAD/28/01

Rome, 8 October 2001 - Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, this afternoon, addressed the Fifth session of Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that is meeting in Geneva.

In his statement to the high level segment of the COP V, he reaffirmed IFAD's commitment to implement the goals of the Convention. In reference to the current global economic shocks, Båge urged member nations to strengthen the UNCCD and the Global Mechanism (GM) with additional resources for effective implementation of their objectives. IFAD hosts the GM of the UNCCD and has committed to date USD 5 million towards its activities. Båge emphasised that the GM is in the 'build-up' stage; there has been a significant increase in the number of requests from affected countries for the services of the GM. In this context, he urged the Parties to the Convention to affirm their support for the GM by providing voluntary contributions.

Desertification threatens the livelihoods of 1 billion people, particularly in the rural areas of the world. Over 630 million poor rural people live at risk in areas suffering from severe water stress: 375 million of these people are in Asia alone. Solutions to this daunting problem are embodied in the UNCCD. Under the UNCCD, 'desertification' is defined as 'land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climate variations and human activity'. Over the past 23 years, IFAD has committed in total over USD 3.5 billion to support dryland development and combat land degradation throughout the world. 70% of IFAD-supported projects are located in ecologically fragile, marginal environments.

The commitment to reduce poverty made at the Millennium Summit will not be fulfilled unless the international community, directs energies and resources to where the poor live and make their livings. This is why the UNCCD is a relevant and important instrument.

Båge, the first OECD President of IFAD, who took office 6 months ago, declared to the assembly that ''despite the obviousness of this conclusion, mobilizing resources to combat desertification continues to be difficult. The UNCCD must convince donors and partner countries to respond to the link between desertification and poverty.'' In addition to the November 2001 World Food Summit + Five Years Later, he cited three upcoming opportunities and invited nations to participate in this process, which would be important to raise awareness of this urgent need.

• The Financing for Development Conference will enable exploring new opportunities to generate resources to implement the UNCCD. Through the Rural Poverty Report 2001, IFAD established that the effectiveness of poverty reduction correlates with the need to increase resources directed to rural and agricultural development. In this context, IFAD is undertaking a process of consultation with the wider development community to mobilize greater support for financing rural development.
• The Global Environment Facility Council has made IFAD an executing agency and recommends the incorporation of land degradation into its focal areas. Recently, the Executive Board of IFAD has authorized a Memorandum of Understanding between IFAD and the GEF.
• The World Summit on Sustainable Development calls for an assessment of how the principles of the UNCCD have been advanced, given its origins at Rio. The value of this assessment lies not only in showing what has been done to halt desertification, but also in demonstrating that the institutions charged by the UNCCD to advance its principles are equipped to meet the challenges confronting them.

Båge expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the GM to date in fulfilling its mandate, especially given financial and human resource constraints. The GM has successfully carried out a number of activities to implement the UNCCD objectives primarily through:

• Providing catalytic funds to forge partnerships with governments, UN agencies, Multilateral Development Banks, NGOs and the UNCCD Secretariat.
• Leveraging investments acting on UNCCD principles
• Providing technical assistance in and support to the development of national, sub-regional and regional action programs; and
• Mainstreaming the principles of the UNCCD within development planning in the affected countries.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): addressing desertification as a global problem. Recognizing the links between poverty and environmental degradation, the UNCCD was established in the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. To date, 176 countries have ratified the Convention as a legally binding framework that contributes to providing a comprehensive answer to

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.