INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 6-17 JANUARY

3 January 1997

Press Release
ENV/DEV/392

INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 6-17 JANUARY

19970103 Background Release Site of Permanent Secretariat, Financial Matters, Preparatory Work for Conference of Parties among Issues before Tenth Session

The offers of Canada, Germany and Spain to host the permanent secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification are among the issues to be discussed at the tenth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention to be held at Headquarters from 6 to 17 January.

The upcoming session will aim at finalizing all the outstanding negotiating issues before the Committee, including matters related to the Convention's financing and to the preparatory work for the first session of the Conference of the Parties, to be held from 29 September to 10 October in Rome.

The officially titled United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa was the first international instrument to be finalized as part of the follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). It was concluded in June 1994, opened for signature in October 1994 and entered into force on 26 December 1996.

Outstanding negotiating issues before the Committee include the designation of the Convention's permanent secretariat and arrangements for its functioning; identification of an organization to house the Global Mechanism created by the treaty to promote the mobilization of financial resources for its implementation; organization of scientific and technological cooperation; and review of the situation regarding extrabudgetary funds.

The Committee will conduct its work in plenary and through two working groups. The plenary will continue its examination of the measures taken to implement a resolution on urgent measures for Africa, as well as actions taken in the Asian, Latin American and Caribbean, and Northern Mediterranean regions to implement the Convention. Discussions will be organized by regions and themes.

The Executive Secretary of the Interim Secretariat of the Convention, Hama Arba Diallo, will report on measures taken to facilitate urgent action for Africa and also actions taken in other regions, as well as on cooperation with relevant bodies or agencies and coordination with other conventions. He is also expected to present a report on the status of signature and ratification of the Convention.

The 40-article Convention to Combat Desertification contains four regional implementation annexes -- for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Northern Mediterranean. However, it gives priority to Africa, where desertification is most severe. It uses a bottom-up approach, emphasizing popular participation and creating enabling environments for local people to help themselves reverse land degradation. Also, it takes a long- term approach that integrates the physical and biological dimensions of desertification with social and economic realities. In addition, it contains precise commitments for the preparation by affected countries of national action programmes, and gives an unprecedented role to non-governmental organizations in the preparation and implementation of action programmes.

Highlights of documents before the tenth session follow:

Selection of the permanent headquarters of the Convention to Combat Desertification is expected to gain new urgency now that the treaty has entered into force, exactly 90 days after being ratified by 50 signatories. Discussion of the Convention's permanent secretariat and arrangements for its functioning will take place both in plenary and in working group I. A note by the Geneva-based Interim Secretariat of the Convention (document A/AC.241/63) compares the major elements of the offers of the Governments of Canada, Germany and Spain to host the permanent secretariat, at Montreal, Bonn and Murcia (a Mediterranean city in the region of the same name in south-east Spain, near Andalusia).

Working group I will also discuss a revised version of the draft financial rules of the Conference of the Parties, its subsidiary bodies and the permanent secretariat. Before it for further consideration will be a draft text on the functions of the Global Mechanism and the criteria for selecting an institution to house it (document A/51/76/Add.1).

The Global Mechanism was established in article 21 of the Convention to promote actions leading to the mobilization and channelling of substantial financial resources, including the transfer of technology, on a grant and/or concessional terms, to affected developing country parties to the treaty. That Mechanism should function under the authority and guidance of the Conference of the Parties and be accountable to it. According to the Convention, the first session of the Conference should identify an

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organization to house the Mechanism and make the administrative arrangements for its operation.

The Committee will also consider a draft programme of work of the Conference of the Parties and the budget estimates of the Convention for the first financial period following the first session of the Conference (document A/AC.241/65).

Working group II issues include consideration of a draft proposed programme of work for the Committee on Science and Technology being set up under the Convention. A note by the Secretariat (document A/AC.241/66) submits comments and views from 17 governments and inputs from 3 intergovernmental organizations indicating substantive areas which could receive priority in the initial work programme of that body.

According to article 25 of the Convention, the Science and Technology Committee shall, under the supervision of the Conference of the Parties, provide for the undertaking of a survey and evaluation of relevant existing networks, institutions, agencies and bodies willing to become units of a network to support implementation of the Convention.

Also before the session is a note by the secretariat (document A/AC.241/67) on the work of the bodies of other relevant organizations and conventions performing tasks similar to that envisaged for the Committee on Science and Technology, and possible areas of cooperation with such bodies. An annex to the note provides comparable profiles of the principal scientific and technical committees or panels of those organizations which would be the counterparts of the Committee.

In addition, a note by the secretariat on ongoing work being done on benchmarks and indicators to measure progress in the implementation of the Convention will be taken up by working group II (document A/AC.241/INF.4 and Corr.1). It contains contributions from 11 Member States and three international organizations concerning indicators to measure implementation of the Convention as well as its benchmarks and environmental impact. The conclusion and recommendations of an informal group set up by the secretariat are also included in the note. The group revised the matrix of implementation indicators presented to the ninth session of the Committee. Among its conclusions was that impact indicators should address both bio-physical and socio-economic concerns, and should highlight the linkages between the two.

Another note by the secretariat (document A/AC.241/69 and Add.1) provides information on the present status and funding needs of the Special Voluntary Fund to support the participation of developing countries on Convention-related activities, and the Trust Fund for the negotiating process. An addendum to the document provides a list of activities the secretariat

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might support in 1997 utilizing contributions to the Trust Fund. It includes facilitating national consultative processes in 10 African countries; assistance in the formulation of desertification information systems; provision of institutional support to national coordination points in four Asian countries; and facilitating national awareness seminars in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries. Other activities include involvement of grass-roots organizations in the implementation of the Convention.

The session will also have before it a revised draft rules of procedure of the Conference of the Parties (document A/AC.241/48/Rev.2). A list of non- governmental organizations (document A/AC.241/9/Add.13) recommended for accreditation is also to be considered.

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