Read at : Google Alert – desertification
http://www.erosioncontrol.com/the-latest/land-degradation-desertification.aspx
Progress in Strengthening Science to Address Land Degradation
UN Convention to Combat Desertification shows leadership among the environmental conventions in monitoring and assessing its performance and impact.
In the first achievement of its kind among the environmental Conventions that emerged from Rio in 1992, the tenth session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST10) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has developed and presented a field-tested set of tools and methodologies to monitor and assess the impact of the Convention’s 10-year Strategy that was adopted in 2007. Beginning in the 2012 reporting cycle, the Parties to the Convention will be expected to state the impact of their work on land cover and the proportion of the population that gets out of poverty.
And in a remarkable development, the host country, Republic of Korea, unveiled the Changwon Initiative, with a strong component to support future scientific work. The Initiative intends to support the follow-up work on the impact assessment tools, dialogue towards agreeing on a target to address land degradation, and support the discussion on the options that were identified to provide scientific advice.
“Sound science is a prerequisite for good policy making and technological innovation,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja. “Also needed for sound assessment and monitoring of trends as well as measuring the effectiveness of implementation policies, plans and programmes.”
Desertification is the loss of the capacity to grow crops or raise livestock in arid, semi-arid or dry sub-humid areas. Generally called drylands, they are home to some 2 billion people in nearly 100 countries, and a sizeable percentage is affected by desertification.
“We need an institutional arrangement to coordinate and foster knowledge and make knowledge more widely available on desertification, land degradation and drought issues,” said Antonio Rocha Magalhães, Chair of the COP10 Committee on Science and Technology, at a press conference held on Thursday.
Professor Magalhães said consensus among Committee members was reached on several issues, including proposals to enable UNCCD to become a global authority on science and technology pertaining to its core issues, improve knowledge management and establish a roster of independent experts.
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