The Pacific at the UN Conference on Desertification

18 October, Changwon Korea - While many of you may wonder why the Pacific is a part of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, given we don’t have any deserts in the Pacific, the range of this convention goes beyond desertification to include land degradation and drought. 

For our corner of the world, land degradation and, as we are seeing right now in Tuvalu and some other small islands, drought is a crucial issue.  Without fertile land and adequate water Pacific livelihoods and our way of life is at risk.

SPREP and Global Mechanism meet with Pacific country delegates

This week in Changwon, Korea a team of three from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is providing technical and communications support to 10 Pacific island countries attending the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD.  This convention, which has 193 state party signatories, 14 of these are from the Pacific island region.

Inside the contact groups of the two week meeting, where the actual negotiations take place, the Pacific raises its collective voice as part of the wider Asia grouping to ensure that our concerns are heard amongst 193 other countries.

 As part of the support from SPREP, the inter-governmental environment organisation coordinated a regional preparatory meeting in August, for all Pacific parties to this convention to meet and form a united voice and way forward at the UNCCD COP 10. 

“The COP process provides an opportunity for the Pacific delegates to outline the role of their island nation in the global village,” said Bruce Jefferies the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Officer at SPREP.

“We are aligned with the Asia Pacific region and it is easy to be subsumed by the big countries of Asia, such as India, Pakistan and Thailand, but we all experience similar problems, it’s just that in terms of scale the impacts are several times above what we experience in the Pacific, make no mistake the impacts on communities and natural resources are the same in our countries.”

One of the take home lessons for Jefferies was a presentation made during the first round table of the high level segment of the UNCCD by Dr Dennis Garrity, the Drylands Ambassador who shared a success story from North Africa in Burkina Faso where traditional and contemporary knowledge was combined with the vision and commitment of a local farmer. This involved planting indigenous trees, which in turn, progressively transformed degraded dry lands into productive forest and grazing lands. 

Jefferies is hopeful the Pacific would be able to adopt and apply this method into a Pacific success story using appropriate indigenous species.

“This was very impressive and has a lot of potential for us in the Pacific.  If we can develop the approach and find the right species, that can provide nutrients, fodder, timber and the ability to under plant productive crops this could be a good intervention for us in the Pacific as we have the advantage of working with smaller scale lands.”

Jefferies remains in Korea until the end of the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD accompanied by Tepa Suaesi, the Environment Planning Officer and Nanette Woonton, the Media and Public Relations Officer.

The UNCCD COP 10 is held in Changwon, Korea from 10 October to 21 October, 2011

Pacific resources not to be taken for granted

18 October 2011, Changwon Korea - Understanding the resources we have in the Pacific cannot be taken for granted has hit home for the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Forest of Fiji, Viliame Naupoto. 

He is currently in Changwon, Korea to attend the high level segment of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

                                        

70% of the land degradation that happens occurs outside of the dry lands.  More than 12 million hectares of land is lost each year due to desertification, land degradation and drought, jeopardizing the livelihoods and survival of over one billion people in over 100 countries.

 “Our resources have to be managed sustainably now for us, and for future generations,” said Permanent Secretary Naupoto.

 “The little mistakes we make as far as our small resources are concerned have far bigger impacts than the little mistakes in the big countries.  We cannot afford to make mistakes with our small resources - we need to get it right.”

The high level segment of the UNCCD COP 10 revolves around round table sessions which begin with a panel discussion before opening up for interactive dialogue sessions between the parties.

“UNCCD in the context of Rio+20: addressing desertification, land degradation and drought as a cornerstone of the green economy” was the topic of the second round table today.

In 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, three UN Conventions were formed to ensure sustainable development; the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework on the Convention of Climate Change and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. 

Next year marks the 20^th anniversary of these Conventions for which the UN Conference on Sustainable Development will be held in Rio de Janeiro, more commonly known as the Rio+20.

Challenges to sustainable development that may be addressed at Rio+20 include issues of: access to renewable energy; water conservation; food security; ocean ecosystems; urbanisation; population dynamics; and disaster preparedness. 

Land issues are central to the majority of these issues. 

Discussions at the UNCCD COP 10 today indicated hope that that the Rio+20 can bring about a shift in the global understanding of the shared priority for the land agenda and understand the challenges of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DDLD).

“I think the three conventions resulted from Rio, link with each other,” said Permanent Secretary Naupoto.

“We cannot talk about biodiversity on its’ own, we cannot talk about climate change on its own.  They are all a part of each other and we need to remember this.  We need to make sure that the UNCCD is high on the agenda as without soil or land, what is there?”

Vanuatu calls for UNCCD to be a priority

Mr. Albert Williams, Vanuatu

18 October 2011, Changwon Korea - Calls for support to raise the priority of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to the same level of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework for Convention on Climate Change are often echoed at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD in Korea.

Albert Williams, the Director of Environment from Vanuatu has added his voice to others with this call for support.  He is one of a delegation of three from Vanuatu that has convened with the 193 parties at the convention this week.

“Without the UNCCD, if we don’t manage or finance this convention to a level where the needs of a country are met, then you are compromising what you want for biodiversity and climate change,” said Williams.

“Everything happens on land and the degradation of the land will add to the problems caused by biodiversity loss and climate change.  It is very important that the UNCCD gets the support and attention needed at national, regional and an international level.”

Land degradation is a key issue for Vanuatu.  William explains that pressure on existing prime agricultural land from residential sub divisions, deforestation and other activities has resulted in a loss of soil fertility in Vanuatu.

“This overarching threat will impact on our food security and livelihoods of our local communities”.

Williams was joined by the Minister for lands and natural resources, the Hon. Stehens Kalsakau and the Sustainable Land Management Coordinator Mr. William Ganileo this week in Korea for the second week of the 10th Conference of the Parties which opened this week with the High Level Segment.

Fiji and Niue: Food security talks at UN Convention on Land degradation

17 October 2011, Changwon Korea - Desertification, land degradation and drought and food security: Preserving the resource base for our food security was the topic of Round table 1 of the high level segment of the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Korea today.

For Niue it is difficult to measure the effects of food security. 

According to the Associate Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Niue, Hon. Dalton Tagelagi explained that the low population of Niue places very little pressure on the available resource base on the island.

L - Associate Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Niue, Hon. Dalton Tagelagi

“This does not mean that it is not important, we too are taking all necessary precautions to ensure sustainable development at all levels with regards to resources we have contributing to food security in Niue.”

The Niue National Strategic Plan 2009 – 2013 addresses food security issues and the island nation currently has Food and Agriculture Organisation projects and activities on Food Security underway in Niue, spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“We recognize the importance of preserving the resource base for food security and understand the effects of climate change together with land degradation in the agricultural sector with losses of some important plant species and the depletion of soil nutrients due to continuous burning and shifting cultivation.”

For the Fiji Permanent Secretary of Fisheries and Forest,  Mr. Viliame Naupoto after listening to the dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought (also known as DLDD), he believes from an island viewpoint another "D" can be added to this acronym to include Disappearance of land.

“Our land is not only suffering from land degradation, but also disappearance due to the effects of climate change,” said Permanent Secretary Naupoto.

“We have some takeaway lessons here, when we hear what is happening in Africa and how they are working towards greening their bare areas of land, from Fiji’s perspective we need to make sure that we do not arrive at that stage.  Due to our small island size, we cannot afford for our land to be degraded to the extent that we are seeing in the bigger continents.”

While 41% of the earth’s land area are drylands that house two billion people, in the Pacific region only 2% is terrestrial while 98% is Ocean.  Permanent Secretary Naupoto points out that due to our land size, our ecosystems are very much interconnected from the top of the hills and mountains to our reefs and ocean.  When it comes to the issue of food security, our ecosystems play a large part.

“When we talk about food security we do not only talk about land issues we also talk about the fisheries issues as fish provides a big portion of our food security.  To combat land degradation and drought we must look at it with an ecosystem approach, what we do on land and in the hills it affects our seas.”

During day one of the High Level Segment the delegates finished the discussions of Roundtable one.  Still to be completed are Round table two and three which will continue through to the second and final day of the High level segment.

Ministers meet in Korea for UN Convention on Land degradation

17 October 2011, Changwon Korea - The High-Level Segment of the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification today in Korea.   This is the first time the 194 parties to the UNCCD have convened in Asia.

There are two Pacific Ministers attending this meeting representing Niue and Vanuatu as well as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Forest from Fiji.

The opening of the High level segment had a range of speeches and messages.

A video message from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales Prince Charles was shown at the opening of the two day High level segment as well as a video message from the UN Secretary Mr. Ban Ki Moon.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Mr.Hwang Sik Kim also made an opening statement as well as the President of the UNCCD COP 10, Don Koo Lee, Minister of the Korea Forest Service. 

Mr. Lee reiterated the importance of desertification, land degradation and drought.

“Today, more than 12 million hectares of land are being lost every year due to desertification, land degradation and drought,” he stated.

“This is jeopardizing the livelihoods and the survival of more than one billion people in over 100 countries.”

The High level segment has 3 sessions of interactive dialogue sessions on different topics.

Round table 1 was on the topic of “Desertification, land degradation and drought and food security: Preserving the resource base for our food security.”  This drew discussion and comments from the high level delegates at the meeting.

Round table 2 is on the topic of “The UNCCD in the context of the Rio + 20: Addressing desertification, land degradation and drought as a cornerstone of the Green Economy.”

Round table 3 is on the topic of “Harnessing science knowledge for combating desertification/land degradation and drought: the path to improvement.”

During the two day high level segment, the Government of Korea will be introducing the Changwon Initiative which is a mechanism to achieve the global target of zero net land degradation by 2030.

5 minutes with....

Nauru

Tyrone Deiye

Environment Policy Officer

Nauru.



Q.  What are the key issues for Nauru at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

For us mainly it is to keep abreast with the sustainable land management issues because at the moment we are finalising our National Action Plan for this.  Land degradation is a big issue for Nauru due to the phosphate mining and we need to integrate this issue in the work that is being done by the environment service to put plans and policies in place for sustainable development. 

Q. Why is it important for Nauru to be a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

A key objective of the Convention is to address land degradation.  That is a big issue for us we need to keep informed of the connected issues and the ways to mobilize funds for us to address this a national level.

Q.  What does Nauru hope to get out of this 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification? 
We want to be more acquainted with the issues at this COP but we also want to unite with the Pacific and give our region a stronger voice at this meeting.

The Marshall Islands

Mr. Warwick Harris

Deputy Director

Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination

Marshall Islands

Q.  What are the key issues for the Marshall Islands at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

A.  This is a fine opportunity to align our National Action Plan to the UNCCD ten year strategy, for which discussions are taking place on at this COP.  Yesterday we met with the Global Mechanism and talked about the integrated finance strategy process.  We would like to align our sustainable finance plan for the Micronesia Challenge with the ten year strategy and the integrated finance strategy of the UNCCD.

Q. Why is it important for the Marshall Islands to be a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

For the Marshall Islands one key cause of land degradation amongst others is coastal erosion and one of the reasons we are a party to this convention is to take advantage of every opportunity to develop our capacity to mitigate against droughts and coastal erosion.

Q.  What does the Marshall Islands hope to get out of this 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?  
We’d like guidance as to how we can align our current sustainable finance plan under the Micronesia Challenge with the UNCCD Integrated Financial Strategy.  I think that will be a start to us receiving financial support and assistance for this regional initiative under the UNCCD.

Notes:

The Micronesia Challenge is a shared commitment to conserve at least 30% of the near-shore marine resources and 20% of the terrestrial resources across Micronesia by 2020

The Global Mechanism (GM) is a specialised institution, dedicated to supporting developing countries to increase investments into Sustainable Land Management in order to help reverse, control and prevent land degradation and desertification.

More scenes of the UNCCD COP 10

Changwon Korea 10 - 20 October, 2011
Photos by SPREP www.sprep.org

Fiji, Samoa -  morning coffee run

Facts

Civil Society stalls

 Craft making at the Civil Society Stalls

Step 1...

Step 2...

And there it is, butterfly in pot plant

FSM, Fiji, Cook Islands, Palau

Free donuts

Receiving free donuts

Samoa and Vanuatu, in line for free donuts

SPREP, Pacific delegates and Global Mechanism meet at UNCCD COP 10

Traditional Korean entertainment at the UNCCD COP 10

FSM to seek ways to access services of Global Mechanism

14 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - The Federated States of Micronesia participation in the 10th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is mainly focused on the agenda items of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) as put forthcat this COP10.

Two key items are of most interest is the future of the Global Mechanism, and the duplication at national, regional and sub-regional levels.

The Global Mechanism (GM) is a specialised institution, dedicated to supporting developing countries to increase investments into Sustainable Land Management in order to help reverse, control and prevent land degradation and desertification.

“FSM would like to receive more support from the Global Mechanism,” said Cindy Ehmes, the sole representative from FSM at this meeting. 

Cindy Ehmes, FSM

“Our participation in the Conference of the Parties in Changwon, Korea this week is to seek ways for FSM can begin to access the services of the Global Mechanism.”

Another key concern for FSM is the need to align all plans to avoid duplication of work. 

The UNCCD requires Parties to develop its National Action Plan as the main plan to address land degradation at the National level. 

FSM is currently developing its National Action Plan however the Convention also requires the development of Regional and Sub-regional Plans.  

“There are too many reports and we’d prefer to see resources or funds that might otherwise be utilised to develop plans at regional level or sub-regional levels, be made available to Parties to actually do work on the ground.”

FSM believes that much can be learned from the experience with the Global Environment Facility where principles of aid or development assistance are better applied with a focus on country priorities.

UNCCD a priority for Fiji

13 October 2011, Changwon Korea - The Government of Fiji has announced their support for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification as an important agreement at the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly in September, which addressed the issue of desertification, land degradation and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

For Maria Elder, the Science and Technical Correspondent of Fiji to this Convention, this is welcoming news.

“It is really helpful in terms of implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Fiji as we have been working to mainstream sustainable land management in our country.  We are also reviewing our National Action Plan as part of our report due in 2012, and ultimately we need cabinet endorsement before we can take it to the UNCCD Secretariat.”

The statement made by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, outlines Fiji’s commitment to combat continuous land degradation sharing the nations role in strengthening integrated water resource management, integrated land and coastal use planning and reforestation initiatives to complement the efforts to halt land degradation.

“We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development,” he presented.

The Prime Minister of Fiji also called for a sustainable development target of ‘zero net land degradation’ and for the UNCCD to be an essential tool to achieve food security.

The full statement made is available below:

Statement by COMMODORE JOSAIA VOREQE BAINIMARAMA

PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI

at the

HIGH-LEVEL MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON

“ADDRESSING DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ERADICATION”

19-20 SEPTEMBER 2011

UNITED NATIONS

NEW YORK

19 September 2011

___________________

Distinguished Co-chairs and Excellencies,

My delegation’s participation at this first High-Level Meeting on today’s theme in the General Assembly is a testimony of the utmost importance that my Government attaches to the important global issues of desertification, land degradation and drought.  Reality would affirm that without addressing these issues, the world would not achieve its internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. The Secretary-General’s Report clearly emphasises that desertification and land degradation are now pervasive problems in all ecosystems which affect us all in various ways, but has a disproportionate impact on many of the world’s poorest people.

For a small island developing State such as Fiji, the impacts of climate change pose immediate threats to our economy and our survival. 

Climate variability and the effects of El Nino and La Nina further exacerbate the vulnerabilty of our ecosystems and pose a greater risk to the sustainability of our environment.  The increasing occurrences of natural disasters make our land more susceptible to degradation and drought. These are challenges that we cannot escape from, the effects of which we must mitigate.

In mitigating these challenges, Fiji has put in place measures towards the sustainable management of our natural resources.  We have mainstreamed sustainable land management issues into most of the key sectors of its national strategic plan, and importantly, we have put in place appropriate laws and policies that ensure an integrated and comprehensive approach towards the effective implementation of the Convention (UNCCD). 

With a view to combatting continuous land degradation, not only have we focused on landuse, emphasis has also been placed on intergrated water resource management and intergrated land and coastal use planning.  In line with these strategies are our reforestation initiatives which have effectively complemented our efforts to combat land degradation. We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

At this high level meeting, it is important for us to recognise the urgent need of exerting our collective efforts to addressing the issues at hand in a manner that further progresses the objectives of the Convention. 

As we look forward to Rio+20, my delegation wishes to submit the following points to be included in the outcome of this high level meeting:

    
(i)                    We must encourage the donor community and the United Nations system to continue to address the needs of more than one billion inhabitants of dry lands by encouraging appropriate investments to contribute to achieving the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs.  In this regard, we should promote awareness and support the exchange of best practices based on lessons learned, and to mobilize adequate and predictable financial resources for these investments.

(ii)                We need to strengthen our scientific capacity to understand and monitor the seriousness of the issues at hand.  For this reason, we support the establishment of a panel of experts to deal solely with the issue of DLDD.

(iii)               We should set ourselves a target of ‘zero net land degradation’ as a sustainable development target.

(iv)              We should make UNCCD an essential tool to achieve food security.

Fiji trusts that the outcomes of this high level meeting sets the global community on track, to effectively address and curtail the peril of desertification, land degradation and drought.

Thank you.

Science valuable to combatting land degradation in Fiji

13 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - Science plays a vital role in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). 

Recognising this, the Convention has formed a body called the Committee of Science and Technology which has a representative from each country that is a party to this convention.  Their role is to assist the national UNCCD focal points to provide scientific data to support the implementation of national activities. 

In the Pacific region, these activities focus on land degradation and sustainable land management.

Maria Elder, Fiji

“We help to help collect and analyze physical scientific data to assist with the policy and decision making for our countries in carrying out the convention,” said Maria Elder, of the Department of Agriculture of Fiji.

The Committee of Science and Technology are currently meeting during the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD which is a biannual gathering.  This Committee also gathers every other year during a ‘special’ session.

“Our meetings are focused in terms of the types of data we need to collect on the field, the socio-economic, bio-physical and economic issues related to land degradation.  This week in Korea we have had feedback from 11 countries on a pilot project that tested the new reporting cycle for the UNCCD.”

No Pacific countries were part of this project, however despite this, attending the meetings of the committee of science and technology have been valuable for Fiji.

The national reports that review country implementation of the UNCCD take place every two years.  For Elder, the UNCCD COP 10 will assist with Fiji’s preparations to complete their next report which is due in 2012.

“For Fiji, I have to go back and meet with the national UNCCD focal point and really look at the reporting template and try to get the missing information that we need.  Sometimes our work at national level is general so through attending this meeting it has given me the chance to look at what is needed scientifically so we can realign our activities on the field in Fiji and start collecting the important information needed for our next report”.

The Committee of Science and Technology meets during the first week of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD.  Elder will be returning to Fiji tomorrow as next week the actual meetings of the parties to discuss the Convention will take place.