January 2017: Morocco and Turkey are the new hosts of regional offices for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Africa (Annex I) and the Northern Mediterranean (Annex IV), respectively. The UNCCD Northern Mediterranean regional office was officially opened on 11 January 2017 at the Forestry Campus in Istanbul, Turkey.

Morocco announced its intention to host the African Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) during the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 22) in Marrakesh, Morocco in November 2015.

The UNCCD’s network of Regional Coordination Mechanisms, comprising RCUs, Regional Committees and Thematic Programme Networks, was officially established in 2009, through decision 3/COP.9. Both regional implementation annexes have previously been hosted at the UNCCD headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

With regional mechanisms having experienced funding difficulties, with limited resources for staffing and implementation of sub-regional and regional coordination and collaboration activities, the new hosting arrangements are expected to boost UNCCD implementation.

With regional mechanisms having experienced funding difficulties, with limited resources for staffing and implementation of sub-regional and regional coordination and collaboration activities, the new hosting arrangements are aimed to boost UNCCD implementation. Such activities include providing training and technical support for monitoring and reporting exercises and facilitating regional preparatory meetings for the COP and UNCCD subsidiary bodies.

Participants at the Northern Mediterranean launch included the UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut, the Under-secretary of Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs of Turkey, Ali Rıca Diniz, and senior officials from the General Directorates for Combating Desertification, Forestry and State Water Works. The regional office will serve the following Annex 4 countries: Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia and Turkey.

Both of these announcements address issues that were discussed at the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the UNCCD, in October 2015. At that meeting, Turkey had informed delegates about an initiative to establish a RCU in Turkey for Annex IV countries. At that time, Turkey suggested it would also be coordinated with Annex V countries. At the same time, the African Group expressed concern at the move of the RCU for Africa to the Secretariat in Bonn, and recalled the call by the 15th Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to establish the RCU in a suitable host institution
in Africa.

Two other RCUs are hosted by UN regional commissions. The Asia (Annex II) regional office is based in Bangkok, Thailand at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and receives additional staffing support from the Republic of Korea. The regional office for Latin American and Caribbean countries has been located in Santiago, Chile, since 2012, under a host agreement with the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The RCU for Central and Eastern Europe (Annex V) continues to be based in Bonn, Germany. [UNCCD Press Release on Northern Mediterranean RCU] [UNCCD Press Release on Africa RCU] [UNCCD COP 12 Secretariat Note on the Effective implementation of the Convention at national, sub-regional and regional levels]