The Bureau of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), recently established the reporting timeframe for the next round of national reports: affected and developed country Parties should submit their reports by the end of June 2014.
7 February 2014: The Bureau of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), recently established the reporting timeframe for the next round of national reports: affected and developed country Parties should submit their reports by the end of June 2014.
The Bureau met from 3-4 February, in Bonn, Germany. Vice-Chairs for the CRIC 13 and 14 Bureau are: Richard Mwenedandu (Kenya); Warapong Waramit (Thailand); Yuri Kolmaz (Ukraine); and Patrick Wegerdt (EU). The CRIC 13 and 14 Chair is Philbert Brown (Jamaica).
The Bureau reviewed the work plan of the Convention, provisions related to the CRIC that were adopted at the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11), and activities undertaken by the Secretariat and the Global Mechanism (GM) with regard to reporting and best practices. Bureau members also agreed on the agenda for the 13th session of the CRIC. COP 11 decided that CRIC 13 shall be held over five days during the period 8-27 November 2014, in Bonn, Germany, or in a venue with UN conference facilities in the event that no party makes an offer to host that session and meet the additional cost.
The CRIC Bureau also met with the Bureau of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST), which was meeting simultaneously. A Civil Society Organization (CSO) Panel met in parallel, and the CRIC Bureau had informal exchanges with this Panel as well. The next meeting of the CRIC Bureau will be in June 2014, at the same time as the CST Bureau.
UNCCD national reporting is submitted through the on-line performance review and assessment of implementation system (PRAIS). In January 2014, the UNCCD Secretariat and its Global Mechanism announced a number of changes to PRAIS, including: a reduction in the number of performance indicators, from 14 to 11 for affected country Parties and from 10 to 8 for developed country Parties; a simplified format for reporting on financial flows, resulting in a 70 percent reduction in the number of required fields; and a simplification of the reporting templates. The platform also now allows draft reports to be saved and edited off-line if necessary. The new on-line reporting platform is expected to be open for report submissions in May 2014. [UNCCD News Release on CRIC Bureau Meeting][Information on Changes to PRAIS][Land Policy & Practice summary of changes to PRAIS]