17 June 2008: On the occasion of 2008 World Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought, celebrated on 17 June, the Global Mechanism (GM)
of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) emphasized that “the
current strategy and policy debates around climate resilience, sustainable
agriculture and food security point to the conclusion that none of these global
challenges and threats to human well-being should be tackled in isolation, but
as part and
parcel of development programming at country level, supported
by effective
international policy making processes.”

GM
Managing Director Christian Mersmann indicated that the GM “would
like to draw attention to the potential of the UNCCD as the main policy forum
that brings together the themes of climate resilience food security and rural
development through sustainable land management (SLM).” Among the initiatives
and efforts related to these issues, the GM statement highlights: the Strategic Framework on
Climate Change and Development (SFCCD) for the World Bank
Group, which is currently under debate; the UNCCD through policy and strategy
development and the GM through its direct support to countries; the UN
Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis’
recently launched draft for Elements of a Comprehensive Framework for Action,
which looks at immediate needs of developing countries and longer-term global
food security policies; and the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to
be held in Accra, Ghana, in early September 2008, to evaluate the impact of the
Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The GM statement also recommends that
financing instruments like the Global Environment Facility and its
implementing/executing agencies be further strengthened by the
international community. [Climate
resilience and food security: UNCCD at the interface]