17 February 2011: The Global Mechanism (GM) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recently released three new publications on aid for trade investments in agriculture and sustainable land management (SLM).

The publications are titled: “Vers un agenda commun de l’Agriculture et de l’Aide pour le commerce pour la gestion durable des terres: L’expérience du Mali” (Towards a Common Agenda on Aid for Trade and Agriculture for Sustainable Land Management: the Experience of Mali); “Towards a common agenda on Aid for Trade and Agriculture for sustainable land management: the experience of Uganda;” and “Knowledge Exchange Programme on Aid for Trade Finance for Sustainable Land Management: A manual for least developed countries (LDCs).”

The case studies on Mali and Uganda share their progress in harmonizing their trade priorities across sectors in order to build more coherent policy frameworks, and coordinate trade investments in agriculture to promote SLM and facilitate equilibrium in supply and demand of agricultural products. The manual seeks to enable users to engage in Aid for Trade (AfT) implementation in LDCs with a view to increasing AfT investments in trade projects and programmes that also benefit rural development, food security and the environment. [Global Mechanism Press Release]