24 September 2013: The Rio Conventions Pavilion convened for Landscape Approach Day on 24 September. The Rio Conventions Pavilion is meeting in conjunction with the Eleventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), taking place from 16-27 September 2013, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Landscape Approach Day included sessions on: the partnership creating an EverGreen Agriculture; sustainable wood energy production – innovative approaches to combat land degradation and strengthen the resilience of rural people; a Southern African Development Community (SADC) operational platform to enhance synergies between the biodiversity, land management and climate change pursuits of the three Rio Conventions; ecosystem based adaptation (EBA) – synergies in implementation of the Rio Conventions; and valuing the biodiversity of dry and sub-humid lands.

During the session on sustainable wood energy production, panelists addressed the status of wood energy in Africa and the trends and challenges of wood energy in drylands, with case studies presented from Cameroon and Madagascar. The session on EBA addressed synergies between the UNCCD, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on adaptation, in particular EBA.

The day concluded with the launch of of the publication ‘Valuing the Biodiversity of Dry and Sub-Humid Lands’ produced by the CBD, Global Mechanism (GM) and OSLO Consortium, for the CBD, as per the request by CBD COP 10 for a technical report on the value of dry and sub-humid lands. [IISD RS Coverage of the Meeting] [Meeting Website][Land Policy & Practice story about ‘Valuing the Biodiversity of Dry and Sub-Humid Lands‘]