UNCCD COP 10, COP, inter alia: invites parties to submit their inputs to the UNCSD by 1 November 2011; requests the Executive Secretary to actively prepare for and participate in the UNCSD and to contribute to the compilation document with a view to ensuring that due regard is paid to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) issues; and decides to include in the agenda of COP 11 the item “Follow up to the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on DLDD in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to the UNCSD.”
21 October 2011: Delegates at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 10), which convened from 10-21 October 2011, in Changwon City, Republic of Korea, adopted 40 decisions, including one on the preparatory process for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20).
In the final decision on the follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development relevant to the UNCCD, the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on “addressing DLDD in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” and the preparatory process for the UNCSD, the COP, inter alia: invites parties to submit their inputs to the UNCSD by 1 November 2011; requests the Executive Secretary to actively prepare for and participate in the UNCSD and to contribute to the compilation document with a view to ensuring that due regard is paid to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) issues; and decides to include in the agenda of COP 11 the item “Follow up to the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on DLDD in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to the UNCSD.”
In addition to the meeting of the COP, the tenth meetings of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST 10) and the Committee on the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 10) also convened in Changwon, Republic of Korea. Through the decisions developed in the CST, two ad hoc working groups were established: one to continue the iterative participatory process on impact-indicator refinement and monitoring and assessment of impacts; and one to further discuss options for the provision of scientific advice to the UNCCD. Through the decisions recommended by the CRIC, delegates: approved the strategic orientation of the Convention’s institutions and subsidiary bodies as contained in the workplans adopted at COP 10; adopted four operational objectives to assess the implementation of the Convention against performance indicators; and approved an iterative process on reporting procedures and the refinement of methodologies for the review and compilation of best practices, including by CSOs.
Among the decisions discussed under the aegis of the Committee of the Whole (COW), the COP took a decision on a long-standing question about the governance structure for the Global Mechanism (GM), by which parties agreed that the accountability and legal representation of the GM shall be transferred from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to the UNCCD Secretariat. [IISD RS Coverage of UNCCD COP 10]