The 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) took place in Nairobi, Kenya from October 17th to 28th. CRIC4 also took place during the first week of COP7. DCG attended this conference with representatives from our four partner countries and also participated at COP7 as a member of eniD (european networking initiative on Desertification). For more information on what happened at COP7 including what decisions were made, you are encouraged to read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin and/ or the official report from the UNCCD Secretariat on COP7. On the other hand, if you would like to know a bit more about the preoccupations and opinions of the NGOs during COP7 you can read the ECO Newsletters that came out during the conference at the ELCI website. 

In collaboration with the other members of eniD and Southern NGOs, DCG organized an Open Dialogue Session (ODS) on October 21st. The theme of this ODS was "Crisis management and long term adaptation through local action". During this ODS, southern partners from members of eniD and another Southern NGO presented five case studies illustrating how local action is essential to managing crises in drylands (treating symptoms) as well as reaching long term sustainability (treating root causes). More specifically, a member of DCG Ethiopia presented the work of his organization REST and the role of local people and institutions in both crisis management and long-term development activities. Here is his presentation including the manuscript. After the presentations, a debate was open to the plenary and an analysis was then conducted followed by conclusions and recommendations. An article on our ODS was also published in the 5th issue of the ECO Newsletter.

DCG also held a stand at COP7 with other members of eniD and displayed relevant publications and information material about DCG and its various member organizations. The stand was well visited by numerous participants at the conference who were able to familiarize themselves with our work.