The year 2006 was declared by the United Nations "International Year of Deserts and Desertification" (IYDD). The main objective of this declared year being to "profile desertification as a major threat to humanity, reinforced under the scenarios of climate change and loss of biological diversity." (UNCCD website).
As a result of this decision, several events will be organized around the world to raise awareness on the issue of desertification. One of these events on ‘Youth and Desertification’ is scheduled to take place in Bamako, Mali from September 4-6th. Another event that is particularly interesting for DCG is on ‘Civil Society and Desertification’ and will take place in Montpellier, France from September 21st to 23rd. CARI, one of the members of eniD will be responsible for the organization of this event. All these events will take place during the first half of this year as they are all meant to feed into a Summit of Heads of States and Governments on the theme of Deserts and Desertification that will be held in in October. The agenda for the IYDD events can be found here and more information can be accessed from the following official IYDD website: http://www.iydd.org/.
Workshop in Rome
The first event held in the context of the IYDD was a workshop on "Combating desertification and poverty in drylands: Promoting decentralized cooperation and the participation of civil society in implementation of the UNCCD". This workshop was held in Rome, Italy from January 19th to 20th. DCG participated at this workshop with another member of eniD and contributed with a presentation. More information on this workshop can be found here.
International Conference on Desertification, Hunger and Poverty
An international conference took place from April 11th to 12th in Geneva, Switzerland organized by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and the UNCCD Secretariat. The objectives of the conference were to:
- Examine the relationship between agricultural development and land degradation
- Identify favourable legal instruments and clarify responsibilities
- Contribute to the political debate, including within the framework of the UNCCD
- Bring out the priorities for action and research
The conference focused among other things on policy and human rights issues with regard to desertification, hunger and poverty. Around 350 people attended this conference representing different research institutions, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, UN organizations, UNCCD focal points, ministries, etc. A member of the DCG Secteriat also participated in this conference. Here is a report on the conference. The organizers are also planning to write proceedings from the conference.
The Future of Drylands Conference
An international scientific conference on desertification and drylands research took place in Tunis, Tunisia from June 19th to 21st. The main objectives of this conference were to "review the current state-of-knowledge of dryland ecosystems and the socio-economics of dryland development, to identify important knowledge gaps for defining future paths of research, and to communicate 50 years of dryland research in the context of the IYDD" (UNESCO). Discussions focused on several thematic areas regrouped under these three topics:
- Research and science issues related to drylands and desertification
- Policy-related issues in drylands
- Interventions/ implementation issues related to sustainable dryland development (UNESCO)
Summaries of the presentations held under the different sessions can be found on the following website: http://www.unesco.org/mab/ecosyst/futureDrylands.shtml
