COP 12 CONFERENCE of the PARTIES DESERTIFICATION 2015

COP 12 ANKARA 2015 DESERTIFICATION UNITED NATIONS PARTIES & CONFERENCES

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COP12 - In 2015 the Convention Conference was hosted by Turkey, a country that is arid and under a great deal of financial pressure with austerity measures in place to appease the European Union. Turkey is a moderate user of coal, oil, diesel and petroleum fossil fuels compared to China and the USA. It is the burning of these fuels that creates greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, the accumulation of which are causing global warming that is changing our climate to makes deserts of land that was previously arable.

 

 

The twelfth Conference of the Parties to combat desertification was held in Ankara, Turkey from the 12th to the 23rd October 2015.

 

A breakthrough agreement reached at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification means that the amount of healthy and productive land may stay stable starting in 2030. The parties also agreed on the indicators they will use not only to measure progress, but to also strengthen measures to make the land resilient to climate change and to halt the biodiversity loss that follows the destruction of ecosystems.

With the adoption of the land degradation neutrality target, “all countries will now formulate voluntary targets to achieve LDN according to their specific national circumstances and development priorities... The indicators will provide the basis for the monitoring and evaluation approach to assess implementation. The same indicators could guide the synergy Parties have always called for among the three Rio Conventions – desertification, climate change and biodiversity,” said Ms Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the Desertification Convention.

Like the queen in a chess game, she said, “land will fill a place as the Queen of both international development and climate change actions. Unlike other pieces on the board, the Queen provides cover and supports our ambitions on many fronts; food, energy, water, climate, biodiversity, jobs, migration and security.”

“For a very long time, we have left the land – our Queen – vulnerable…. But you have made some strategic moves at this COP. There was no check-mate here. But by adopting Land Degradation Neutrality as an organizing principle, you have given us a clear game-plan and vision and direction for the future. For the next 15 years,” Ms Barbut said. 

The agreement follows the adoption of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development in New York last month. The Conference in Ankara was responding to a key target for 2030, which is to combat desertification, and restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world.

The Parties meeting in Ankara agreed on the scientific definition of what it means to become land degradation neutral. She said after Parties have set their targets, they “will recover the land they use for purposes such as road and city construction and lose through degradation.”

Ms. Barbut said the decision puts the Desertification Convention on par with the Climate Change and Biodiversity Conventions, both of which have their own targets.

They also agreed on the set of land-based indicators that they will use to measure progress, which they are also recommending for adoption as the primary measures of land degradation neutrality globally. Ms. Barbut said there is “work to be done to ensure these indicators are workable and appropriate.”

Ms. Barbut stated that the Ankara Initiative valued at US$5million from Turkey and an estimated US$3 million to be sourced from the Global Environment Facility will provide the initial support, including for target setting.

An estimated US$2billion will be needed every year to support the actual restoration activities. This could be mobilized through the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund that will be operation by end of 2016, and with diverse sources of financing, including from the private sector, Ms. Barbut added.

Mr. Lütfü Akça, Under Secretary-General, Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, underlined the endorsement of the land degradation neutrality target in the Ankara Ministerial Declaration, signaling the global nature of the target. He said the declarations by Parliamentarians, the private sector and the civil society organizations would enhance action, for instance, on early warning systems for drought, land rights and investment.

He said Turkey, as COP12 President, will present the Conference outcomes to the Paris 2015 Climate Conference taking place in December. He said the Ankara Initiative will be negotiated bilaterally with the Convention and will mainly support activities related to implementing the target on land degradation neutrality.

Underlining the significance of the COP12 achievements, Ms. Barbut said the reports from the Climate Change process show that “we are more at a 3 degrees Celsius than 2 degrees. If we want to stay within 2 degrees, we must massively invest in sequestration; and we could, in 15 years, halve the emissions gap” by making soil carbon sequestration part of the Paris deal.

The Conference, which was the twelfth session of the Parties took place in Ankara, Turkey, from 12-23 October, and concluded on minutes to midnight on Friday night, 23 October. More than 6,000 delegates attended the session, including more than 75 high ranking delegates who attended the high level session, which was officially opened by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

 

 

CHINA 2017 - In 2017 the Conference of the Parties (COP) was held in China. This Conference witnessed the birth of the first global private sector fund dedicated to implementing the SDGs, known as the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund.

 

 

WHAT IS THE CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION

 

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is an agreement to hold meetings to decide how best to help countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa. The UNCCD is a convention to combat soil degradation that makes deserts of previously fertile land that have been farmed out.

 

The aim of the convention is to mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements. Sadly, climate change is causing a regular loss of land for use in agriculture as global warming accelerates unchecked. That coupled with intensive farming practices that are not sustainable, has created a situation where people have become refugees as victims of developed countries and their use continued use of fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases.

 

197 PARTIES

 

The Convention’s 197 parties work together to improve the living conditions for people in drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought. Though given that climate change is uncontrolled, this is a losing battle at best and very poor compensation to those who the developed world are displacing.

 

The UNCCD secretariat facilitates cooperation between developed and developing countries, particularly around knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable land management. That is a way of saying they are doing what they can, where they should be dealing with the root cause.

 

The UNCCD collaborates closely with the other two Rio Conventions; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to meet these complex challenges with an integrated approach and the best possible use of natural resources.

 

 

 

FOOD AID - Desertification gives rise to mass human migration as climate change causes soil degradation, creating refugees who will need feeding as a result of the fossil fuel excesses of the developed world.

 

 

THE REGIONS

 

Five world regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Northern Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe - have the important job of deciding how to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Convention Text includes five annexes, which each concern one of these world regions.

 

The implementation of the UNCCD is organized around these five regional implementation annexes. The annexes specify how the Convention will be implemented for each region and set the focus and content of regional and subregional action programmes. These action programmes provide a framework for regional coordination and collaboration. Though the country Parties of the regions define together how the UNCCD will be implemented, most action takes place at the national level.

 

 

 

 

DESERTIFICATION COP HISTORY

 

COP 1: Rome, Italy, 29 Sept to 10 Oct 1997

COP 9: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 21 Sept to 2 Oct 2009

COP 2: Dakar, Senegal, 30 Nov to 11 Dec 1998

COP 10: Changwon, South Korea, 10 to 20 Oct 2011

COP 3: Recife, Brazil, 15 to 26 Nov 1999

COP 11: Windhoek, Namibia, 16 to 27 Sept 2013

COP 4: Bonn, Germany, 11 to 22 Dec 2000

COP 12: Ankara, Turkey, 12 to 23 Oct 2015

COP 5: Geneva, Switzerland, 1 to 12 Oct 2001

COP 13: Ordos City, China, 6 to 16 Sept 2017

COP 6: Havana, Cuba, 25 August to 5 Sept 2003

COP 14: New Delhi, India, 2 to 13 Sept 2019

COP 7: Nairobi, Kenya, 17 to 28 Oct 2005

COP 15:  2020

COP 8: Madrid, Spain, 3 to 14 Sept 2007

COP 16:  2021

 

 

 

SOIL EROSION - Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry area of land becomes a desert, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change (particularly the current global warming) and through the overexploitation of soil through human activity. When deserts appear automatically over the natural course of a planet's life cycle, then it can be called a natural phenomenon; however, when deserts emerge due to the rampant and unchecked depletion of nutrients in soil that are essential for it to remain arable, then a virtual "soil death" can be spoken of, which traces its cause back to human overexploitation. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem with far reaching consequences on socio-economic and political conditions.

 

The more land that we lose for to grow crops the greater the food security issue. The more ice that melts from global warming, the more our sea level rises, again, reducing land area. World politics is not working or we would not have these problems. We need to change policies urgently to make politics work for the planet. If that means electing new representatives and executive officers free from conflicts of interest, who understand the urgency of sustainable agriculturelow carbon houses, renewable energy and transport, the electorate should give consideration to voting out the old and voting in new blood for change. 

 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE COP HISTORY

 

1995 COP 1, BERLIN, GERMANY

2008 COP 14/CMP 4, POZNAN, POLAND

1996 COP 2, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2009 COP 15/CMP 5, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

1997 COP 3, KYOTO, JAPAN

2010 COP 16/CMP 6, CANCUN, MEXICO

1998 COP 4, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

2011 COP 17/CMP 7, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

1999 COP 5, BONN, GERMANY

2012 COP 18/CMP 8, DOHA, QATAR

2000:COP 6, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

2013 COP 19/CMP 9, WARSAW, POLAND

2001 COP 7, MARRAKECH, MOROCCO

2014 COP 20/CMP 10, LIMA, PERU

2002 COP 8, NEW DELHI, INDIA

2015 COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France

2003 COP 9, MILAN, ITALY

2016 COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1, Marrakech, Morocco

2004 COP 10, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

2017 COP 23/CMP 13/CMA 2, Bonn, Germany

2005 COP 11/CMP 1, MONTREAL, CANADA

2018 COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 3, Katowice, Poland

2006 COP 12/CMP 2, NAIROBI, KENYA

2019 COP 25/CMP 15/CMA 4, Santiago, Chile

2007 COP 13/CMP 3, BALI, INDONESIA

2020 COP 26/CMP 16/CMA 5, to be announced

 

 

BIODIVERSITY COP HISTORY

 

COP 1: 1994 Nassau, Bahamas, Nov & Dec

COP 8: 2006 Curitiba, Brazil, 8 Mar

COP 2: 1995 Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov

COP 9: 2008 Bonn, Germany, May

COP 3: 1996 Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov

COP 10: 2010 Nagoya, Japan, Oct

COP 4: 1998 Bratislava, Slovakia, May

COP 11: 2012 Hyderabad, India

EXCOP: 1999 Cartagena, Colombia, Feb

COP 12: 2014 Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, Oct

COP 5: 2000 Nairobi, Kenya, May

COP 13: 2016 Cancun, Mexico, 2 to 17 Dec

COP 6: 2002 The Hague, Netherlands, April

COP 14: 2018 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 17 to 29 Nov

COP 7: 2004 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb

COP 15: 2020 Kunming, Yunnan, China

 

 

UNCCD CONTACTS

 

Postal Address

 

UNITED NATIONS
Convention to Combat Desertification
UNCCD Secretariat
P.O. Box 260129
D-53153 Bonn, Germany

 

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CSO Contact

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NGO and Civil Society Liaison Officer
FCMI - Facilitation, Capacity Building and Monitoring of Implementation unit
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat

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CST contact

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T +49-228 / 815-2834
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E kmst@unccd.int

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Desertification world risk map

WORLD MAP - Showing the vulnerability of regions to desertification by colour code from blue (no risk) through to red (high risk) areas.

 

 

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LINKS & REFERENCE

 

https://www.unccd.int/convention/conference-parties-cop/unccd-cop12-ankara-turkey

https://www.unccd.int/

https://www.unccd.int/convention/about-convention

https://www.un.org/

 

 

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This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. copyright © Climate Change Trust 2019. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom.

 

 

DESERTIFICATION IS WHERE AGRICULTURAL LAND IS DEGRADED TO THE POINT WHERE IT BECOMES A DESERT