COP 14 CONFERENCE of the PARTIES DESERTIFICATION 2019

COP 14 NEW DELHI 2019 DESERTIFICATION UNITED NATIONS PARTIES & CONFERENCES

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DESERTIFICATION 2019 - With climate change lately a hot topic thanks to Extinction Rebellion and schoolchildren like Greta Thunberg, we are hoping for great things at this conference.

 

 

The fourteenth Conference of the Parties to combat desertification is to be held in New Delhi, India from the 2nd to the 13th September 2019 at the India Expo Center and Mart. 

The global Conference is expected to review the progress made, especially during the last two years, to control and reverse further loss of productive land from desertification, land degradation and drought. These are considered growing threats to peace and security in both developed and developing countries due to the widespread loss of livelihoods for communities and even entire regions. 

The data and information submitted over the last two years by 135 of the 196 countries that are party to the Convention is the most extensive yet reported by governments on the national status of land degradation and the drivers behind it. These country reports combined with several major scientific assessments will be especially helpful in guiding the Conference to the most sustainable and cost-effective solutions in the global efforts to avoid and halt further loss of productive land and incentivize the recovery of degrading areas in order to improve the living conditions of the most affected and vulnerable populations.

 

 

 

 

Some of the new and relevant issues that are on the radar of the governments include the interaction between climate and land, optimizing the mix of food, energy and environment demands on land, the rural-urban link, the negative feedback of land degradation on poverty and human health, the tremendous opportunity sustainable value chains may provide, the role of the faith communities and the rapidly growing global movement on land restoration both of which are essential to achieving land degradation neutrality, which is a pivotal Agenda 2030 target. 

Over 5,000 representatives from over 196 countries drawn from national, regional and local governments, science and research communities, the private sector, international and non-governmental organizations and all forms media will address these issues during the two-week event. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India is hosting the Conference and announced the new COP dates following further consultations with the secretariat of the Convention to ensure the greatest success of the Conference.

COP14 will take place exactly two years since the last Conference held on 6-16 September 2017 in Ordos in the People's Republic of China.

 

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.

 

 

 

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. China is one of the biggest users of coal, oil, diesel and petroleum fossil fuels. 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.

 

 

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

 

 

 

MAKING DESERTS - 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.

 

 

UNCCD COP14 New Delhi, India 2019

 

SOIL EROSION - 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

 

Switchboard

Tel: +49-228 / 815-2800
Fax: +49-228 / 815-2898/99
Email: secretariat@unccd.int

Office

UNCCD
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1
D-53113 Bonn, Germany
CSO Contact

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

e-mail : CSO@unccd.int

T +49-228 / 815-2806
F +49-228 / 815-2898/99

CST contact

Co-ordinator STI Unit
T +49-228 / 815-2834
F +49-228 / 815-2898/99
E kmst@unccd.int

Press Office


T +49-228 / 815-2820
F +49-228 / 815-2898/99
E press@unccd.int

Librarian

Ms Katya Arapnakova
T +49-228 / 815-2864
F +49-228 / 815-2898/99
E library@
unccd.int

 

 

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/conventionconference-parties-cop/unccd-cop14-new-delhi-india

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

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