Approach for Preparation of National Action Program

 

Countries affected by desertification are implementing the Convention by developing and carrying out national, sub-regional, and regional action programmes. Criteria for 'preparing these programmes are detailed in the treaty's - five "regional implementation annexes": Africa (considered a priority because that is where desertification is most severe), Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Northern Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on past lessons, the Convention states that these programmes must adopt a democratic, bottom-up approach.

 

They should emphasize popular participation and the creation of an "enabling environment" designed to allow local people to help themselves to reverse land degradation. Of course, governments remain responsible for creating this enabling environment. They must make politically sensitive changes, such as decentralizing authority, improving land-tenure systems, and empowering women, farmers, and pastoralists. They should also permit non-governmental organizations to play a strong role in preparing and implementing the action programmes. In contrast to many past efforts, these action programmes are to be fully integrated into other national policies for sustainable development. They should be flexible and modified as circumstances change.

 

The Convention's action programmes are being developed through consultations among affected countries, donors, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. This process will improve coordination and channel development assistance to where it can be most effective. It will also produce partnership agreements that spell out the respective contributions of both affected and donor states and of international organizations. Developed countries are expected to encourage the mobilization of substantial funding for the action programmes. They should also promote access to appropriate technologies, knowledge, and know-how. The need for coordination among donors and recipients is stressed because each programme's various activities need to be complementary and mutually reinforcing.

 

The Convention opens an important new phase in the battle against desertification, but it is just a beginning. In particular, governments are regularly reviewing the action programmes. They also focus on awareness-raising, education, and training, both in developing and developed countries. Desertification can only be reversed through profound changes in local and international behavior. Step by step, these changes will ultimately lead to sustainable land use and food security for a growing world population. Combating desertification, then, is really just part of a much broader objective: the sustainable development of countries affected by drought and desertification.

 

The Convention will be implemented through action programmes. At the national level, the programme will address the underlying causes of desertification and drought and identify measures of preventing and reversing it. National programmes will be complemented by sub-regional and regional programmes, particularly when trans-boundary resources such as lakes and rivers are involved. Action programmes are detailed in the five regional implementation annexes to the Convention -- Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Northern Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern Europe.