SPREP News Thursday, 13 Oct 2011

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
www.sprep.org

All news on the UNCCD COP 10 is available at www.bionesian.blogspot.com

Headlines

• UNCCD a priority for Fiji
• Science valuable to combating land degradation in Fiji
• “Save The Earth” Cartoon Exhibition
• SPREP speaks at South-South Cooperation event on land management

UNCCD a priority for Fiji
13 October 2011, Changwon Korea - The Government of Fiji has announced their support for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification as an important agreement at the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly in September, which addressed the issue of desertification, land degradation and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

For Maria Elder, the Science and Technical Correspondent of Fiji to this Convention, this is welcoming news.

“It is really helpful in terms of implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Fiji as we have been working to mainstream sustainable land management in our country. We are also reviewing our National Action Plan as part of our report due in 2012, and ultimately we need cabinet endorsement before we can take it to the UNCCD Secretariat.”

The statement made by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, outlines Fiji’s commitment to combat continuous land degradation sharing the nations role in strengthening integrated water resource management, integrated land and coastal use planning and reforestation initiatives to complement the efforts to halt land degradation.

“We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development,” he presented.

The Prime Minister of Fiji also called for a sustainable development target of ‘zero net land degradation’ and for the UNCCD to be an essential tool to achieve food security.

The full statement made is available below:

Statement By Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
Prime Minister Of The Republic Of Fiji
At The
High-Level Meeting Of The General Assembly On
“Addressing Desertification, Land Degradation And Drought In The Context Of Sustainable Development And Poverty Eradication”
19-20 September 2011
United Nations
New York

19 September 2011
___________________

Distinguished Co-chairs and Excellencies,

My delegation’s participation at this first High-Level Meeting on today’s theme in the General Assembly is a testimony of the utmost importance that my Government attaches to the important global issues of desertification, land degradation and drought. Reality would affirm that without addressing these issues, the world would not achieve its internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. The Secretary-General’s Report clearly emphasises that desertification and land degradation are now pervasive problems in all ecosystems which affect us all in various ways, but has a disproportionate impact on many of the world’s poorest people.

For a small island developing State such as Fiji, the impacts of climate change pose immediate threats to our economy and our survival.

Climate variability and the effects of El Nino and La Nina further exacerbate the vulnerabilty of our ecosystems and pose a greater risk to the sustainability of our environment. The increasing occurrences of natural disasters make our land more susceptible to degradation and drought. These are challenges that we cannot escape from, the effects of which we must mitigate.

In mitigating these challenges, Fiji has put in place measures towards the sustainable management of our natural resources. We have mainstreamed sustainable land management issues into most of the key sectors of its national strategic plan, and importantly, we have put in place appropriate laws and policies that ensure an integrated and comprehensive approach towards the effective implementation of the Convention (UNCCD).

With a view to combatting continuous land degradation, not only have we focused on landuse, emphasis has also been placed on intergrated water resource management and intergrated land and coastal use planning. In line with these strategies are our reforestation initiatives which have effectively complemented our efforts to combat land degradation. We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

At this high level meeting, it is important for us to recognise the urgent need of exerting our collective efforts to addressing the issues at hand in a manner that further progresses the objectives of the Convention.

As we look forward to Rio+20, my delegation wishes to submit the following points to be included in the outcome of this high level meeting:

(i) We must encourage the donor community and the United Nations system to continue to address the needs of more than one billion inhabitants of dry lands by encouraging appropriate investments to contribute to achieving the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs. In this regard, we should promote awareness and support the exchange of best practices based on lessons learned, and to mobilize adequate and predictable financial resources for these investments.
(ii) We need to strengthen our scientific capacity to understand and monitor the seriousness of the issues at hand. For this reason, we support the establishment of a panel of experts to deal solely with the issue of DLDD.
(iii) We should set ourselves a target of ‘zero net land degradation’ as a sustainable development target.
(iv) We should make UNCCD an essential tool to achieve food security.

Fiji trusts that the outcomes of this high level meeting sets the global community on track, to effectively address and curtail the peril of desertification, land degradation and drought.

Thank you.

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Science valuable to combating land degradation in Fiji
13 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - Science plays a vital role in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Recognising this, the Convention has formed a body called the Committee of Science and Technology which has a representative from each country that is a party to this convention. Their role is to assist the national UNCCD focal points to provide scientific data to support the implementation of national activities.

“We help to help collect and analyze physical scientific data to assist with the policy and decision making for our countries in carrying out the convention,” said Maria Elder, of the Department of Agriculture of Fiji.

The Committee of Science and Technology are currently meeting during the 10th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD which is a biannual gathering. This Committee also gathers every other year during a ‘special’ session.

“Our meetings are focused in terms of the types of data we need to collect on the field, the socio-economic, bio-physical and economic issues related to land degradation. This week in Korea we have had feedback from 11 countries on a pilot project that tested the new reporting cycle for the UNCCD.”

No Pacific countries were part of this project, however despite this, attending the meetings of the committee of science and technology have been valuable for Fiji.

The national reports that review country implementation of the UNCCD take place every two years. For Elder, the UNCCD COP 10 will assist with Fiji’s preparations to complete their next report which is due in 2012.

“For Fiji, I have to go back and meet with the national UNCCD focal point and really look at the reporting template and try to get the missing information that we need. Sometimes our work at national level is general so through attending this meeting it has given me the chance to look at what is needed scientifically so we can realign our activities on the field in Fiji and start collecting the important information needed for our next report”.

The Committee of Science and Technology meets during the first week of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD. Elder will be returning to Fiji tomorrow as next week the actual meetings of the parties to discuss the Convention will take place.

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"Save the Earth" Cartoon Exhibition
13 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - 140 works of art are on display at the Changwon Exhibition Convention Center (CECO) which is the venue of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Drawn by students and world famous cartoonists, the art pieces are about combating desertifcation and protecting our environment; they have messages for us all.

By Pawel Kuczynski, Poland

Fadi Abou Hassan, Palestine

More images are available to view on the Bionesian blog. Please visit www.bionesian.blogspot.com

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SPREP speaks at South-South Cooperation event on land management
12 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - The Pacific region was highlighted during a special event at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification which focused on the South-South cooperation between Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific.

Sustainable Land Management and Finance was at the core of this discussion which had presentations made sharing experiences from each of the three regions.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) shared experiences on Ecosystem based adaptation and mainstreaming land management projects from the Pacific in a joint presentation from Tepa Suaesi the Environment Impact Assessment Officer, SPREP and Bruce Jefferies the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Officer, SPREP.

The Pacific was asked as to how they would recommend synergy at the sub-regional and regional level between all three Rio Conventions which focus on biodiversity, climate change and land.

“For the Pacific, the regional frameworks are in place, which cover environment and development. We have the Council of the Regional Organisations of the Pacific, we have a Pacific Plan document,” answered Tepa Suaesi, the Environment Officer of SPREP.

“The challenge for our region is bringing the planning process from the regional and national level to the local level as we have the traditional structures in place, so we can increase the number of people with knowledge in the global context.”

This side event was coordinated by the Global Mechanism, the organization tasked with resource mobilization for the UNCCD.

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The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)

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