Introduction
Compared to other international agreements, the potential value of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) still remains untapped. It seems that, by and large, the CCD-framework and what it may offer is still relatively unknown among most NGOs and other civil society organisations. Both ENDS wishes to contribute to this challenge by initiating the project 'Enhancing NGO involvement in the CCD process', both with a focus on the Netherlands and the many (local) networks abroad.
Aims
The aim of the project is to help ensure that more Dutch civil society groups become involved in the CCD process, in close collaboration with Southern players, in order that the CCD is more widely supported and its potential better exploited.
Both ENDS aims to help surface the many existing and un-known cross-linkages, such as:
- Direct relationships with water management (ground and surface), wetlands, forest and biodiversity, food security and sustainable land use, ecological restoration, on-farm and off-farm income generation, gender, indigenous peoples and nomadic livelihoods;
- The CCDs complementarity with other existing national and international legal frameworks (e.g. the CBD);
- How the CCD offers new opportunities for civil society participation, governance, trade reforms and transfers of power and mandate to achieve land, vegetation and water preservation in a concrete manner.
To that end the project will undertake:
- To involve Dutch civil society organisations and opinion leaders in promoting the CCD in abating poverty, land degradation, water related problems, climatic instability and biodiversity loss;
- To collaborate with Southern NGOs in promoting and making use of the CCD and to promote collaborative actions between Dutch groups and Southern NGOs;
- To encourage and facilitate, if desirable, Dutch NGOs and Southern NGOs to participate in international negotiations, while promoting interaction between efforts to implement the CCD and other development and environment related national and international agreements and initiatives.
Both ENDS endeavours to involve existing networks, which may not work within the CCD-context as yet, but which are active in the above-mentioned adjacent fields. The project, which runs from October 2002 till May 2004, will promote the exchange of experiences, e.g. on the basis of case studies, meetings and exchange visits.
Both ENDS is a member of the
european networking initiative on Desertification/UNCCD, eniD
See also: Desertification: eniD - The european networking initiative on Desertification/UNCCD
Background information:
Werff ten Bosch, M.J. van der & P. Wolvekamp, Meer draagvlak voor de Conventie ter Bestrijding van Verwoestijning, in: Ecologie en Ontwikkeling, no. 6 (2002)
Gelder, M.J. van & W.T. de Groot, Synergy of CBD and CCD: an inventory and analysis of opportunities for collaboration between the two Rio conventions in West-Africa, CML Publications 158 (Leiden 2001)(pdf-en pp 72)
Werff ten Bosch, M.J. van der, Duurzaam Landgebruik in Droge Gebieden en de Stap naar Actie, in: Ecologie en Ontwikkeling, no. 65 (2004)
Both ENDS Information Package on Desertification
eniD - The european networking initiative on Desertification/UNCCD
Essential links:
A brief Introduction to the Convention to Combat Desertification
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Cases in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability:
Mimicking the Forest - Degraded lands restored through Analog Forestry method (Sri Lanka a.o.)
Analog Forestry replaces cattle ranging and logging - Rainforest Rescue, Ecuador
Integrated Crop Management as Alternative in Dryland Conditions - Farming in semi-arid conditions in Tamil Nadu, India
Polyculture in the Brazilian Drylands - A New Version of an Old Technique
The project is funded by DGIS (the Netherlands).
Contact details:
Paul Wolvekamp / Marie José van der Werff ten Bosch
E-mail desertification(at)bothends.org
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Strategic Cooperation