Outcome of the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Seventh UNCCD Parliamentarians Forum Praia, Cape Verde 1 December 2008

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1 SECRETARIAT OF THE CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION SECRETARIAT DE LA CONVENTION SUR LA LUTTE CONTRE LA DESERTIFICATION Outcome of the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Seventh UNCCD Parliamentarians Forum Praia, Cape Verde 1 December 2008 UNCCD Parliamentary involvement and future activities Participated in the meeting: Hon. Mr. Dr. Aristides R. Lima, President of the Steering Committee (Africa) Mr. Wu Yuanshan, China s Ambassador, on behalf of Hon. Mr. Gu Yidang, Vice-President (Asia/Pacific) Hon. Ms. Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines, Vice-President (Europe) Hon. Dra. Fabiola Morales Castillo, Vice-President (America and the Caribbean) Prof. Uwe Holtz as facilitator I. Background 1. Since 1998 MPs met in parallel to the COPs. The Parliamentary Round Tables/Forums became an integral part of the COP sessions and a platform for exchange of views and interaction between MPs on sustainable development and, more specifically, desertification. These took place in Dakar (1998), Recife (1999), Bonn (2000), Geneva (2001), Havana (2003), Nairobi (2005) and Madrid (2007). 2. The declarations adopted after each Round Table/Forum constitute the framework of the MPs intended engagement in support of UNCCD. In particular, the Declaration adopted in Havana (2003) constituted a suitable framework of the MPs commitment and included a Parliamentary Action Plan. Furthermore, MPs elected a Steering Committee 1 and called for the establishment of a Parliamentary Network on the UNCCD (PNoUNCCD) under the auspices of the IPU, a network of information, interaction and influence aimed at increasing parliamentary involvement and efficiency in the fields of combating desertification, soil erosion and land degradation. Accordingly, the UNCCD Secretariat established in February 2004 on its website a window Parliaments in action (directly > 3. The Declarations adopted in Nairobi (2005) and Madrid (2007) pleaded for a stronger parliamentary commitment and political will. II. Achievements - Failures 4. It is of great merit that with the support of the UNCCD secretariat and the IPU a parliamentary dimension was added to the UNCCD process. The Parliamentary Round Tables/Forums have become a platform during the meetings for exchange of views and interaction among parliamentarians on desertification issues. 1 Composition since Madrid (2007): 1. Africa Hon. Dr. Aristides R. Lima, Cape Verde (President of the Steering Committee); 2. Arab Countries Hon. Dr. Nasseriddin Khairallah, Syria (C); 3. Asia/Pacific Hon. Ms. Prof. Wang Tao, China (Vice-President) meanwhile replaced by Hon. Mr. Gu Yidang; 4. Europe Hon. Ms. Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines and Hon. Ms. María Sornosa Martínez, European Parliament (Vice- Presidents); 5. Latin America and the Caribbean Hon. Dra. Fabiola Morales Castillo, Peru (Vice-President); 6. Inter-Parliamentary Union N.N. (Vice-President).

2 Page 2 5. However, evaluating the impact of the previous seven Parliamentary Round Tables/Forums, the following conclusions can be drawn: a) Each of the COPs 2-8 took note with appreciation of the Declarations, adopted by the Round Tables, and decided to include them as annexes to the reports of the COP sessions. However, with respect to the official outcomes of the COPs, the Parliamentary Round Tables were not a front-runner in formulating specific demands related to the desertification cause. Though they were sometimes quite innovative, the follow-up was meager. b) The IPU dealt with the outcomes of the different Parliamentary Round Tables and considered several times the issues of land degradation and desertification. In 2003 the IPU Governing Council approved the creation of a Steering Committee and of the Parliamentary Network on UNCCD. The further follow-up was meager. c) The UNCCD secretariat gave all possible support to the Parliamentary Round Tables/Forums; it too often failed in taking up the parliamentary inputs into their dayto-day business. d) Too many self-commitments made by parliamentarians were not taken up at home. Parliaments and MPs could do more to realize the various good ideas put forward during the Parliamentary Round Tables and its action programmes. e) The website with its section Parliaments in action including informations on all Parliamentary Round Tables/Forums (in any case reproducing the Declarations) is quite helpful. However, the Parliamentary Network (PNoUNCCD) could be much better used by the MPs themselves. It is known that several parliaments or MPs undertook initiatives within their respective parliaments or on a (sub-) regional level, but these activities were not reported to the UNCCD secretariat resp. not notified on the website (for example relevant activities of the National Assembly of Cape Verde or of the European Parliament; the initiative of Steering Committee member Fabiola Morales from May 2008 asking for a procurador ambiental especializado que defienda los intereses del Estado y, principalmente, de todos los peruanos 2 ). So just the motion Fighting desertification effectively (incl. direct and indirect measures) adopted by the German Parliament, Bundestag, in 2004 ranks among the Follow-up Actions to be found on the website. 2

3 Page 3 III. The role of the Parliamentary Forum as well as of parliaments and MPs: To-do list 6. COPs: The Parliamentary Forums have to meet before the High Level Segment of the COPs (and not at their end) this will enhance the opportunity to have a parliamentary impact on the COP as a whole. (Steering Committee President Dr. Lima will write a letter to the president of the Bureau of the next COP and send a copy to the Secretariat.) 7. UNCCD secretariat: It could rely more on the parliamentary inputs as regards content and proposals made during the forums and up-date the parliamentary website as and when necessary. 8. IPU: (a) The IPU should take part in the works of the Parliamentary Forum and its Steering Committee (one vice-president is nominated by the IPU). (b) The PNoCCD would be very grateful if the IPU (in particular its relevant committee) could support the four strategic objectives of the UNCCD, : (i) To improve the livelihood of affected populations, (ii) to improve the productivity of affected ecosystems, (iii) to generate global benefits, (iv) to mobilize resources to support implementation of the Convention through building effective partnerships between national and international actors. IPU should tackle with and promote UNCCD`s responses to seven global challenges: Climate change, biodiversity, food crisis, water, energy crisis, forced migration, and poverty reduction. For the Steering Committee members it is of primordial importance to underline the human aspects: keeping peoples in the rural areas, and relating agriculture, reforestation, water issues with the fight against soil losses and land degradation. (c) Parliaments should push the IPU to integrate the PNoUNCCD into its own programme, budget and structures. 9. PNoUNCCD: It needs a stronger Focal Point and a regular funding (the President could take an appropriate initiative in conjunction with the Executive Secretary) and must be better used by Steering Committee members as well as by Parliaments and their members. 10. Parliaments and MPs: There is at the national, (sub) regional and international levels a need for improved parliamentary participation, greater parliamentary involvement, capacity strengthening, and more parliamentary networking in the areas of sustainable land and water management, land governance, climate change, migration, conflict prevention etc.. In Madrid in 2007, the Forum s participants called on their parliaments and their members to commit themselves to (priorities for the next two years should be set): a) undertake the strengthening of national legislation and its harmonization with the provisions of the UNCCD and the streamlining of land degradation and desertification issues in NAPs, (sub-) RAPs, PRSPs and country programmes supported by the donor community being aware of the fact that in some countries the competence for natural resources is organized in an decentralized way;

4 Page 4 b) institutionalize within parliaments the capability to evaluate the impact of laws, socalled regulatory impact (ex-ante, concurrent and ex-post evaluation of laws); c) work for the pursuit of coherent and better coordinated policies in the area of antipoverty and sustainable human development strategies including anti-desertification, the enhancement of synergies between the Rio conventions and the building up of a culture of coordination of the NAPs with other national development priorities; d) monitor executive actions and control of whether desertification issues are included in overall government agendas; e) create specific budget lines for combating land degradation and the observance of consistent budget strategies appropriately integrating foreign assistance into a country s own development plans; f) mobilize public opinion and raise awareness on sustainable human development, land degradation and desertification issues through campaigns, annual events (World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on 17 June), special parliamentary debates, environmental education, the involvement of schools, academics and artists, and commemorative postage stamps; g) build partnerships between policy-makers, the academic community, the business sector, and non-governmental and community-based organizations and - where appropriate to include indigenous populations; h) make efforts to enhance the involvement of all stakeholders with activities on land issues; i) work for the strengthening of regional and continental cooperation in the field of combating desertification and promote forms of international, regional and subregional cooperation favorable to improving relations between the relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and actors, including - if necessary - parliamentary diplomatic activities; j) foster regional parliamentary activities in the field of water management, soil erosion and land degradation; k) create parliamentary oversight mechanisms (vis-à-vis the Global Environmental Facility and the regional development banks). l) The parliaments of the developed countries must do their utmost in increasing the official development assistance (particularly of those countries which did not reach the 0.7% target so far; until 2015 this target should be reached) and its effectiveness in order to support the implementation of the Convention by i.a. building effective partnerships between national and international actors; in this respect above all the private sector is called upon to be ready for technology transfer. m) The parliaments should work for it that the potentials of land and soil are fully taken into consideration in the new climate regime.

5 Page Parliamentary Steering Committee: It should show more guidance in strengthening the PNoUNCCD, looking for a better follow-up of the Forums Declarations and monitoring the work of parliamentarians; performance indicators would be helpful to realize an evaluation. Its members should participate in relevant international conferences and promote parliamentary activities on a (sub-) regional or at least national level. Many of these activities require an adequate funding. 12. The parliamentary network must be revitalized: more communications with parliaments, establishment of a database with relevant laws and legislations, and elaboration of a statute (objectives, organization, etc.). The Steering Committee commended the President for having submitted a draft statute; there was agreement that this statute should be send to all Committee members for comments and that the draft statute should be dealt with by the next Parliamentary Forum. 13. The next Parliamentary Forum s agenda should include i. a. the following items: (a) Discussion of a 2-year work program (2010 and 2011) of the PNoUNCCD. (b) Establishment of performance indicators to assess the parliamentarians efforts. (c) PNoUNCCD Statute /Rules of Procedure. (d) As usual there should be an attractive side event dealing with the Convention, its 10-year strategic plan and concrete measures