UNCCD Global Mechanism Highlights Development Programming at Country Level Supported by Effective International Policy Making Processes [viewed]
17 June 2008: On the occasion of 2008 World Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought, celebrated on 17 June, the Global Mechanism (GM)
of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) emphasized that “the
current strategy and policy debates around climate resilience, sustainable
agriculture and food security point to the conclusion that none of these global
challenges and threats to human well-being should be tackled in isolation, but
as part and
parcel of development programming at country level, supported
by effective
international policy making processes.”
13 May 2008: UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the sixteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. 
16 May 2008: The sixteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which met from 5-16 May 2008, in New York, US, has reviewed the thematic cluster of agriculture, rural development, drought, desertification, land and Africa. Many delegations and speakers tied these agenda items to the current global food crisis and climate change, and highlighted in particular land degradation, high energy costs, climate change, poor harvests, speculation in agricultural commodities, inequitable terms of trade, decline of investments in rural and agricultural development, and increased production of biofuels from food crops as drivers of high food prices. 
In his statement to mark 2008 World Meteorological Day, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja emphasized the increasing frequency of extreme weather and climate events, including droughts and water scarcity, and highlighted that “Desertification, land degradation and drought are strongly linked to climate change, soil degradation and biodiversity.” 
In a message to the Beijing International Conference on Combating Desertification, held Beijing, China, from 22-24 January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the “impact of desertification is intensifying due to climate change, which is reducing the availability of freshwater, fertile soil, and forest and vegetation.” 
The Joint Liaison Group of the three Rio Conventions (the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Climate Change, and Convention to Combat Desertification) has issued an information brochure on the important contribution of forests to the achievement of their respective goals and objectives. 
