The Convention advocates a bottom-up approach, calling for broad-based stakeholder participation in identifying the root causes of degeneration of the drylands, and in planning and implementation processes to address them.
Past efforts to prevent desertification were often accompanied by two major disappointments: First, that programmes were generally not self-sustaining after a specific programme had ended, and second, that while many programmes helped people and communities, the results were often so localized that they failed to make much of a dent in solving the larger problem of desertification.
There had been a growing realisation that projects at the local level must be nurtured by laws and policies that create the legal and economic incentives to promote sustainable development provided they are adopted with the participation of those who are affected.
The first major international forum to discuss the problem of desertification was the United Nations Conference on Desertification in 1977, which resulted in the adoption of the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification. However, the result did not meet expectations as the action plans were often seen as frameworks to provide the rationale and justification for a shopping list of projects instead of serving as effective, inclusive frameworks for natural resource management.
It was the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 that provided a global spotlight not only for the climate and biodiversity conventions which had been negotiated simultaneously, but also to highlight the problem of desertification. The 22 Sudano-Sahelian countries played a significant role in bringing the issue on the agenda. This group was responsible for nurturing the idea of an international convention to combat this scourge.
Chapter 12 of Agenda 21, the blueprint for action that emerged from Rio, reflects the growing understanding that desertification is a global issue. In recognition of its role and experience, UNSO (in chapter 38) was called upon to assume a major advisory role and participate effectively in the implementation of Agenda 21. The Office worked closely with the Inter-Governmental Negotiation Committee (INCD) and other partners to support the successful negotiation of the Convention to Combat Desertification.
The Convention was adopted in 1994 and became legally binding to all Parties of the Convention on 26 December 1996. It is the first international treaty that was negotiated as a direct result of the Earth Summit and recognizes the twin aims of the Summit, the need for environmental protection combined with the need for development in order to improve people's lives.
The Convention is noteworthy in that it attempts to integrate all the elements necessary to achieve positive and sustainable results and calls for the people who have a stake in combating desertification to effectively have a voice in designing and implementing solutions. This bottom-up approach stipulates the participation of relevant government institutions, land users, including civil society, grassroots and other non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and external partners such as developed countries, UN agencies, and multilateral and regional financial institutions.
The Convention has now been ratified by over 150 developed and developing countries, which indicates that support for implementing the Convention is broad-based and global.
