Combating desertification: Switzerland strengthens its commitment

For around 1 billion people, the ecological, economic and social consequences of desertification are calamitous. Switzerland is therefore increasing its commitment and was represented at the UN conference on desertification in South Korea from 10-21 October 2011 by a five-member delegation.
 
 SDC commitment
 UN Conference to Combat Desertification

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They aim of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is to coordinateworldwide efforts to combat desertification and soil impoverishment.At the 10th conference of parties to the Convention the approach backed by the SDC, known as World Overview on Conversation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT,) gained further weight. This approach involves regular exchanges of information about sustainable land management. The WOCAT network was initiated by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) atBern University, which runs a database of innovations and helpful working methods for land management in all the regions of the world.

Preparation forRio+20
During the discussions at the conference Switzerland stressed that local populations need to be actively integrated into measures to combat desertification and it presented specific solutions for endangered ecosystems such as dry areas. The Convention to Combat Desertification is the third convention that emerged from the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, theother two conventionsbeing the climate convention and the biodiversity convention. The South Korea conference also prepared for the Rio+20 summit in June 2012.

Additional Information and Documents

• Press release announcing Switzerland's participation in the conference, 10.10.2011

  http://www.deza.admin.ch/en/Home/Aktuell/News_Detailansicht?itemID=206117

• Swiss Platform for Rio+20

  http://rio20.ch/en/

• Media release of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification on the end of the Conference, 22.10.2011

  http://www.unccd.int/media/pressrel/showpressrel.php?pr=press22_10_11
• Desertification