http://www.global-mechanism.org en-uk Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:52:38 +0000 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:35:23 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/central-and-eastern-european-countries-and-donor-institutions-discuss-financing-opportunities-for-land-rehabilitation During the seventh session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 7), an informal side event organized by the Global Mechanism (GM) and Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic provided an opportunity to discuss the next steps in mobilizing financial resources for UNCCD implementation in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. These countries come under Annex V of the Convention, but they have to date received less attention than other affected country Parties.


Ms Elisabeth Barsk-Rundquist, GM Director of Strategic Programmes, stressed that self-organization by Annex V countries, with technical support from development partners, is vital in gathering momentum for increasing investments in sustainable land management (SLM).


Donor institutions and countries discussed potential entry points and identified cross-cutting areas that could create impetus for the mobilization of financial resources in the region. Participants emphasised the need to draw on existing financing sources and to tap into innovative funding opportunities for SLM and the rehabilitation of degraded land.


The event follows a regional workshop on financial resource mobilization for the CEE region convened at the Mendel University of Forestry and Agriculture in Brno, Czech Republic, by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic with the support of the GM and the UNCCD secretariat. The workshop started the process by enhancing capacities in national UNCCD focal-point institutions and other CEE constituencies to analyse the formulation of integrated financing strategies (IFS) with a view to developing comprehensive SLM investment frameworks.


The GM, in collaboration with the Czech Republic, will continue its support for Annex V country Parties by providing advisory and capacity-building services to facilitate resource mobilization. A regional training workshop on the UNCCD National Action Plan and the development and implementation of IFS is planned for late 2009 or early 2010, to be organized by the Czech Republic with technical backstopping by the GM and the UNCCD secretariat.


Download the Resolution based on the outcomes of the workshop (PDF, English, 24 Kb)



For more information:


Ms Camilla Nordheim-Larsen, Financial Strategy Officer

Tel. +39 06 5459 2061

c.nordheim-larsen (at) global-mechanism.org Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:52:38 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/central-and-eastern-european-countries-and-donor-institutions-discuss-financing-opportunities-for-land-rehabilitation http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/building-compelling-evidence-on-the-socio-economic-costs-of-land-degradation-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-gm-eclac-joint-initiative "Assessing the costs of land degradation for better promoting the UNCCD into programmatic and budgetary processes" was the subject of a joint side event held by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the GM on the fringes of CRIC 7. This joint initiative, outlined Mr Alejandro Kilpatrick, GM’s Programme Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, aims to provide strong arguments for investing in sustainable land management (SLM) by clearly demonstrating the sizeable economic losses incurred due to declining agricultural productivity.


The initiative provides much needed impetus for addressing land degradation-related issues in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, given that a major hurdle in the region has been the low ranking of land degradation by LAC countries among their development priorities. By conducting a state-of-the-art economic assessment, the GM and ECLAC stressed that they are firmly committed to providing compelling evidence demonstrating the significant socio-economic costs of land degradation.


The methodology used for this assessment is based on a simple approach that is easily replicable and draws on the significant linkages with cross-cutting issues including climate change and migration which have far-reaching implications on countries. During the side event, country Parties expressed their strong interest in the methodology, whilst stressing the need to make the assessment easily applicable.


For more information:


Mr Alejandro Kilpatrick, Programme Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean

Tel. +39 06 5459 2524

a.kilpatrick (at) global-mechanism.org



Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:41:38 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/building-compelling-evidence-on-the-socio-economic-costs-of-land-degradation-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-gm-eclac-joint-initiative http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/the-premise--is-that-all-parties-have-primary-responsibility-of-achieving-the-vision-of-the-unccds-ten-year-strategy-the-managing-director-addresses-cric7-presenting-the-gms-work-programmes At the Seventh Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 7), Christian Mersmann, the GM’s Managing Director, presented the GM’s draft Multi-Year and Biennium Work Plan and the Joint Work Programme (JWP) of the GM and the UNCCD secretariat.


Addressing Plenary, Mr Mersmann outlined how the tightly-focused draft multi-year and biennium work programmes with their results-based management (RBM) structure, contribute in tangible ways to promoting the mobilization of resources for the UNCCD. Moreover, they respond to Operational Objective 5 on financing and technology transfer and to Strategic Objective 4 on building effective partnerships to strengthen this process.


‘’The GM operationalizes its support to countries by delivering a comprehensive set of interrelated or complementary ‘work packages’ that build in-country capacity and knowledge on financing for sustainable land management (SLM)’’, Mr Mersmann explained, ‘‘leading to the development of integrated financing strategies (IFSs) for implementing SLM investment frameworks’’.


Propelling the Convention forwards requires assertive, coordinated action by all stakeholders: the JWP is a crucial aspect in building momentum in this regard, and is a “cornerstone that the two institutions (the secretariat and the GM) can build upon in defining shared but differentiated responsibilities with relation to our distinct mandates, roles and responsibilities”, he added.

Collaboration between the two institutions is gathering pace; one recent example being the financial resource mobilization workshop for Central and Eastern European countries, held in Brno, Czech Republic, on 10-12 September 2008, initiated by the Ministry for the Environment of the Czech Republic and facilitated jointly by the UNCCD secretariat and the GM.

Mr Mersmann stressed that the JWP is a ‘living document’ and the GM is committed to strengthening cooperative efforts to deliver common outputs together with the secretariat - clearly demonstrating the comparative advantages of working together.


“The premise underlying the GM’s programming strategy and approach is that all Parties to the Convention have the primary responsibility of achieving the vision of the UNCCD’s Ten Year Strategy”, he added. In order to successfully drive the Convention along a new and dynamic path, the combined efforts of all stakeholders are of utmost importance, as is the recognition of their distinct and complementary roles.


 
For more information:
Dr Christian Mersmann, Managing Director

Tel. +39 06 5459 2155

c.mersmann (at) global-mechanism.org

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:09:16 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/the-premise--is-that-all-parties-have-primary-responsibility-of-achieving-the-vision-of-the-unccds-ten-year-strategy-the-managing-director-addresses-cric7-presenting-the-gms-work-programmes http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/terrafrica-and-partners-review-progress-and-decisive-action-leading-to-strategic-investment-frameworks On the fringes of CRIC7,TerrAfrica partners organized a side event that gave participants the opportunity to review progress and actions undertaken at the subregional and country levels to implement TerrAfrica.
 
TerrAfrica is the regional sustainable land management (SLM) initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa. In reviewing the platform’s Activity Lines (AL), in particular Knowledge Management and coalition building, partners stressed the need for all stakeholders to enhance coordination both at the donor and the inter-ministerial level. Prominent issues discussed were the need to boost the country ownership processes and to link TerrAfrica strategies to national development frameworks.
 
Ethiopia’s National Focal Point, Mr Ababu Anange, made a presentation on the country process that had led to the formulation of the Ethiopian Strategic Investment Framework (ESIF), in which he recognized the importance of donor commitment and national coordination mechanisms that need to be supported by strong political will at country, federal, and district levels.
 
Mali also presented its Country Strategic Investment Framework (CSIF) that is strongly rooted in the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and Rural Development Plan (RDP).
 
In reviewing the implementation process for the two CSIFs, speakers highlighted that regardless of the country concerned, the actual roll-out strategy needs to:

strengthen the national SLM platform;
boost awareness-raising and advocacy initiatives; and
secure the commitment of the donor community.

The Global Mechanism has played a key role in the development of the CSIF in Ethiopia, helping the formulation of the resource mobilization strategy, and is one of the funding members of the TerrAfrica initiative since its creation in 2004.




For more information:





Mr Kwame Awere-Gyekye

Programme Coordinator, East & Southern Africa

Tel. +39 065459 2199

k.awere (at) global-mechanism.org

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:13:55 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/terrafrica-and-partners-review-progress-and-decisive-action-leading-to-strategic-investment-frameworks http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/boosting-finance-for-sustainable-land-managementcountries-share-their-experiences "The Designing Integrated Financing Strategies (DIFS) training programme can be a complementary part and influential element of any National Action Programme (NAP) to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)".


Mr Moghadassi, Deputy Head of Forestry and Range Organization for Iran, GM side-event: DIFS to combat desertification: experiences from North Africa, West Asia and Meso-America


One of the major bottlenecks in UNCCD implementation has been that while NAPs have identified priority actions for sustainable land management (SLM), the means of locating and mobilizing the relevant finance to implement these actions have been sorely lacking. Effectively navigating the various hurdles was the subject of a side event organized by the GM, DIFS to combat desertification: experiences from North Africa, West Asia and Meso-America.


Opening the side-event, the GM made a presentation outlining the systematic approach of the GM’s DIFS training programme, which enhances national competencies to improve investment flows for NAP implementation. While helping to mobilize the appropriate blend of funds – namely internal, external and innovative – the strategy also uncovers barriers associated with resource identification, allocation and disimbursment. A cornerstone of the training programme is strengthening teamwork among participants – including National Focal Points, ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Finance and International Cooperation and civil society organizations (CSOs) - from the same country and between countries, to enable them to jointly develop integrated financing strategies leading to an SLM investment framework through a process of learning-by-doing.


During the side event, country representatives themselves presented first-hand experience of undertaking the main components and interlinked activities of the training programmes. Mr Noureddine Kaabi, Director General for the Ministry of Development and International Cooperation of Tunisia, focused on the first steps in the process namely the need to identify the barriers, challenges and opportunities in resource allocation and the various entry points in mainstreaming SLM into national planning processes and overarching development frameworks. Presentations were then made on the role of DIFS in improving access to internal, external and innovative funding sources respectively by Mr Moghadassi; Mr Louis Spinosa, National Focal Point for Honduras; and Mr Roberto Motta, National Focal Point for Guatemala.


There is no ‘quick-fix’ to boost investments for SLM. Lebanon is a case in point, where financial resources for SLM have successfully been mobilized, supported by the capacity building and knowledge enhancing elements under the DIFS programme. This has culminated in an IFS Action Plan. During the side event Mr Hussein Nasrallah, National Focal Point for Lebanon, pointed to the fact that the programme had helped mobilize some USD 23 million from a variety of funding sources for SLM-related projects and programmes.


Momentum is rapidly growing around the DIFS programme. The GM has been approached by a number of development partners, including the United Nations Development Programme to integrate DIFS into their own programmes. Furthermore, the GM is planning to further assist new country Parties in the coming year, including in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the GM project scope / acp - financed by the European Commission’s EuropeAid.


It is hoped that DIFS will support the development of a critical mass of individuals within countries in taking the lead to advance resource mobilization in a country-driven process. A particularly encouraging recent example of this bearing fruit was indicated at the side event, where in Iran the DIFS training has instigated a capacity building ‘’domino effect’’ within the country: CSOs who participated in the Iran DIFS workshop are currently incorporating the same methodology and functioning as trainers-of-trainers to capacitate other CSOs at the local level. Replicating such efforts promises to yield very positive results for financing implementation of the Convention.


For more information:


Mr Roshan Cooke, Programme Coordinator, Asia and Pacific

Tel. +39 06 5459 2156

ro.cooke (at) global-mechanism.org


Mr Walid Nasr, Programme Officer, Asia & Pacific

Tel. +39 06 5459 2605

w.nasr (at) global-mechanism.org


Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:17:01 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/boosting-finance-for-sustainable-land-managementcountries-share-their-experiences http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/solid-arguments-needed-to-mobilize-resources During the First Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST-S1) on how best to measure progress on the strategic objectives of the UNCCD’s Ten-Year Strategic Plan (10YSP) Mr Simone Quatrini, the Global Mechanism’s Coordinator for Policy & Investment Analysis made a statement highlighting the connections between all four strategic objectives.

He welcomed the proposal to involve the GM in the development of the indicators for Strategic Objective 4 of the 10YSP, on resource mobilization, and suggested capitalizing on the indicators embedded in GM’s results-based management framework.

In the subsequent debate on the budget for the CST’s multi-year work programme, Mr Quatrini took the floor stressing the importance of developing solid arguments to scale up investments in SLM. In this context, the GM offered to collaborate with the Drylands Science for Development (DSD) Consortium and advise the CST on the mobilization of resources in the run up to CST9.


 Download the full speech (PDF, English, 64 Kb)

Download the intervention on raising finance (PDF, English, 64 Kb)


For more information:


Mr Simone Quatrini, Coordinator, Policy & Investment Analysis

Tel. +39 06 5459 2154

s.quatrini (at) global-mechanism.org Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:46:08 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/solid-arguments-needed-to-mobilize-resources http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/gm-launches-its-south--to-south-cooperation-programme-on-land-and-environment-for-african-caribbean-and-the-pacific-countries In his welcoming note to delegates from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, Christian Mersmann, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism explained that one of the ways the GM is implementing the UNCCD’s 10-year Strategy is by strengthening its South-to-South cooperation programme piloted in North and West Africa (SolArid), extending it to other regions.


Scope|acp is the GM’s component of a broader European Commission (EC) programme that covers all ACP countries and all Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), with a special focus on the synergies between Conventions.

Thanks to the support of the EC, the GM is now able to offer its services in the Caribbean and the Pacific.


The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) will be closely involved. The EC’s country offices and UNDP/LDC-SIDS will also play a major part in the implementation phase. For the GM, working directly with donors and in regional settings is a major breakthrough that will greatly assist its operations at country and regional level.


The overall objective of scopa|acp is to improve the environmental sustainability and land management of participating countries in accordance with Millennium Development Goal N° 7 – to ensure the environmental sustainability - and with the international commitments made at the national level in terms of UNCCD implementation. Scope|acp therefore addresses the crucial crosscutting issues surrounding combating desertification through capacity-building and knowledge management activities in order to mobilize new and additional resources for UNCCD.


In practice, the GM fosters South-to-South cooperation to mobilize southern resources to the benefit of the South by building capacity around issues close to the heart of those involved such as: empowerment of local communities; decentralized cooperation, eco-tourism; migration, adaptation to climate change, giving special emphasis to the participation of more vulnerable groups such as women or youth. This is essential for an effective approach when it comes to developing integrated financing strategies (IFSs) leading to national investment frameworks for SLM.


By fine-tuning its capacity-building training programme on how to develop such strategies (Designing Integrated Financing Strategies or DIFS) to the needs of other realities, drawing on its successful DIFS training experiences in Africa and elsewhere, and on the lessons learned in two years of programme implementation, that scope|acp will develop IFSs in the Caribbean and the Pacific.


For more information:


Mr Youssef Brahimi, Programme Coordinator, North Africa & South-to-South Cooperation

Tel. +39 06 5459 2584

y.brahimi (at) global-mechanism.org


Ms Ines Chaâlala, Junior Programme Officer, North Africa & South-to-South Cooperation

Tel. +39 06 5459 2548

i.chaalala (at) global-mechanism.org Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:55:51 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/gm-launches-its-south--to-south-cooperation-programme-on-land-and-environment-for-african-caribbean-and-the-pacific-countries http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/casting-the-net-further-to-foster-all-dimensions-of-land-and-its-sustainable-management-the-gms-managing-director-addresses-cric7 Addressing the Opening Session of CRIC, Christian Mersmann, Managing Director (MD) of the Global Mechanism (GM) recalled that by endorsing the 10-year Strategy the Parties to the UNCCD had agreed upon a common framework to enhance the role and impact of this Convention. This strategy, he underlined, was crucial to foster all dimensions around land and its sustainable management worldwide, and for the GM, contains enormous potential to increase the quality and quantity of its services to country Parties. Having fully restructured in line with the Strategy, the GM is abreast with the challenges posed by the Strategy and in a position to make change. Indeed, feedback on the GM’s work since COP.7 is positive and its work at country and sub-regional level is being recognized.


The success of the GM and indeed the Convention, Mr Mersmann continued, depend to a large extent on the outcomes of CRICs and COPs. This is why all Parties, the Convention’s subsidiary bodies and supporting international institutions must ask themselves what country Parties gain from attending such sessions. In the MD’s view, deliberations on global policies and strategies to foster sustainable land management worldwide need to be strengthened. The Executive Secretary’s focus on positioning the UNCCD as a major player in the global environmental governance system is an excellent example of how the Convention has a larger role to play in the ‘bigger picture’.


Mr Mersmann went on to highlight how the Joint Work Programme with the Secretariat had been a very interesting learning experience and the resulting ’living document’ was “an expression of overcoming the old agenda of the divide between the Secretariat and the GM that clearly outlines the principles and criteria for joint work now and in the future”.  This said, the Programme is to be considered ‘work-in-progress’ as both subsidiary bodies continue to delineate their respective roles and responsibilities.


In conclusion, the MD stressed that the GM needs room to unfold its capacity to support developing and affected country Parties and requires the consensus of the Parties to do so. The Joint Inspection Unit’s assessment will be one yardstick against which to measure the endorsement of the course of action the GM has embarked on. He called on country Parties to acknowledge receipt of GM's services at CRIC, as is the case at country and sub-regional levels; “The 10-Year Strategy calls for a cultural change and it is time to speak up on success and failure”, he declared.


Finally, Mr Mersmann encouraged delegates to approach the GM team members throughout CRIC, to clarify and outstanding issues and discuss how to move ahead together.




Download the statement (PDF, English, 123 Kb)


For more information:


Dr Christian Mersmann
Managing Director

Tel. +39 06 5459 2155

c.mersmann (at) global-mechanism.org Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:24:24 +0000 http://www.global-mechanism.org/news--events/news/casting-the-net-further-to-foster-all-dimensions-of-land-and-its-sustainable-management-the-gms-managing-director-addresses-cric7