Havana could spark new support for Nepad
28-Aug-2003: By GUY ROGERS at the 6th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Havana, Cuba --
THE Africa resuscitation plan Nepad could emerge from this gathering in Havana with important new support.
At a meeting yesterday of the committee to review and implement the convention, South Africa called on the global mechanism (GM), the main funding instrument of the convention, to “strengthen its support for Nepad”.
GM facilitation committee members include a range of the world’s most influential agencies and institutions including the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the Global Environment Facility, the UN’s environmental and development programmes and the UNCCD. So winning increased support would be a powerful boost for Nepad, whose principal champion is SA President Thabo Mbeki.
Asked for his comment, GM senior programme manager Cheikh Sourang – who was in in 1995 part of the first post-apartheid visit to South Africa by a global inter-agency group – said he would be happy to discuss the issue further with SA delegation leader Dr Moshibudi Rampedi and her team.
“Nepad has a number of pillars including the environment for which there is in turn an action plan. And a key component of that action plan is an initiative to combat desertification, which will be implemented in the context of the UNCCD.”
As the main funding instrument of the convention, the GM was also the “honest broker” which sought to balance fees paid by member states and the completion of national action plans (Naps) with the convention’s delivery of practical aid in fighting land desertification, as well as with support for existing intitiatives.
Other pillars of Nepad like infrastrucure development or agriculture also threw up the possibility of land degradation, he noted.
“Once again these would be dealt with in the context of the convention. So, certainly we would be keen to broaden the interface between Nepad and the convention.”
The delegation from Algeria, the Nepad member designated to concentrate on the problem of desertification, said it supported the call by South Africa.
Spokesman Khalifa Abdelkader said the GM would, in line with the approach of the convention, likely call for the completion of a Nap. Algeria has almost completed its Nap, however, and leading Nepad proponents South Africa and Nigera have both finished theirs, along with 28 other African countries. So with this framework in place, the GM might already be persuaded to assess Nepad for funding, he suggested.
Other African news breaking hear in Havana yesterday is that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is among the heads of state due to arrive for the political leg of the conference next week.
A commentator said his presence was bound to spark firey debate over land rights and rumour in the corridors is that some European Union ministers have already refused to come, although this has been denied by the EU delegation here.
Desertification results from both natural forces like drought and temperature increases related to climate change, as well as from poor land use choices, over-grazing and decimation of indigenous forests. Following on Mr Mugabe’s forced removal of white farmers, all three of these phenomena have taken hold in Zimbabwe, critics here warn.
ends