Civil society organising and advocating for more action, less talk!
by Anne Plaatjies- Hanase 15 JUly 2022
The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), took place from 9- 20 May 2022 in Abidjan, under the theme “Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity”. The COP 15 brought together Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Private and Public Institutions, policymakers, scientists, Cultural groups, and Indigenous communities, to make considerations and find solutions for what the future of sustainable land management holds, in the context of the challenges presented by increasing land degradation, drought, desertification.
EMG attended as part of the Drynet delegation and central to its agenda for COP15 was establishing the importance of Agroecology to respond to the interlinking crises of drought, desertification, and land degradation. During closing ceremony, EMG presented the CSO closing statement which called for:
EMG’s Anne Plaatjies-Hanse reading the CSO statement at UNCCD COP15
· Promoting and supporting agroecological approaches and regenerative practises as solutions to reach Land Degradation Neutrality
· Humanizing drought, by giving drought a human face towards better understanding the impacts this disaster has on the people most affected by it.
· Ensuring that the Gender Action plan and its four priorities be implemented by COP 16: 1) women participation in decision making processes; 2) women’s economic empowerment 3) women’s equal land rights and access to resources and 4) women’s access to knowledge and technologies
· Meaningful participation of women, indigenous people, youth, and pastoralists to ensure that their rights and interests are secured in policy discussions relevant to the governance and use of land
· Ensuring that financial resources end- up at the place and with people where actions on drought, restoration and sustainable land use are taking place
Many decisions were taken, but the key outcomes of COP 15 were the new restoration strategy that was launched by the host country and delegates collectively pledging to increase efforts on handling drought and land degradation. Agroecology and the importance of agriculture, food and livelihoods were given more attention than at any previous COPs.
The land conversation has received much attention in South Africa; but the pivotal considerations for the South African government to make at this key point, is to start considering land as a national priority to achieve food security, and creating an enabling policy environment for Agroecology. Alongside creating an enabling policy environment, it is a crucial moment for government to come together with NGO’s, CBO’s, communities and farmers, to addressing the complex linkages between land governance, sustainable food systems, overcoming inequality. The decisions taken at conventions, like the UNCCD COP15, can only have value for and impact in the countries, where their governments have a real appetite to address the challenges by partnering with NGO’s.