set up at Rio during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992. The result of this group’s work is the UNCCD.
The UNCCD is the first and only universal international legal instrument to date
that addresses the question of the protection of land/soils in areas affected by
desertification, land degradation and drought. It was this Convention that formally
introduced understandings and concepts such as desertification and land degradation
to international legal lexicon. And while the Convention as negotiated is full of
blanket norms that offer little in terms of targets to be achieved and of indicators by
which progress of implementation can or should be measured, it remains an international legal document focused on the protection of soils, providing a general
international legal framework that offers broad guidance on this issue. And, it is
the only one of its kind. By virtue of these two features, the UNCCD’s objectives,
principles, general norms and stipulations were and are great influences and fundamental stimuli in the generation of more international and national legislation and
legal frameworks aimed at addressing the question of the protection of soils.
15
This Convention has been in forced since 1996 and today has a total of
197 Parties, including the African and European Unions.
Its norms range from the international legal understanding of various terminologies important to and being use for the development of legal instruments for
protection of soils, to actions—some within the legislative framework—that Parties
are required to undertake in their efforts at implementation.
16
This question of efficacious implementation became predominant once the Convention entered into force, and this is when and where the UNCCD (being the first
and only international legal instrument of its kind) really found reflection in the
activities of states as regards the protection of land including in the development of
the relevant legislative frameworks needed for this protection to take place.
As a starting point in focusing their implementation efforts, those countries that
have determined that they are affected by desertification or land degradation and
want to actively address these issues developed National Action Programmes
(NAPs).
17 These NAPs by nature are first and foremost policy documents and do
not in many cases have the weight of legal authority. However, in some cases they
are adopted by the parliaments, senates and other such legislative bodies, thus giving
them the force of law. In other cases, they are established by the relevant state
authority by way of decree or resolution. And still in others, convention or practice
gives them the force of law, for once they emanate from a ministry or department of
authoritative legal standing, they then have the power of decree. There are also cases
15 Republic of Namibia (2004) Namibia’s Third National Report on the implementation of the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
16 Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the UNCCD.
17 All NAPs are hosted on the UNCCD website at: https://www.unccd.int/convention/actionprogrammes.
From Desertification to Land Degradation Neutrality: The UNCCD and the. . .
5
The UNCCD is the first and only universal international legal instrument to date
that addresses the question of the protection of land/soils in areas affected by
desertification, land degradation and drought. It was this Convention that formally
introduced understandings and concepts such as desertification and land degradation
to international legal lexicon. And while the Convention as negotiated is full of
blanket norms that offer little in terms of targets to be achieved and of indicators by
which progress of implementation can or should be measured, it remains an international legal document focused on the protection of soils, providing a general
international legal framework that offers broad guidance on this issue. And, it is
the only one of its kind. By virtue of these two features, the UNCCD’s objectives,
principles, general norms and stipulations were and are great influences and fundamental stimuli in the generation of more international and national legislation and
legal frameworks aimed at addressing the question of the protection of soils.
15
This Convention has been in forced since 1996 and today has a total of
197 Parties, including the African and European Unions.
Its norms range from the international legal understanding of various terminologies important to and being use for the development of legal instruments for
protection of soils, to actions—some within the legislative framework—that Parties
are required to undertake in their efforts at implementation.
16
This question of efficacious implementation became predominant once the Convention entered into force, and this is when and where the UNCCD (being the first
and only international legal instrument of its kind) really found reflection in the
activities of states as regards the protection of land including in the development of
the relevant legislative frameworks needed for this protection to take place.
As a starting point in focusing their implementation efforts, those countries that
have determined that they are affected by desertification or land degradation and
want to actively address these issues developed National Action Programmes
(NAPs).
17 These NAPs by nature are first and foremost policy documents and do
not in many cases have the weight of legal authority. However, in some cases they
are adopted by the parliaments, senates and other such legislative bodies, thus giving
them the force of law. In other cases, they are established by the relevant state
authority by way of decree or resolution. And still in others, convention or practice
gives them the force of law, for once they emanate from a ministry or department of
authoritative legal standing, they then have the power of decree. There are also cases
15 Republic of Namibia (2004) Namibia’s Third National Report on the implementation of the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
16 Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the UNCCD.
17 All NAPs are hosted on the UNCCD website at: https://www.unccd.int/convention/actionprogrammes.
From Desertification to Land Degradation Neutrality: The UNCCD and the. . .
5