Desertification Information System to support
National Action Programmes in the Mediterranean
(DIS/MED)
Project document executive summary
M. Candelori
A. R. Gentile
L. Genesio
W 1 1'1
..:.,..
. -:~
Secretariat to the
European
Applied Meteorological
United Nations Convention
Environment Agency
Foundation
to Combat Desertification
EEA
FMA
Bonn, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Florence, Italy
1 Introduction
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was signed in
Paris, on 17 June 1994 and entered into force on 26 December 1996. It provides the
innovative framework for the sustainable development in arid, semi-arid, dry subhumid areas, of an appropriate implementation mechanism to combat desertification
and the effects of drought. As of 30 November 2001, 177 countries and the European
Union have ratified/acceded to the Convention.
The Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the Convention's supreme body,
has held five sessions to date, the last of which in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1 to
12 October 2001.
The UNCCD assigns particular relevance to the identification of criteria for the
formulation and implementation of the National Action Programmes, as well as for
the evaluation of progress accomplished in combating desertification at all levels.
The request by the COP to elaborate appropriate indicators stands from the need to
check the real effectiveness of the national, sub-regional and regional policies and
measures to combat desertification.
Further to a recommendation of the Committee on Science and Technology
(CST), the COP, at its second session, invited Governments to initiate testing the
application of impact indicators as well as to introduce them in national reporting
to the Conference. Similar resolutions have been adopted by the third session of the
COP.
National Action Programmes in the Mediterranean
(DIS/MED)
Project document executive summary
M. Candelori
A. R. Gentile
L. Genesio
W 1 1'1
..:.,..
. -:~
Secretariat to the
European
Applied Meteorological
United Nations Convention
Environment Agency
Foundation
to Combat Desertification
EEA
FMA
Bonn, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Florence, Italy
1 Introduction
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was signed in
Paris, on 17 June 1994 and entered into force on 26 December 1996. It provides the
innovative framework for the sustainable development in arid, semi-arid, dry subhumid areas, of an appropriate implementation mechanism to combat desertification
and the effects of drought. As of 30 November 2001, 177 countries and the European
Union have ratified/acceded to the Convention.
The Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the Convention's supreme body,
has held five sessions to date, the last of which in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1 to
12 October 2001.
The UNCCD assigns particular relevance to the identification of criteria for the
formulation and implementation of the National Action Programmes, as well as for
the evaluation of progress accomplished in combating desertification at all levels.
The request by the COP to elaborate appropriate indicators stands from the need to
check the real effectiveness of the national, sub-regional and regional policies and
measures to combat desertification.
Further to a recommendation of the Committee on Science and Technology
(CST), the COP, at its second session, invited Governments to initiate testing the
application of impact indicators as well as to introduce them in national reporting
to the Conference. Similar resolutions have been adopted by the third session of the
COP.