UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION SOUTH AFRICA

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UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT
DESERTIFICATIONSOUTH AFRICAS NATIONAL ACTION
PLAN (NAP)

• Portfolio Committee Briefing
• Presenter Maria Mbengashe
• 11 October 2004

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OVERVIEW

• Why National Action Program (NAP)?
• Objectives of UNCCD
• Desertification/land degradation- issues and
  implications
• Global and National legal frameworks
• NAP vision and objectives
• How NAP was developed
• Existing Programmes
• Progress made in the development of the NAP
• Plans for the next six months.

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OBJECTIVES - NATIONAL ACTION PROGRAM (NAP)
UNCCD-Article 10

• Requirement of Convention to Combat
  Desertification (UNCCD)
• NAP- Long term integrated strategies focusing on
  improved productivity of land aimed at
• Prevention and/or reduction of land degradation
• Rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems e.g..
  grasslands
• Reclamation of desertified land
• Integrating strategies for poverty eradication
• Promote cooperation among departments, spheres of
  govts, civil society and other MEAs
• Mobilisation of funds and resources

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OBJECTIVES OF UNCCD

• To combat desertification and mitigate the
  effects of drought through effective action at
  all levels, supported by international
  cooperation and partnership arrangements, in the
  framework of an integrated approach which is
  consistent with Agenda 21, with a view to
  contributing to the achievement of sustainable
  development in affected areas.

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DESERTIFICATION-ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

• Desertification is land degradation in arid,
  semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from
  erosion, deforestation, water scarcity, loss of
  soil fertility overgrazing and climatic
  variations
• Land degradation is worldwide in geographic
  extent and global in its environmental and socio
  economic impacts. 91 of South Africa surface
  area has arid, semi-arid or dry-subhumid climates
• Drylands ecosystem have immense scientific,
  economic and social value and are source of
  livelihood to a quarter of earths population
• Since 1990, 6 million hectares of productive land
  has been lost every year due to land degradation
• 14 African countries are subject to water
  scarcity
• Threatens the livelihoods of one billion people
  and has already made 135 million people homeless
• As a result of declining food security the number
  of undernourished people in Africa doubled from
  100m in 1960 to 200m in 1995
• Prevention and control of land degradation is
  critical to achieving sustainable development

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GLOBAL AND NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

• RIO CONVENTIONS CBD,UNCCD AND UNFCCC-
• Adopted in1997 United Nations Convention to
  Combat Desertification in those Countries
  experiencing serious drought and/or
  desertification, particularly in Africa (the
  UNCCD). South Africa ratified in 1997
• WSSD 2002 and Millennium Development Goals
• NEPAD- commitment of preventing land degradation
• NEMA-Biodiversity Act no 10 of 2004
• National Forest Act National Veld and Forest
  Fire Act
• National Water Act and Conservation of
  Agricultural Resources Act (CARA)

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NAP VISION

• Prosperous and healthy South Africans living in
  an environment restored and maintained through
  universal improvement in land management to its
  beautiful landscapes and productive ecosystems
  that sustain livelihoods and ecosystem services,
  for the benefit of current and future generations.

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NAP- PURPOSE

• To promote sustainable land management throughout
  South Africa
• Establish strategies and priorities to combat
  desertification
• Implementation of policies that affect natural
  resource management and rural development
• Partnerships between governments departments,
  private sector, communities, civil society and
  land owners
• Strengthen implementation and collaboration among
  existing program initiatives
• Poverty alleviation, promotion of the enhancement
  of sustainable livelihoods and sustainable land
  management through land reform, community based
  projects, rural finance human resource
  development and awareness raising and education

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DEVELOPMENT OF NAP

• South Africa has established institutional and
  legal arrangements to meet its commitments in
  terms of the UNCCD.
• The Department of Environmental Affairs and
  Tourism (DEAT) is the Focal Point for the
  Convention.
• A multi-stakeholder Steering Committee guides the
  role as Focal Point for the UNCCD.
• The SA-UNCCD Steering Committee has been the
  principal coordinating mechanism since 1995,
  prior to South Africas accession to the
  Convention.
• SA has involved relevant national and provincial
  government departments, communities, NGOs,
  academic institutions and private sector in the
  development and implementation of the NAP

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EXISTING PROGRAMS

• The National Landcare Programme -DoA
• Working for Water -DWAF
• Community Based Natural Resource Management
  Projects (DEAT and others)
• Desert Margins Programme (DMP) regional GEF
  funded research activities involving 9 African
  countries (Kenya, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali,
  Namibia, Senegal Niger, South Africa and Zimbabwe

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• National Steering Committee established
• The development of NAP based on intensive
  consultation with all stakeholders, from
  community to national levels as well as officials
  from the UNCCD Secretariat and Global Mechanism
  in Rome.
• A national awareness campaigns in 1998,1999 and
  2004.
• Cabinet memorandum and NAP have been drafted.
• Private Sector Survey Report Towards the Nap
  Resource Mobilization Strategy has been
  concluded.

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PLANS FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS

• Minister to present NAP to Parliament and
  submission to Cabinet for approval.
• National Steering Committee to function as a
  catalyst in the preparation, implementation and
  evaluation of the NAP as a required by the
  Convention.
• Private Sector Forum launched by the Deputy
  Minister and followed by the finalisation of the
  Resource Mobilisation Strategy.
• Presentation of the NAP and Resource Mobilisation
  Strategy at the UNCCD Inter-sessional meeting in
  2005.
• NAP becomes a baseline for land management
  projects.
• Projects are monitored, evaluated and records
  developed into national reports.