12 May 2013: This year's celebrations for World Migratory Bird Day 2013, held 11-12 May, highlighted the importance of ecological networks for the survival of migratory birds, the important human networks dedicated to their conservation, the threats migratory birds face, and the need to strengthen international cooperation to conserve them.
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7 May 2013: As a contribution to the 2013 World Migratory Bird Day (11-12 May), the sixth issue of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) thematic fact sheet series focuses on migratory species and desertification. The publication notes the efforts of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) and the UNCCD to conserve migratory wildlife and to improve the conditions of ecosystems that support such species and are affected by land degradation.
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The workshop on 'Land for Business – Business for Land: The Economics of Land Degradation' will serve as catalyst for private sector involvement in the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative. Corporate strategists, leaders in sustainability and other representatives of the business community will be asked to outline their needs within the context of further development of the ELD private sector work programme. The objectives of the workshop are to: Understand companies‘ needs; Profile the economic valuation of land and ecosystems services within business strategy development; Identify business sectors most affected by land degradation and explore how to document the impact of unmitigated risk on business strategy and value chains; Raise awareness of options for managing land degradation risk; Explore examples of sustainable land use in specific sectors and showcase enterprises implementing scalable, win-win solutions; Identify barriers to scaling up good practices and explore options to enable the private sector to invest in sustainable land management; and Identify a programme of work and sector leaders to be integrated into subsequent stages of the ELD Initiative. The workshop will take place in the context of the BONN PERSPECTIVES, an initiative of the City of Bonn and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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21 April 2013: The eleventh session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) developed a report that contains a synopsis of parties' views and recommendations noted on the floor in plenary, and a background document summarizing deliberations and recommendations submitted to the CRIC for consideration at its next session.
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18 April 2013: Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) members participated in two informal forest dialogues with China, both of which were held in Douala, Cameroon. Since 2007-2008, CBFP members have engaged in informal dialogues with Chinese actors on sustainable forest management (SFM) and issues such as certification, timber traceability and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the European Union. The two recent dialogues aimed to improve forest governance, reduce poverty and more sustainably manage forest resources.
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At the opening of the eleventh meeting of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 11), Deputy Minister for Environment and Tourism of Namibia, Pohamba Shifeta, announced that the Republic of Namibia has offered to host the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The meeting is expected to take place from 16-27 September 2013.
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12 April 2013: In a keynote address by Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland and Chair of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, participants at the third Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-3) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference were reminded that sustainable land management (SLM) can be one of the most important tools for poverty eradication, and they were challenged to send a strong message that a land degradation neutral world is possible, with concrete targets and a monitoring system to follow progress.
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21 March 2013: A number of high-level officials have issued statements in celebration of the first-ever International Day of Forests, including the UN Secretary-General, and the Heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
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14 March 2013: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has completed a three-day Expanded Capacity Workshop (ECW) for the West African Sahel, bringing together focal points from the GEF, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
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February 2013: The Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has posted the report from the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group of Technical Experts (AGTE) for Impact Indicator Refinement.
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