LDC and SIDS Targeted Portfolio Approach For Capacity Development and Mainstreaming of Sustainable Land Management

The GEF has become a financial mechanism of the UNCCD, and Land degradation is a new Focal Area of the GEF. Country Parties can now access GEF resources through the Operational Program 15 for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) as a means to maintaining and improving ecosystem integrity in the context of sustainable development. The GEF OP 15 and Business Plan recognize that there is a need for Targeted Capacity Building for SLM, that includes mainstreaming into national development frameworks. LDC and SIDS have several characteristics in common : relatively low human and institutional capacities for integrated and sustainable land management; and high levels of poverty and environmental degradation. The main constraints are lack of national capacities in environmental and relevant sectors, and lack of awareness of the importance of the Convention as an instrument for sustainable development. The GEF Council has increasingly recognized the need for greater project effectiveness and impact, as well as the need for reduction in administrative burdens. An umbrella approach is proposed to answer to these various needs. The primary goal of the project would be to develop capacities and mainstream for effective mitigation of land degradation through sustainable land management in selected LDC and SIDS. In this process, the Targeted Umbrella Project would assist 40-50 LDC and SIDS that have not yet completed their NAPs and also otherwise show weakness in capacities for SLM, to develop individual, institutional and systemic capacity for sustainable land management. Almost all of these countries are affected primarily by deforestation rather than desertification , but nonetheless are signatories to the UNCCD, because of its importance as an international instrument for sustainable development.