Workshop on Local Development and Natural Resource Management in Arid Zones
30 September, 2008
Paris, France
A workshop on Local Development and Natural Resource Management in Arid Zones will be held in Paris on 30 September 2008, organized by the French Working Group on Desertification (Groupe français de Travail sur la Désertification - GTD) with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Global Mechanism (GM).
Participants will include several French and African local communities, representatives of French institutions involved in the process, including the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Land Management, the French Scientific Committee on Desertification (CSFD), the French Cooperation Agency (AFD), as well as the Ile-de-France Region.
The workshop has been shaped as a knowledge-management and information-sharing initiativel sensitize French local communities on the role of decentralized cooperation in strengthening the impact of development initiatives in areas affected by desertification, land degradation and drought.
Decentralized cooperation is increasingly recognized as a major player in the fight against desertification as a result of the enormous responsibility assigned to local government through the devolution process, for decisions on natural resource management (NRM). New dynamics are therefore emerging that are strongly contributing to reversing the trends of land degradation and promoting sustainable land management (SLM).
Discussions will revolve around:
- the current desertification and land degradation trends in Africa;
- the formulation of good practices; and
- the relevance of local knowledge and expertise in the framework of the UNCCD.
For more information:
Mr Youssef Brahimi, Programme Coordinator, North Africa & South-to-South Cooperation
Tel. +39 06 5459 2584
y.brahimi (at) global-mechanism.org
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