Declaration of Non-Governmental Organization participants in the Eighth Session of the Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification before the High Level Segment of COP 8.

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have gathered in Madrid for the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification would like to thank the Spanish authorities responsible for the coordination of this conference for their effort and support, the Secretariat of the Convention, in particular the Spanish NGOs Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz, Ecologistas en Acción, Fundación IPADE y WWF/Adena and all of the other organisations participating in this conference.

The NGO participants would like to reiterate the need for all parties to fulfil all the commitments that have already been agreed upon, as well as the importance of giving a strong and well-placed impetus to the implementation of measures that work in favour of sustainable development in areas that are already desertified or are at risk of being desertified.

We demand a move to immediate action. Up until now, the passiveness and non-existence of intervention has been chronic. This situation has fed the disappointment and frustration of the people that day after day are actively fighting for the improvement of living conditions and the environmental, social and economically sustainable development of populations affected by desertification.

The current state of soil degradation affects food security, increases poverty, causes international migration on a large scale, exacerbates intra-regional conflicts, heightens social instability and economic inequality and puts the health and well-being of 1,200 million people in more than 100 countries at risk.

All these issues are related to the activity of civil society. Groups are left perplexed at the inactivity and indifference of governments in the fight against poverty and are further and further away from reaching the Millennium Development Goals. However, we can remind our leaders that governments cannot choose societies, but we can choose our governments.

During the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification representatives of civil society have put the overarching questions of the fight against poverty and sustainable development on the agenda. The participation of civil society, economic equality and the adjustment to climate change are basic elements in considering the implementation of the Convention.
Civil society groups have discussed the limits, potential and efficiency of participation, and have concentrated on the importance of these issues being reflected in concrete decisions of this eighth Conference of the Parties.

COP 8 must develop effective mechanisms that promote and guarantee the participation of young people in the fight against desertification and drought mitigation.

In order to promote the participation of civil society, a project presented by NGOs was introduced during the Session of Opened Dialog (SOD) to establish a working group responsible for examining ways of increasing the participation of civil society in the implementation of the UNCCD. The Chairwoman of COP8 and the Minister for the Environment of the Spanish government positively acknowledged the proposal and we hope that it is approved by this conference. If this proposal is ignored, everything expressed by the governments about participation will be simply rhetorical and show a lack of real commitment.

The NGOs have approached the overarching importance of economic equality and its meaning in the fight against desertification globally and particularly in Africa. This issue requires a stronger investment of resources at a financial, institutional and professional level. Equal opportunities for both men and women must be guaranteed and governments must recognise women as key agents in the management of natural resources, especially in sustainable land management.
Likewise the rights of migrants must be recognized and a system of adaptive management of grazing lands needs to be developed which maximizes sustainable productivity and minimizes risks.

In addition, we have raised the issue about the problems and consequences that climate change and global warming bring to our people and especially the affected communities.

One of the main causes of urgency in this issue is how little time we have to adapt to desertification and climate change; tragedies that we have been aware of for years. They seem to matter very little to governments since specific measures have not been implemented to combat the situation, despite the fact that the international scientific community and public organizations have been warning about these problems for some time.

For this reason, we demand that governments work with society as a whole and with a long-term vision. Governments must be aware of the fact that people cannot depend on decisions made solely for short-term political or economic interests. We need solid, long lasting and effective commitments.

We hope that this conference marks a turning point in the history of the Convention, and that the agreement of the Ten Year Strategic Plan marks the beginning of a new stage of implementation. There must be no more excuses; countries must fulfill the commitments to which they have signed up. Their contribution is essential in order to reverse soil degradation in arid areas and the consequent impoverishment of the affected communities.

The NGOs do not want to be accomplices in this indifference to the desertification of our world. We offer our collaboration to start to act, but we refuse to continue being participants in conventions and hollow agreements that propose enormous investments with no real results.
Ministers, in COP you are debating the substantive questions over the application of the Convention. You have at stake the future of our people. It is incumbent on you all to drive the effective implementation of the Convention. In this conference there are those who are here to discuss the issues, but you must be the ones to lead actions in the fight against desertification. The NGOs gathered here ask you to act now.