ICID 2010

Carlos Américo



"With more than 200 papers presented in 60 tables, debates and the participation of two thousand people, including scientists, civil society and decision makers, the Second International Conference: Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semi-arid Regions (ICID 2010) ended on Friday (20) with the reading of the Declaration of Fortaleza: Bringing drylands to the limelight.

The document consolidates recommendations for strengthening the governance of these regions, with the take of power and greater political representation of the people that live there. "They [people] need to have more active voice, and be more heard. Semiarid regions represent 40% of the world's land, home to 35% of the world. However, they do not have, by the government, attention proportional to its social and geographical weight.", said the secretary of Extraction and Sustainable Rural Development Ministry of the Environment, Egon Krakhecke.

For the secretary, there was a lack of presence at the conference by politicians, since these events need to gather decision makers from various countries with areas prone to desertification. "We had the presence of some, but it is insufficient for the size of the challenge and the importance that policymakers have in combating desertification," he affirmed.

The Declaration of Fortaleza is composed of 23 recommendations grouped into eight themes: Sustainable Development and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities, Political Representation in Multiple Scales; Synergies between Global Environmental Initiatives and Development, Financing for Sustainable Development Sensitive to Climate, Education for the Sustainable Development, Information and Knowledge Exchange, Integrated Planning and Implementation Strategies and Development, and Emergency Response.

The document warns "the current risk situation of dryland regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East but also in parts of South America, the Caribbean, North America, East Asia and Pacific - including the risks to global security associated with their growing impoverishment and food insecurity, increased vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change, rising internal conflicts and violence, and the interaction between them. "

The recommendations are directed at governments, society and productive sectors. "The statement serves as a guide of works for the caring with the semi-arid areas" explained Krakhecke. He said governments could use the document to the policy-making. "And it emphasized the necessity and possibility of the productive sector to follow the path of sustainability."

Debates-Debates ICID 2010 showed that there was progress in science since the first conference in 1992. The event also allowed the exchange of experiences among countries suffering from the problem of desertification. The recommendations discussed at the event will be taken into account in the Rio +20 summit on environment and development, which will occur in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.

For Secretary Krakhecke, the three UN conventions on the results of the RIO-92 - Climate Change (UNFCCC), Biodiversity (CBD) and Desertification (UNCCD) - should be more articulate. "The themes of the conventions are too intertwined with each other. Climate change has everything to do with the advance of desertification. The impacts on biodiversity are also reflected in semiarid regions. And, in turn, the processes of desertification and biodiversity impact heating overall. There is a link between all this, "said the secretary, to collect a more synergistic action of the three conferences."