Guyana opens CRIC ‘17 … now equipped to welcome global community

Jan 29, 2019 News

Guyana opened the first day of the CRIC 17 conference yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. The Seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation (CRIC) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) saw over 400 delegates from all across the world attend the first session of the inaugural CRIC to be held in the Anglophone Caribbean.
A major issue for the 197 parties to the UNCCD is the link between desertification, land degradation and climate change. According to UNCCD, CRIC 17 will review the first global assessment of land degradation based on Earth observation data reported by governments.
The assessment, which was conducted by reporting countries using a harmonized approach, shows the trends in land degradation between 2000 and 2015, based on data provided by 145 of the 197 countries that are party to the convention.
That assessment will provide a baseline for assessing progress in the reduction of land degradation globally, going forward. It will also contribute to individual efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality, which is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

17th CRIC of the UNCCD

The conference will continue to involve plenaries and deliberations on the process of combating desertification and land degradation, until its end, tomorrow. The conference will set the tone for the Conference of Parties (COP 14) to be held in India, later this year.
The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, the national focal point for the UNCCD and the National Planning Committee for their planning of the conference, is working along with the support of the government of China and CARICOM.
In his opening address to the participants, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said that the land represents a link between people and the environment and that it “connects economic, social, cultural and geographic spheres.”

He told the gathering of the various measures Guyana has been taking to ensure that it sustainable manages its land resource, for the best interests of its people and the environment.
Harmon noted that Guyana recently ascended to the position of Vice President of the Conference of Parties, and that Guyana aspires to be “a success story,” as well as an example for other countries in its sustainable land management efforts.
Harmon, in a press conference held during the convention, said that Guyana is learning a lot from the conference and that it is now in a position to continue utilizing the international best practices it has adopted from its international partners, with regards to hosting international conventions of this magnitude.
“For Guyana, this is the second largest conference we hosted, since 1972, when we hosted the foreign ministers of the Non Aligned Movement. Since then, we have learned quite a few things. Hosting the CRIC 17 has provided us with the opportunity to ensure that our conferencing facilities are upgraded. We are extremely pleased to be hosting this conference.”