The Canadian government has formally delivered its
documentation to re-accede to the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD), reports
NaijaAgroNet.
Canada in an official press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, Tuesday, said this step is to further demonstrate its commitment
to joining world action to slow land degradation and desertification and to
mitigate the effects of drought.
According to the Permanent
Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Ambassador Marc-André
Blanchard, the link between land degradation and climate change is
undeniable.
Canada, Blanchard said, is committed to working with its
partners to improve the resilience of developing countries to climate change
and environmental degradation, which disproportionately affects women and
girls.
Blanchard further said that Canada will work closely with
multilateral partners to address poverty, fight inequality and promote
sustainable land and resource management.
“The UNCCD is an inclusive body that brings together many
diverse voices to tackle complex global issues. In re-acceding to the
convention, Canada is taking concrete action to work with multilateral partners
on these important challenges,” Ambassador Blanchard said.
NaijaAgroNet recalls
that Canada first acceded to the UNCCD in 1995 and formally withdrew in
2014, becoming the only UN member state not party to the convention.
Just as Canada is the
sixth-largest contributor to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which, as the financial mechanism of
the UNCCD, currently allocates less than 10 per cent of its $4.43-billion
budget to support efforts to combat land degradation.