Botswana to increase efforts to combat desertification

Botswana has announced intention to step up the semi-arid country's national action plan (NAP) to combat desertification.

The department of Forestry and Range Resources on Thursday invited tenders for expression of interest from consulting firms interested in carrying out the alignment process.

According to the department, the process is expected to increase "momentum and efficaciousness" implementation of the country's NAP reporting process under United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

"The specific objective of this consultancy is to undertake the NAP alignment process of Botswana to the UNCCD 10 Year Strategy (2008-2018), through the provision of all technical guidance and support," Sonny Mokgwathi, director at Forestry and Range resources department said.

"At the end of this process, the NAP and all other relevant National Action Programmes of Botswana shall be aligned in accordance," Mokgwathi added.

UNCCD addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub- humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

In the 10-year strategy of the UNCCD (2008-2018) that was adopted in 2007, parties to the Convention specified their goals as "to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability."

Botswana signed and ratified the UNCCD in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

In accordance with Article 9 of the Convention, Botswana developed a National Action Programme to combat desertification in 2006 and following the development of the UNCCD 10 year Strategy, all countries party to the Convention are required to align their national action programs to the strategy.

Botswana is one of the most seriously affected countries in Southern Africa in terms of desertification, largely due to a semi- arid and drought-prone environment, and pressure of commercial exploitation of a fragile ecosystem.

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