Building the Resilience of Landlocked Developing Countries to the Impacts of Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought

Sandagdorj Erdenebileg UN-OHRLLS Tel: 212 963 7703, email: [email protected]

UN-OHRLLS

Why LLDCs deserve special attention?

• Because of the constraints associated with

their geography

–

Lack of direct access to the sea and long distance

–

Remoteness from major international markets

– –

Inadequate transit infrastructure Delays in transit – due to checkpoints/unscheduled roadblocks, cumbersome customs and border crossing procedures and insufficient application of ICT, excessive number of documentation

–

Inefficient logistics systems

Why LLDCs deserve special attention?

RESULT IN: High transport and trade transaction costs – which

• Reduce competitiveness and diminish export

profits – decreased economic growth

• Inflate the prices of imported inputs for

manufacturing

• Discourage investment • Limited technology transfer

DEVELOPMENT IMPACT

• • Reduced sustainable economic growth and

difficulties to achieve the MDGs

• LLDCs among the world’s poorest countries -

15 are LDCs

• 19 LLDCs GDP per capita is below $1,000. • LLDCs economies not well developed – Heavy reliance on low-value – high-bulk primary

commodities which make them vulnerable to commodity price volatility

– Limited productive capacities – High vulnerability to the external and internal

shocks and including the impacts of climate change and desertification and land degradation The level of development in the LLDCs is on average 20% lower than what it would be were the countries non-landlocked.

Human Development Index (HDI) has improved but lower than other groups

UN-OHRLLS

Poverty headcount ratio at 1.25 dollars per day (% of total pop) has decreased but still high UN-OHRLLS

LLDCs are still heavily dependent on commodities African LLDCs: Minerals (diamonds, gold, copper, uranium) and agriculture (cotton, coffee, tobacco, bovine) Export concentration of LLDCs has been increasing

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Developing economies Developed economies LLDCs

-

- Declining Value addition in Agriculture from 23% in 2001 to 18% in 2011. in manufacturing 18 (1990) 11% (2011)

Manufacturing Value Addition (Share of GDP) 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 LLDC LDCs TRANSIT COUNTRIES

Dryland regions of the world (yellow) These are sensitive to desertification

Vulnerable to desertification

• • • • •

72% of global drylands are in developing countries. 60% are in LLDCs Of the 29 countries in the world with more than 20% of the population living on degraded land, 14 are LLDCs. LLDCs have highest proportion of population living on degraded land >70%. The rate of deforestation is also alarmingly high. 70% of 400 million people living in LLDCs are rural based and heavily rely on the land resources, livestock production, fisheries, forests for food production, exports, employment and energy.

Areas affected by desertification and land degradation

Impact of climate change, desertification and land degradation on LLDCs

UN-OHRLLS

Impact

• • • • • • • • • •

Decreased productivity Food insecurity/famines, Poverty/human loss Reliance on climate-sensitive commodities for export, has exposed LLDCs to the double threat of economic and environmental shocks Water scarcity or floods Reduced hydro energy and water availability Conflicts, Migration Increased prevalence and severity of disease Loss of bio-diversity Negative impact on transport infrastructure The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in LLDCs esp. droughts, and extreme temperature have been increasing, between the period 2000 –2010 and 1970–1979

.

UN-OHRLLS

Country Examples of the impacts In Ethiopia, GDP loss from reduced agricultural productivity due to land degradation is estimated at $130 million per year.

In Lesotho, arable land is quickly diminishing and is predicted to shrink to 3% by 2030. Due to the 1991 drought, Zimbabwe’s economy shrank by 5-7%, while in Zambia and Malawi economic growth declined by 4-6 and 8-9 percent respectively. Armenia loses an average of USD 33 million each year as a result of damages by extreme climate events 41 percent of Mongolia is already severely affected by desertification.

Floods and droughts in Bolivia with the 1997/98 El Nino caused a total loss of USD530 million, approximately 2.2 percent of Bolivia’s GDP. UN-OHRLLS

Interventions – NATIONAL LEVEL

• National action programmes (NAPs) - to combat desertification in specific ecosystems • National Action Programmes on Adaptation – for climate change • National environmental plans • Some countries have increased budget allocations or established specific funds eg. national climate funds • Various Programmes have been implemented – • Sustainable land and water resources management, mitigation, adaptation, conservation, reclamation of degraded areas, protection of ecosystems and biodiversity • Capacity building – institutional and human development • Early warning and disaster management

UN-OHRLLS

Interventions – SUB-REGIONAL LEVEL

 Sub-regional and Regional Action Programmes  Financing mechanisms/support available at regional/subregional level – eg. African Development Bank and Asian Development  Bank Africa water facility  Energy and Environment Partnership program

UN-OHRLLS

Interventions – INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

 UNCCD has also put in place a 10-year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention (2008 –2018)     Financing mechanisms The Global Environment Facility Climate Investment Funds Green Climate fund

UN-OHRLLS

Challenges

• • • • • • • • Lack of adaptive capacity – economically disadvantaged, undiversified agro-based economies, and equitable access to resources Lack of capacity in global negotiations, Climate Change, Desertification, Sustainable development Inadequate financial resources to fully implement designed plans.

Poor data and monitoring mechanisms their implementation. – affects development of robust national action plans and Lack of robust information dissemination systems, Limited technology development and transfer Increasing austerity measures.

New development agenda must adequately respond to the needs of LLDCs.

UN-OHRLLS

Priority Actions and Support Measures to LLDCs

• Promote holistic and integrated approach to address climate change, desertification and drought – work on a synergy of the conventions • Invest in climate-smart agriculture to counter the impact of climate change, desertification and land degradation, involve local communities • Strive to diversify the economic base of LLDCs • Promote effective and comprehensive approach to risk reduction and sustainable development • Promote regional integration to address climate change, desertification and drought regional networks of excellence; – foster development of regional technology centers, and

UN-OHRLLS

Priority Actions and Support Measures to LLDCs

• Strengthen early warning systems and i information systems to financial facilities for LLDCs assistance to LLDCs. processes relating to the environment nformation & institutional capacity on climate and weather • Strengthen international support and broad access • Consider establishing special financing facility just • Provide technological and capacity building • Strengthen and support participation of LLDCs in relevant intergovernmental and multilateral

UN-OHRLLS

Priority Actions and Support Measures to LLDCs

The Second UN Conference should address these priorities

UN-OHRLLS

… Thank You

UN-OHRLLS