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: erdenebileg@un.org 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 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)

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

Dryland regions of the world (yellow) These are sensitive to desertification As can be seen most of the LLDCs are located in the sensitive areas – the drylands EG. Sahel region – part of the Sahara desert – Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia etc Botswana, parts of Zambia, Zimbabwe near the Kalahari Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan and other LLDCs near the Gobi Desert

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. UN-OHRLLS

Areas affected by desertification and land degradation

Impact of climate change, desertification and land degradation on LLDCs The report provides several country examples of the impacts. UN-OHRLLS

Decreased productivity Food insecurity/famines, Poverty/human loss 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 – affects development of robust national action plans and their implementation. 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. This is required for analyzing and developing responses to the problems of climate change, desertification and drought in LLDCs in a holistic way addressing all the areas such as poverty, climate change, food security, biodiversity, deforestation, forced migrations and others and to systematically integrate the action plans into national planning and budgets. 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 – foster development of regional technology centers, and regional networks of excellence; UN-OHRLLS

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

Priority Actions and Support Measures to LLDCs The Second UN Conference should address these priorities UN-OHRLLS

… Thank You UN-OHRLLS