1. Building the Resilience of Landlocked Developing Countries to the Impacts of Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought
Sandagdorj Erdenebileg UN-OHRLLS Tel: ,
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2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. Human Development Index (HDI) has improved but lower than other groups
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6. Poverty headcount ratio at 1
Poverty headcount ratio at 1.25 dollars per day (% of total pop) has decreased but still high
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7. LLDCs are still heavily dependent on commodities
African LLDCs: Minerals (diamonds, gold, copper, uranium) and agriculture (cotton, coffee, tobacco, bovine)

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

9. 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

10. 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.
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11. Areas affected by desertification and land degradation

12. Impact of climate change, desertification and land degradation on LLDCs
The report provides several country examples of the impacts.
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13. 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.
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14. 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.
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15. 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
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16. 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
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17. 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
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18. 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.
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19. 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;
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20. 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
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21. Priority Actions and Support Measures to LLDCs
The Second UN Conference should address these priorities
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22. … Thank You
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