A HIGH-LEVEL note will be submitted to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) following an approval by Cabinet, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Friday.

“The high-level note will outline the measures that will be undertaken to achieve the National Land Degradation Neutrality Targets in Guyana by the year 2030,” Minister Harmon explained.

It was noted that the measures, compiled in a Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN-TSP) Country Synthesis Report 2017-2030, were compiled after wide consultations with all of the relevant stakeholders.

During one of the consultative meetings in 2017, GLSC and National Focal Point for the UNCCD, Trevor Benn had explained that incidences of floods, droughts, saltwater intrusion in agricultural areas and natural resource utilisation in the mining forestry and land sectors were among the key land degradation issues facing Guyana.

He had further explained that the LDN-TSP would provide the country framework for a timely monitoring management and reporting on land degradation, land reclamation and sustainable land management.

Guyana opted into the LDNTSP in April 2016. The process is intended to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 15: life, land and the target 15.3 which seeks to combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, droughts and floods and strive to achieve a land degradation neutral work by 2030.

GLSC is seeking to strengthen relevant existing laws and to recommend the creation of new ones where they do not exist. “This, together with the implementation of the national action plan to combat land degradation, will provide us with the necessary tools to aid us in this process,” Benn had said.

Guyana ratified the UNCCD and acceded to it on June 26, 1997 and effectively became a member on September 24, 1997. The UNCCD supports the development and implementation of national and regional policies, programmes and measures to prevent, control and reverse desertification land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought.