PRAIS4 Reporting Manual

Introduction

Background

By its decision 7/COP.13, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) adopted the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework, containing five strategic objectives (SOs) and an implementation framework. The SOs are:

  • SO 1: To improve the condition of affected ecosystems, combat desertification/land degradation, promote sustainable land management and contribute to land degradation neutrality;

  • SO 2: To improve the living conditions of affected populations;

  • SO 3: To mitigate, adapt to, and manage the effects of drought in order to enhance resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems;

  • SO 4: To generate global environmental benefits through effective implementation of the UNCCD; and

  • SO 5: To mobilize substantial and additional financial and non-financial resources to support the implementation of the Convention by building effective partnerships at global and national level.

The implementation framework defines the roles and responsibilities of Parties and Convention institutions in meeting the SOs. For Parties, the implementation framework sets specific aims under three broad headings: (a) financial and non-financial resources; (b) policy and planning; and © actions on the ground.

Progress made in the implementation of the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework has been regularly reviewed through the national reporting process since 2018. The reporting procedures, as well as the role and responsibilities of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) in reviewing the reports, are spelled out in decisions 13/COP.13 and 15/COP.13.

Purpose of national reporting

Up-to-date information on measures taken, results achieved and challenges faced by country Parties is of critical importance for the COP to be able to adopt targeted decisions and guidance aimed at supporting the effective achievement of the SOs. The information communicated by Parties through reporting is valuable also for other stakeholders that work on the implementation of the UNCCD at national and local levels. From these viewpoints, national reporting is an indispensable tool to bringing forward effective planning and implementation of the Convention and the achievement of the SOs at global and national level.

Since 2018, the UNCCD reporting process has also contributed to the follow-up of progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As the custodian agency for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 15.3.1 “Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area”, the UNCCD secretariat is requested to use relevant information submitted in the national reports as a contribution to the overall follow-up and review by the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Indicator and monitoring framework

The UNCCD indicator and monitoring framework has a hierarchical structure that makes it possible to distinguish what to measure (progress indicators) and how it should be measured (metrics/proxies).

Indicators used for reporting on progress towards the SOs are those adopted by Parties in decision 7/COP.13, 9/COP.13 and 11/COP.14. In addition to the indicators adopted by the COP, five newly proposed indicators (i.e. SO 2-3, SO 4-3, SO 5-3, SO 5-4 and SO 5-5) will be tested during the 2022 reporting process. All newly proposed indicators will be considered optional in reporting until the COP takes a decision on whether to formally adopt them. Integrating them in the forthcoming reporting process will enable Parties to assess the suitability of the indicators for measuring progress towards the SOs and take an informed decision at the twentieth session of the CRIC held in conjunction with the COP. Table 1 through table 5 below contain an overview of the indicators, their related metrics/proxies and their statuses (i.e. whether the indicator is officially adopted, and if so, when it was adopted; or whether it is newly proposed and will be tested in the forthcoming reporting process). The tables also provide information on the reporting attributions.

Reporting on the implementation framework will be done through qualitative information, largely by narratives on national experiences, and on a voluntary basis.

Table 1. Strategic objective (SO) 1 indicators and reporting attribution

Indicator code

Indicator name

Metrics / proxies

Adopted / proposed

Reporting attribution

Affected country Parties

Developed country Parties

SO 1-1

Trends in land cover

Land cover change

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

*1

SO 1-2

Trends in land productivity or functioning of the land

Land productivity dynamics

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

SO 1-3

Trends in carbon stocks above and below ground

Soil organic carbon stock

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

SO 1-4

Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area

—

Background for indicator adopted in decision 9/COP.13

X
Table 2. Strategic objective (SO) 2 indicators and reporting attributions

Indicator code

Indicator name

Metrics / proxies

Adopted / proposed

Reporting attribution

Affected country Parties

Developed country Parties

SO 2-1

Trends in population living below the relative poverty line and/or income inequality in affected areas

Proportion of the population below the international poverty line

OR

Income inequality

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

—

SO 2-2

Trends in access to safe drinking water in affected areas

Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

—

SO 2-3

Trends in the proportion of the population exposed to land degradation, disaggregated by sex

Proportion of the population exposed to land degradation, disaggregated by sex

Indicator proposed in response to decision 11/COP.14, which requested the Secretariat to align reporting for SOs 1– 5 with gender-responsive indicators

Optional

—
Table 3. Strategic objective (SO) 3 indicators and reporting attributions

Indicator code

Indicator name

Metrics / proxies

Adopted / proposed

Reporting attribution

Affected country Parties

Developed country Parties

SO 3-1

Trends in the proportion of land under drought over the total land area

Proportion of land in each drought intensity class as defined by the Standardized Precipitation Index

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.14

X

—

SO 3-2

Trends in the proportion of the total population exposed to drought

Proportion of the population exposed to drought, disaggregated by sex

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.14

X

—

SO 3-3

Trends in the degree of drought vulnerability

Drought Vulnerability Index

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.14

X

—
Table 4. Strategic objective (SO) 4 indicators and reporting attributions

Indicator code

Indicator name

Metrics / proxies

Adopted / proposed

Reporting attribution

Affected country Parties

Developed country Parties

SO 4-1

Trends in carbon stocks above and below ground

Trends in carbon stocks above and below ground is a multipurpose indicator used to measure progress towards both strategic objectives 1 and 4. See progress indicator SO 1-3.

SO 4-2

Trends in abundance and distribution of selected species

Red List Index

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13

X

—

SO 4-3

Trends in protected area coverage of important biodiversity areas

Average proportion of Terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas covered by protected areas

Complementary indicator and corresponding metric proposed in response to CRIC 17 recommendations and decision 7/COP.13.

Optional

—
Table 5. Strategic objective (SO) 5 indicators and reporting attributions

Indicator code

Indicator name

Metrics / proxies

Adopted / proposed

Reporting attribution

Affected country Parties

Developed country Parties

SO 5-1

Bilateral and multilateral public resources

—

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13 as ‘Trends in international bilateral and multilateral official development assistance’

X

X

SO 5-2

Domestic public resources

—

Indicator adopted in decision 7/COP.13 as ‘Trends in domestic public resources’

X

X

SO 5-3

International and domestic private resources

—

Indicators proposed in response to decision 11/COP.14, which requested the Global Mechanism to include additional quantitative data in the reporting template for SO 5 and provide information before the start of the next reporting process on the possible development of progress indicators on technology transfer under SO 5

Optional

Optional

SO 5-4

Technology transfer

—

Optional

Optional

SO 5-5

Future support for activities related to the implementation of the Convention

—

Optional

Optional

Reporting tools

Since the 2018 reporting process, the performance review and assessment of implementation system (PRAIS) has been upgraded to bring it into line with modern systems architecture and the requests made by Parties at the fourteenth session of the COP. PRAIS 4 will offer the following improvements over PRAIS 3, among other things:

  • A more user-friendly interface, including web-based reporting forms pre-filled with default data derived from global data sources. Information entered in the forms will be summarized in standalone country reports, downloadable and sharable outside the system. The system will also include additional data fields specific to affected areas for SOs 1 to 4;

  • A centralized database to securely store and manage country-submitted data;

  • New functionality to ingest and manage large geospatial datasets; this will permit the user to define, for instance, the location and boundaries of land degradation hotspots or zones of voluntary land degradation neutrality targets;

  • Analytical, synthesis and visualization functions for the submitted data 2.

The following reporting tools will be made available to country Parties in the six official United Nations languages:

  • The PRAIS 4 user manual, which provides step-by-step procedures for system access and use;

  • This reporting manual, which provides step-by-step methodological guidance for the preparation of national reports;

  • An updated glossary of reporting terms and definitions.

In addition, Parties can also refer to the following methodological reference documents (in English only):

Data analytics tools

In line with decision 11/COP.14, Conservation International has further enhanced and expanded Trends.Earth to support the preparation and analysis of data for UNCCD national reporting in a format that can be automatically transferred to PRAIS.

Trends.Earth is a free and open-source tool for monitoring indicators of land change. More specifically, Trends.Earth supports:

  • The calculation of the SO 1 indicators, including SDG Indicator 15.3.1, following version 2 of the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1;

  • The recalculation of SDG indicator 15.3.1, accounting for any reported false positive and false negative degradation processes;

  • The calculation of indicator SO 2-3: Trends in the proportion of population exposed to land degradation, disaggregated by sex;

  • The calculation of the SO 3 indicators following the Good Practice Guidance for National Reporting on UNCCD Strategic Objective 3;

  • Access to global data sources, including default data sources for national reporting;

  • Integration of nationally or locally available data and nationally determined assumptions;

  • Data transfer to PRAIS.

Default data

With a view to reducing the reporting burden and in accordance with the procedure established in decision 22/COP.11, the PRAIS 4 forms will be pre-filled with default national estimates based on available global data sources. Country Parties will have the possibility to verify or replace these national estimates using data sourced/computed nationally/locally.

In order to provide national-level extracts of the global data sources for national reporting, the United Nations Geospatial Hub (hereinafter referred to as UN Map Data) was used, which is a worldwide geospatial database consisting of country and geographic name information and a coherent alignment of national boundaries for consistent representation on a global scale. UN Map Data includes geospatial web services, which aim to provide a contextual global webservices background to the international community. The current flagship United Nations geospatial service is entitled Clear Map3 (hereinafter referred to as UN Clear Map). UN Clear Map was originally designed and created for the use of the United Nations Secretariat and system for their website and related web products, but is now a publicly available resource subject to the terms of use. The UN Clear Map service is available in PRAIS 4 in different cartographic styles and web canvases to give countries context for the geospatial reporting data. However, the UN Clear Map has scale constraints, as it cannot be used beyond a map scale of 1:4.5 million. As the PRAIS 4 map view is fixed to the extent of the country boundaries, countries which are fixed at scales finer than this will not be able to use UN Clear Map. Alternative web map services are provided for context at finer scales to compensate for the scale constraints of UN Clear Map.

The UN Map Data has been prepared by the United Nations Geospatial Information Section (formerly Cartographic Section) in New York. The designations employed and the presentation of material contained in the UN Map Data do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the UNCCD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Countries wishing to replace the default national estimates using nationally or locally available data are advised and encouraged to use Trends.Earth for the preparation, analysis and transfer of their data into PRAIS. This includes the use of a national border which differs from the UN Map Data used for the preparation of the default datasets described above. Careful consideration should be given to the use of an alternative national border in that it must be consistent with the total land area reported under SO 1-1. Otherwise, discrepancies may arise in the reporting data derived from geospatial analysis using that border.

Open data sharing

By its decision 16/COP.11, the COP requested the secretariat to ensure that data and information from the reporting process are available and accessible to all, especially at the national and local levels.

When uploading data to PRAIS, particularly spatial data and associated attribute data, country Parties will be prompted to choose whether to: (i) use an existing Creative Commons licence; or (ii) use an existing licence of their own.

These options aim to empower country Parties reporting through PRAIS to set the terms of use of the national data uploaded or created as part of the reporting process. Country Parties are free to choose a licence that meets their requirements. However, most of the default data provided to Parties through PRAIS and Trends.Earth is already in the public domain as described here, while other default datasets have been licenced by their respective data providers, namely the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Land Cover and the International Soil Reference and Information Centre SoilGrids, under an Attribution-ShareAlike licence. Thus, these datasets are subject to the terms of the Attribution-ShareAlike license. Users of these datasets, such as the UNCCD and its Parties, must reshare the data on the same terms granted by the licensor and with proper attribution to them. For more information on the issue of data sharing, see Annex I of this reporting manual.

Reporting frequency

By its decision 15/COP. 13, the COP approved a four-year frequency for national reporting. During the first reporting process under the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework in 2018, Parties reported data and information for the baseline period 2000–2015. From the 2022 reporting process onward, Parties will quantify the indicators and report national estimates for four-year reporting periods as indicated in table 6 below.

Table 6. UNCCD reporting process and corresponding reporting periods (current reporting process and period in bold)

UNCCD Reporting Process

UNCCD Reporting Periods

2018

Baseline 2000-2015

2022

2016-2019

2026

2020-2023

2030

2024-2027

2034

2028-2031

Recalculations and time series consistency

Advances in methodologies and data availability may require periodic recalculations of previously submitted national estimates. While recalculations may require refinements in terms of target-setting, they ensure the consistency of the time series and the comparability between the baseline and future monitoring data.

In this reporting process, the key reasons for recalculation, accompanied by explanatory information (including the quantitative impact of the recalculation on (i) the baseline estimates compared with the baseline reported in 2018; and (ii) previously submitted national targets), should be reported. A separate reporting form has been created in PRAIS 4 for this purpose.

For instance, given the evolution of the calculation methods presented in version 2 of the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1, it is recommended that previously submitted baseline estimates of all SO 1 indicators, including SDG Indicator 15.3.1, be recalculated and included in the national report to be submitted in 2022. Default national estimates provided through the PRAIS forms have already been recalculated for country Parties using the new calculation methods. Therefore, recalculation methods should only be reported if opting to use national datasets.

For a broader discussion on the issue of recalculations, see chapter 6 of version 2 of the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1.

Process and schedule for the 2022 reporting process

The 2022 reporting process is expected to commence in November 2021, contingent on the timing of the PRAIS 4 launch. If reporting commences at the beginning of November 2021, the deadline for submission of national reports could be May 2022, still pending a final decision by the Executive Secretary and the CRIC Bureau, who will assess progress made in reporting by Parties early next year.

Various measures will be taken to support Parties in preparing the national reports and providing high quality information:

  • Capacity development activities will be organized starting in November 2021. Due to COVID-19 and related travel restrictions, those capacity development activities will have to be designed as online tuition and webinars aimed at introducing national focal points and assigned reporting officers to the new reporting requirements, methodologies, data and tools;

  • The secretariat and the Global Mechanism, with the assistance of consultants, will provide technical backstopping throughout the reporting process;

  • An online helpdesk facility will be available via PRAIS 4 to respond to queries from Parties;

  • National reports will undergo a quality assurance procedure prior to final submission to ensure the provision of consistent, transparent, comparable, accurate and complete information.

At its twenty-first session, the CRIC will review and analyse the information submitted during the 2022 reporting process.

1

Indicators under SO 1 and SDG indicator 15.3.1 are optional for reporting by developed country Parties. Developed country Parties may wish to submit information on these indicators on a voluntary basis for the purpose of reporting on progress towards the SDGs.

2

Delivery of analytical, synthesis and visualization functions expected in September - December 2022.

3

https://geoportal.un.org/arcgis/home/item.html?id=541557fd0d4d42efb24449be614e6887.

1. Strategic objective 1: To improve the condition of affected ecosystems, combat desertification/ land degradation, promote sustainable land management and contribute to land degradation neutrality

1.4. SO 1-4 – Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area (Sustainable Development Goal indicator 15.3.1)

1.4.1. Introduction

Land degradation is defined as ‘the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from a combination of pressures, including land use and management practices7’.

Using the three indicators SO 1-1, SO 1-2 and SO 1-3 (hereinafter referred to as subindicators), UNCCD reporting will estimate the proportion of land that is degraded over total land area, which is also SDG indicator 15.3.1 and the only indicator used to track progress towards target 15.3: ‘By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land-degradation neutral world’. In line with decision 15/COP.13, the information compiled in national reports will be used by the secretariat, in its capacity as the custodian agency for SDG indicator 15.3.1, to contribute to the overall follow-up and review by the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Knowing the extent and location of degraded land is instrumental to achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) at national level and supporting Parties in setting national voluntary targets.

SDG indicator 15.3.1 is reported as a single figure expressed in km2 quantifying the area of land that is degraded as a proportion of total land area, which is defined as the total surface area of a country excluding the area covered by inland waters, like major rivers and lakes.

UNCCD facilitates reporting on SDG indicator 15.3.1 by providing pre-filled data in the PRAIS 4 platform with values derived from default datasets.

Parties have the option to identify areas of ‘false negative’ or of ‘false positive’ errors in the identification of degradation. The reporting form in the PRAIS 4 platform allows for a full description of these sites, including their geographical locations, the delineation of their extents and the processes driving the false negative/false positive interpretations.

Parties are also encouraged to identify ‘hotspots’ and ‘brightspots’ as areas experiencing the most evident and dramatic changes in (i) land degradation; and (ii) improvement, respectively.

1.4.2. Prerequisites for reporting

  • An in-depth reading of chapter 2 of the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1;

  • A pool of national experts officially nominated by the national authorities to verify the reliability of the land degradation estimates. Key institutions might include a country’s national statistical office, ministry of environment, ministry of agriculture, ministry of water resources, remote-sensing centre, as well as universities and research centers. Consultation with the national statistics office is particularly important given its responsibility to review and validate national estimates of SDG indicator 15.3.1 prior to the final submission to the United Nations Statistics Division for inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals Report and the Global SDG Indicators Database.

1.4.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The step-by-step procedure for reporting is described in the following. If Parties decide to use the default data, step 1 is unnecessary.

Step 1. Calculate Sustainable Development Goal indicator 15.3.1

Note

Related areas in the PRAIS 4 platform: table SO1-4.T1

In order to calculate SDG indicator 15.3.1, the results of the degradation analysis for each of the subindicators are integrated using a One-Out All-Out (1OAO) method in which a significant reduction or negative change in any one of the three subindicators is considered to comprise land degradation. The result is a binary assessment where a land unit (pixel) is either degraded or not degraded.

The analysis of change in degradation involves first establishing a baseline of land degradation. The baseline sets the benchmark extent of land degradation against which progress towards achieving SDG target 15.3 and LDN is assessed in the reporting period. In practical terms, for the purposes of calculating SDG indicator 15.3.1, tracking change in the extent of degraded land is a three-step process:

  1. Calculate the extent of degradation in the baseline period (t0) from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2015 to set the benchmark for measuring progress towards achieving SDG target 15.3;

  2. Calculate the extent of degradation in the reporting period (tn) by summing (i) areas of land where changes in the subindicators are considered to indicate new degradation; and (ii) areas of land that have persisted in a degraded state since the baseline period (i.e. have not improved to a non-degraded state);

  3. Calculate the change in extent of degradation between the baseline and reporting periods.

The total area of degraded land for the baseline, the reporting period and the change of the area between the two periods should be reported in table SO1-4.T1. In addition, Parties can report additional information on the method used, for example if different from the 1OAO approach, as well as indicate the level of confidence of the estimates (high, medium or low).

Step 2. Identify false positives and false negatives

Note

Related areas in the PRAIS 4 platform: : table SO1-4.T3

Parties have the option to identify areas of:

  • ‘False positive’ degradation, where the 1OAO process has incorrectly indicated that an area is not degraded even though the change in land condition is considered sufficiently negative to qualify as degraded in the context of SDG indicator 15.3.1; and

  • ‘False negative’ degradation, in which the outcome of the 1OAO process has incorrectly resulted in an area being identified as degraded.

What are false positives?

An example is a woody weed invasion of a grassland, which may raise the apparent plant productivity even though the outcome in terms of the change in land condition would normally be negative. This is a false ‘positive’ or apparent improvement in land condition. In the 1OAO process, the area undergoing woody encroachment would be incorrectly indicated as not degraded even though the change in land condition is considered to be sufficiently negative to qualify as degraded in the context of SDG indicator 15.3.1. A similar outcome arises in lands invaded by alien plant species.

What are false negatives?

An example is the inverse of the above problem where woody weeds (or invasive plant species) are removed as part of a remediation process, causing a reduction in apparent productivity. This would normally lead to an indication of degradation even though the intention is to restore degraded lands. In the 1OAO process, the remediated area would be incorrectly labelled as being degraded.

In areas where a false positive or false negative degradation outcome is identified, Parties can use the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer to provide further spatial detail in addition to the reporting fields in table SO1-4.T3. Spatial delineation of false positive and negative areas should only be carried out where countries are confident that they know the timing, location and extent of these counterintuitive processes. However, in reporting spatially, Parties can then opt to recalculate the outcomes of the 1OAO process through Trends.Earth and import the recalculated results. Without spatial delineation of the false positive and/or negative area, there will be no material impact on the reporting data.

Reporting on false positive and negative extents using the PRAIS 4 platform requires filling in table SO1-4.T3. The PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer supports the filling in of this table with spatial information (in vector format). However, it remains an optional element and the table can still be filled in without the provision of spatial data. Information about the location of the sites, the areal extent of the site (auto-filled by the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer, if used), the processes behind the false positive/false negative outcome and the basis for their judgement should be reported in addition to the period when the false negative or false positive process started. For those Parties using the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer to delineate the extents, an informative graphic can be used to interpret the percentage of the total area delineated that is degraded or improved per subindicator. This graphic chart should be used as a guide to understand what subindicator is driving the false positive or negative process being reported within the polygon extent provided.

Step 3. Assess hotspots and brightspots

Note

Related areas in the PRAIS 4 platform: tables SO1-4.T4 and SO1-4.T5

UNCCD encourages Parties to signal areas experiencing the most evident and dramatic change. These are defined as:

  • Hotspots: areas that are highly vulnerable to degradation in the absence of urgent remediation activities;

  • Brightspots: areas that do not exhibit any signs of degradation, or which have been remediated from a degraded state by implementing appropriate remediation activities or through land planning processes to prevent degradation.

Knowledge about location and type of hotspots/brightspots may facilitate the development of plans of action to redress degradation, including through the conservation, rehabilitation, restoration and sustainable management of land resources.

Hotspots and brightspots are reported in tables SO1-1.T4 and SO1-1.T5 of the PRAIS 4 platform, respectively. Parties are invited to enter relevant information such as location, area, the adopted assessment process, the drivers/processes determining the status of the land, and remediation actions taken and planned. These are spatial tables and therefore should be completed with the support of the geographic information system tools available in the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer. This is an additional and optional element, but such location-based information can strengthen spatial approaches to sustainable land management and help integrate responses to land degradation at the landscape scale. In addition, UNCCD can use these spatial data to create improved information products to demonstrate the impact of the Convention.

Step 4. Generate reports

Once verified by the Parties, the estimates of land degradation data for the reporting and baseline periods should be officially submitted to UNCCD. Special or anomalous situations and noticeable issues related to the data interpretation that may affect the reliability of the reported values should be described in the narrative. A ‘General Comment’ field is provided at the end of the reporting form of the PRAIS 4 platform for this purpose.

Information on land degradation should be reported in km2 for the entire country.

Default maps or maps generated in Trends.Earth using national data representing land degradation for the baseline/reporting period are made available in the PRAIS 4 platform. More specifically, the following maps will be available online:

  • Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area (SDG indicator 15.3.1) in the baseline period

  • Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area (SDG indicator 15.3.1) in the reporting period

  • Degradation hotspots (for countries that provide spatial data in the PRAIS 4 platform)

  • Improvement brightspots (for countries that provide spatial data in the PRAIS 4 platform).

1.4.4. Dependencies

SDG indicator 15.3.1 relies on the total land area reported in table SO1-1.T1. Modifying that number will therefore alter the indicator’s value.

The ‘Area’ fields of the spatial tables SO1-4.T3, SO1-4.T4 and SO1-4.T5 have a dependency on spatial data created by countries using the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer. However, they can also be filled in manually without providing supporting spatial data.

1.4.5. Summary (main actions)

Key actions for reporting on the SDG indicator 15.3.1 are as follows:

  1. Calculate the proportion of land that is degraded over total land area (SDG indicator 15.3.1): Using the 1OAO approach to combine the three subindicators, calculate the extent of degradation in the baseline period and in the reporting period. The extent of degradation in the reporting period is calculated by summing (i) areas of land where changes in the subindicators are considered to indicate new degradation; and (ii) areas of land that have persisted in a degraded state since the baseline period (i.e. have not improved to a non-degraded state).

  2. Identify false positive and false negative processes and provide the relevant justification to support their assessment. Where countries are confident in reporting the location and extent of these processes and in recalculating the 1OAO process for SDG indicator 15.3.1 with the identified areas accounted for, they should use the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer to do so (table SO1-4.T3).

  3. Assess hotspots of land degradation and brightspots of land improvement, indicating their locations, extents, and actions taken and/or planned to manage them and ensure the sustainable development of the areas (tables SO1-4.T4 and SO1-4.T5). Countries are encouraged to report on hotspots and brightspots using the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer.

1.4.6. Further reading

1

The default UNCCD land cover legend for aggregate reporting is a modified version of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change land use categories, where ‘water bodies’ are separated from ‘wetlands’ and grouped in a seventh class including: lakes, rivers and streams (natural/artificial, standing/flowing, inland/sea), artificial reservoirs, coastal lagoons, and estuaries.

2

The calculation of productivity Performance is strongly dependent on the definition of the LCEU. Unlike the Trend and State metrics, which assess changes over time, Performance is a spatial comparison, and the results may change if the extent over which the analysis is conducted changes.

3

To avoid possible overestimation of the maximum value due to the presence of outliers, it is recommended to use the 90th percentile of the productivity values within the land unit as the actual maximum vegetation index value (NPPmax).

4

2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and its 2019 Refinement, as well as the 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands.

5

For more information see: ‘Default data: methods and interpretation. A guidance document for 2018 UNCCD reporting’ available at: https://prais.unccd.int/sites/default/files/helper_documents/3-DD_Guidance_EN_1.pdf.”).

7

Article 1 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

2. Strategic objective 2: To improve the living conditions of affected populations

3. Strategic objective 3: To mitigate, adapt to, and manage the effects of drought in order to enhance resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems

4. Strategic objective 4: To generate global environmental benefits through effective implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

5. Strategic objective 5: To mobilize substantial and additional financial and non-financial resources to support the implementation of the Convention by building effective partnerships at global and national level

Introduction

The strategic objective (SO) 5 indicator framework aims to enable Parties to report quantitative and qualitative information on financial and non-financial resources dedicated to supporting the implementation of the Convention. The set of indicators aims at comprehensive reporting.

This section of the manual addresses the issues related to the identification of resources specific to desertification/land degradation and drought (DLDD) and the structure of the indicator framework. It also explains the Tier approach used.

Identification of resources specific to DLDD or tracking resources for the implementation of the Convention concerns accounting for (i) the financial and non-financial resources employed by activities that avoid, reduce, and reverse the effects of land degradation and desertification; and (ii) the preparedness for, mitigation of and response to drought at different scales. The most relevant challenge lies in the identification of DLDD-specific resources among a range of those allocated for other purposes.

This section of the user manual does not provide a prescriptive definition of which activities can be accounted for as being DLDD-relevant, nor does it exclude any; however, it includes activities, examples, and options as well as a non-exhaustive list of DLDD activities, which might be useful references for the identification of relevant activities. It is up to the reporting Party to provide insights on how those activities are chosen as relevant and explain the methodology used.

Structure and aim of the SO 5 indicator framework

The indicator framework considers the current reporting experiences under the other Rio conventions. It has been revised taking into account the measurement, reporting and verification system under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (with its current Biennial Update Reports), the National Communications templates, and the most recent updates regarding the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement and the financial reporting framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with the aim of increasing synergies in data collection and reporting.

Tier approach for SO 5

The SO 5 indicator framework offers flexibility by introducing Tiers, facilitating the reporting for those Parties that lack quantitative and/or detailed data.

Tier 1 reporting includes descriptive and qualitative information relevant to the indicator, as well as information on trends. Descriptions can include quantitative information at a level of detail which is too low to be reported in the Tier 2 tabular format. It should also include all information that cannot be reported in tabular format, such as descriptions of projects, programmes, instruments, and policies, as well as case studies, experiences, and best practices.

Tier 2 reporting is additional to Tier 1 reporting and provides a tabular format to be filled in along 16 parameters included in the columns. Tier 2 aims to collect more detailed quantitative and descriptive information at the highest disaggregation level available. The table should be complemented by information on definitions and methodologies used for the relevant parameters to be included in the documentation box. Relevant resources and databases should be included in each indicator, providing references for data sources, definitions, and methodologies in support of the reporting.

5.1. SO 5-1 – Bilateral and multilateral public resources

5.1.1. Introduction

This indicator aims to capture information on international resources provided and received through bilateral and multilateral channels. The indicator envisages reporting of information on the trends over the four -year period (Tier 1) and additional quantitative data at disaggregated level in tabular format (Tier 2). Default data will be provided based on the desertification Rio Marker of the OECD, when available1.

5.1.2. Prerequisites for reporting

Institutional arrangements to collect data on international financial and non-financial resources provided and received through bilateral and multilateral channels for the implementation of the Convention. Data on international support provided to and received by third countries are often collected by a country’s ministry of foreign affairs, development agencies or national statistical offices. Countries reporting according to the OECD DAC Creditor Reporting System (CRS) count on a relevant source of data. If information on the relevance of resources provided and received specific for DLDD is not available, the country is encouraged to set up relevant institutional arrangements to start collecting this information.

5.1.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

If the default data is used, Parties are encouraged to verify the information and amend as necessary, or complement the default data with additional information. Further rows can be added.

The reporting steps are described in the following sections.

Step 1: Identification of relevant data

If your country is both a provider and a recipient of international public bilateral and/or multilateral resources, you are encouraged to provide information on both.

Flows

To report against the SO 5-1 indicator, Parties should look at official public flows from international sources. This category tracks primarily resource flows between countries in the form of ‘official development assistance’ (ODA) and ‘other official flows’ (OOF). Both providers and recipients of international public support draw upon the OECD DAC system as a dataset that can be consulted from both the provider and recipient perspectives.

Official transactions are those undertaken by central, state, or local government agencies at their own risk and responsibility. In case an activity or project is funded by different sources of funding – for example, through both public and private resources – it is recommended to report the amount of public resources under the SO 5-1 indicator and the amount of private resources under the SO 5-3 indicator. This would lead to double reporting (the Party would replicate some information related to the relevant project in two separate tables) but would avoid the double-counting of amounts.

Examples

For providers:

  • Public financial contributions provided to developing countries’ governments and implementing agencies.

  • Quantified in-kind contributions provided to projects in developing countries.

  • Public financial resources for technical assistance.

  • Support to projects including a component of technology development and transfer in developing countries.

  • Contributions to United Nations agencies.

For recipients:

  • International financial contributions received by central or local governments and implementing agencies.

  • Financial contributions received from third countries’ governments or multilateral organizations, funds, or United Nations agencies.

Relevance to desertification/land degradation and drought

The OECD DAC CRS collects activity-level data on activities targeting the environmental objectives of the three Rio conventions (CBD, UNCCD and UNFCCC) through Rio Markers for biodiversity, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation and desertification. This category can be measured using the Rio Marker for Desertification marker to report on ODA and, where available, on OOF. The OECD Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) dataset include information on support provided by developing countries. Relevant activities can be identified through SDG field (SDG 15.3).

The methodology used to identify DLDD-relevant activities and the classification method used should be clearly explained in the narrative parts of the indicator’s framework and/or in the documentation boxes.

Step 3: Reporting in narrative format

SO5-1 requests descriptive and qualitative information relevant to the international public resources provided and received through bilateral and multilateral channels. The descriptive section may include all information that cannot be reported in tabular format and provide general information on resources provided and received for the implementation of the Convention.

Examples

International resources provided: […The countries where most projects under the Convention are carried out are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, and the United Republic of Tanzania.]

International resources received: Trinational project ‘Sustainable Forest Management in the Transboundary Gran Chaco American Ecosystem (Global Environment Facility (GEF)–Gran Chaco)’ – Project ID 2505 GEF of GEF-4 – has a GEF grant of USD 2,663,018 for Argentina, plus 60 % of the regional cost of USD 1,290,909 (approximately USD 774,545).….]

Step 4: Compiling the table

Tier 2 involves reporting trends in the progress indicators in a quantitative manner. Under this Tier, country Parties are encouraged to report by recording data about individual projects specific to DLDD. Please compile the table with data at the highest level of disaggregation available. Parties are encouraged to provide activity-level data.

Default data are derived from information reported to the OECD DAC by OECD members based on the desertification Rio Marker2; default data can be amended by the reporting Party as appropriate.

Tier 2 reporting includes:

  • Detailed information at projects programmes and/or countries/regions, including amounts.

  • Aggregate amounts of resources provided and/or received, by year and/or over the four-year period.

Parameters

The table for SO 5-1 provides space to report activities or projects relevant to combating DLDD. While the methodological approach to be chosen by the reporting Party accommodates definitions and methodologies in use, the reporting manual suggests some approaches and definitions for each parameter.

  • Provided/received: Indicate ‘provided’ if, for the reported activity, the reporting country is the provider of the resources; indicate ‘received’ if your country is the recipient of the resources.

  • Year: Indicate the year relevant to the reported activity. Explain in the documentation box whether the year refers to the commitment or disbursement year, and if the fiscal or calendar year is used.

  • Recipient/provider: Indicate the name of the recipient if the reporting country is the provider of resources; indicate the name of the provider if your country is the recipient of resources. This could include the name of the country or the region; be listed as ‘global’ (bilateral flows); or include the name of the institution and/or entity (multilateral flows).

  • Title of project, programme, activity or other: In cases of contributions to multilateral development banks/multilateral funds or participation in replenishments of funds, etc.

  • Total amount in USD: The amounts should be reported in USD; if the reporting country decides otherwise, the approach should be explained clearly in the methodology. This implies the application of an exchange rate to the different domestic currencies. The OECD DAC CRS includes amounts in thousands of USD. The World Bank annual average exchange rate is suggested; please indicate if (and how) a different exchange rate is used. It is possible to report both amounts committed and disbursed for each activity. Committed and disbursed figures cannot be summed up; all reporting shall avoid double-counting across years. From the recipient perspective, the column “committed” can remain empty.

  • Sector: Four macro sectors are suggested in the table. Crosscutting refers to activities that are addressed to more than one sector. The reporting country has the possibility to indicate other sectors, accommodating possible different reporting standards and practices. The indication of ‘other’ is optional; only the name of the sector is to be included.

  • Capacity-building: For each activity and to the extent possible, please indicate whether it includes a capacity-building component; if the activity aims, among other things, to build the capacities of the recipient country; and/or if at least part of the budget of the project has been dedicated to capacity-building to address DLDD.

  • Technology transfer: For each activity and to the extent possible, please indicate whether it includes a technology transfer component; if the activity aims to transfer and develop technologies in the recipient country; and/or if at least part of the budget has been dedicated to transferring technologies to address DLDD.

  • Gender equality: For each activity and to the extent possible, indicate whether it targets gender equality. The OECD DAC CRS system includes a gender equality policy marker, which could be a useful indicator to compile this column, as available.

  • Channel: Please indicate whether the amounts to be considered are bilateral (country to country), multi-bilateral (a multilateral entity managing a project on behalf of a country providing earmarked funds for that activity), or multilateral. Type of flow: Indicate whether the flow is ODA or OOF. Other categories should be included if a different classification method is employed.

  • Financial instrument: Please indicate the financial instrument channelling the public resources reported.

  • Type of support: Indicate whether the activity is directly or indirectly related to the objectives of the Convention. Reporting this information could be based on the use of principal and significant Rio Markers as in the OECD DAC CRS system, where available.

  • Amount mobilized through public interventions: Indicator SO 5-1 provides the space to include information on amounts mobilized from the private sector by official development finance interventions. In this regard, the OECD DAC offers an instrument-specific approach covering all private finance leveraged by public interventions with a direct causality link between flows. A dedicated column in the proposed tabular format is added to facilitate harmonization with the OECD DAC CRS reporting.

  • Use, impact, (estimated) results: The table provides the space to include additional project-level information about the use of resources, the impact with respect to the objectives of the Convention, and results (estimated if the project did not conclude before the end of the reporting period).

  • Additional information: please include any other activity-level information that you deem relevant.

Table 22 below is compiled with some examples:

Table 22. Resources provided and received for Bilateral and Multilateral Public Resources

P/R1

Year2

Recipient or provider3

Title4

Total amount USD

Sector5

Capacity building6

Technology transfer6

Gender equality6

Channel7

Type of flow8

Financial instrument9

Type of support10

Amount mobilized through public interventions

Use, impact, (estimated) results

Additional information

Committed

Disbursed or received

P

19

Ethiopia

UNEP Conservation of Biodiversity

1,400,000

800,000

Other (environmental protection)

Yes

No

No

Multi -bilateral

ODA

Loan

Indirectly

-

-

-

P

20

Ethiopia

UNEP Conservation of Biodiversity

600,000

Other (environmental protection)

Yes

No

No

Multi -bilateral

ODA

Loan

Indirectly

-

-

-

R

17 - 20

GEF

Revision and Alignment of the NAP with the UNCCD Strategic Plan

150,000

150,000

Biosphere protection

Yes

No

Yes

Multilateral

ODA

Grant

Directly

-

Description

Description

R

17

GEF

Revision and Alignment of the NAP with the UNCCD Strategic Plan

150,000

R

17

GEF

Revision and Alignment of the NAP with the UNCCD Strategic Plan

150,000

P

18

Ghana

Land Management

325,000

325,000

Other (Biosphere protection)

Yes

No

Yes

Bilateral

ODA

Grant

Directly

120,000

The project led to concrete results…

The project objectives and structure involved…

Total 201611

xxx

xxx

Total 201711

xxx

xxx

Total 201811

xxx

xxx

Total 201911

xxx

xxx

Total resources provided11

Σ

Σ

Total resources received11

Σ

Σ

1 Provided/Received
2 20XX
3 Recipient/provider country, region, global recipient/provider institution, entity
4 Title of project, programme, activity or other
5 Agriculture, forestry, water and sanitation, cross-cutting, other (specify)
6 Yes / No
7 Bilateral, multilateral (core contribution) multilateral (DLDD-specific) multi-bilateral, other (specify)
8 ODA, OOF other (specify)
9 Grant, concessional loan, non-concessional loan, equity guarantee/insurance, other (specify)
10 Directly or indirectly related to DLDD
11 If disaggregated information is not available, the Party can report only the total amount or the total amounts per year.

Aggregating the information

The aggregation of figures should include all quantified resources reported in tabular format. It is possible to aggregate figures by status (committed and disbursed) and by year. It is recommended to then aggregate figures for the four-year period to generate a total figure for international resources.

Aggregation of figures must avoid double-counting across the table and the other indicators.

Step 5: Use of documentation box

The aim of the documentation box is to provide space to report necessary definitions and methodologies employed for each parameter compiled in the table and included in the description, as relevant. When an internationally agreed standard is used, it is possible to provide the relevant reference.

5.2. SO5-2 – Domestic public resources

5.2.1. Introduction

Domestic resources are at the core of the implementation of the Convention. This indicator aims at creating an overview of the resources available at national level by measuring the effort that the national public sector is undertaking in increasing resources for the implementation of the Convention.

This progress indicator is concerned with domestic resources mobilized and spent by government agencies at different levels (e.g., central, state, and local governments) on activities, projects, policies, and measures to pursue the objectives of the Convention.

The indicator also aims to collect information on public revenues, such as environmental taxes on land-degrading activities and resources collected through mechanisms to influence the behavior of the various entities in the economy regarding DLDD (i.e., incentives).

Reporting countries can choose to take advantage of the Tier approach, in line with the capacities and data availability in the reporting country. It will be possible to compile only Tier 1 (including the narrative description and the indication of trends) or both Tier 1 and Tier 2 (including the compilation of the table with more detailed quantitative data).

Tier 1 involves reporting trends in this progress indicator in qualitative terms (i.e., increasing, stable or declining trends).
Tier 2 aims to collect information at the highest disaggregation level available. Countries are encouraged to report using Tier 2.

5.2.2. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

Step 1: Identification of relevant data

Data relevant to this indicator are usually collected at central government level, often from the ministries of economy and finance, ministries of environment and ministries of agriculture and forestry, as well as Environmental Agencies.

Government budgets do not often include clear information on resources specific to land degradation. Moreover, resources indirectly allocated to activities that promote land rehabilitation could be integrated in sectoral policies. Thus, an inventory approach could be taken in accordance with the agreed definition of DLDD. More broadly, further insights on relevant measures and actions are provided by the Convention, in particular Articles 10.3 and 10.4. Significant international references are the UN SEEA, the CEPA classification system and the IMF GFS database.

The indicator also aims at collecting information on domestic public revenues collected through measures and actions aimed at incentivizing behavior consistent with combating land degradation. Those may include environment-related tax revenues on natural resources, environmental taxes etc.

The reference data sources are central government administrations and national statistical offices. A significant international reference data source is the OECD Policy Instruments for the Environment database3.

Step 3: Reporting in narrative format

The aim of this section is to provide Parties the space to report on information on the context and complement the reporting against Tier 1 (trends) or Tier 2 (table).

Examples

  • “Public expenditures related to sustainable agriculture in year 2018 increased to USD 168 million.”

  • “National resources allocated to protection and ecosystem restoration are mainly channeled through the Ministry of Agriculture.”

  • “The budget allocation of the National Directorate for Planning and Environmental Land Management, which carries out the NAP, is included in the National Budget Programme No. 60 for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

  • “Data was retrieved directly from published sources of federal, provincial and territorial governments; official data was retrieved from the statistical office.”

Step 4: Compiling the table

Tier 2 involves reporting against the progress indicators in a quantitative manner. Parties are encouraged to provide data on individual policies, measures or activities combating DLDD, as well as government budgetary lines and programmes. In this sense, it is recommended to use a bottom-up, inventory approach for collecting data on DLDD-related projects, programmes, measures, or budget lines supported by domestic public resources.

Parameters

The table for SO 5-2 provides space to report those actions that are considered relevant to combating DLDD. The reporting Party can choose the methodology to accommodate definitions and approaches in use, but the reporting manual suggests some approaches and definitions for each parameter.

  • Year: Indicate the year relevant to the reported activity. Explain in the documentation box whether the year refers to the commitment or disbursement year, and if the fiscal or calendar year is used. It is possible to indicate the timeframe rather than a specific year, but this should fall within the reporting period.

  • Amount in USD: The amounts should be reported in USD. If the reporting country decides otherwise, the approach should be explained clearly in the methodology. This implies the application of an exchange rate to the respective domestic currencies. The World Bank annual average exchange rate is suggested; please indicate if (and how) a different exchange rate is used.

  • Additional information: Please include any other activity-level information that you deem relevant, including the title of the measure, budget lines or activity funded.

Table 23 below is populated with some examples (further rows can be added):

Table 23. Resources provided received, and required for domestic public resources

Year

Amount in USD

Additional information

Government expenditures

Directly related to combating DLDD

2017

USD 163,000

Design phase to support the incorporation of the Indigenous Desert Alliance as a legal entity. Secondment of an executive staff member for six months

2017–2020

USD 118,000

In-kind contribution to the GEF project 5018 “Revision and Alignment of National Action Program with UNCCD 10 Years Strategic Plan and Framework”

2018

USD 3,400,000

PPP DLDD – public contribution to the PPP**. Grant funding

Indirectly related to combating DLDD

2018

USD 8,959,024

Co-financing of the GEF project “Incentives for the Conservation of Ecosystem Services of Global Significance”

Subsidies

Subsidies related to combating DLDD

2020

USD 12,500,000

Government subsidy for agricultural land restoration – land conservation

2018-2020

USD 5,600,000

Property tax exemption for private land

Other transfers

Total expenditures/total expenditures per year

Government revenues

Environmental taxes for the conservation of land resources and taxes related to combating DLDD

2019

USD 150,000,000

Tax increase on royalties in the mining sector. Indirectly related to DLDD

Other transfers

Total revenues/total revenues per year

** The private contribution to this PPP is reported under SO 5-3.

Aggregating the information

A total figure for government expenditures, including subsidies and other transfers, will be computed automatically. Thus, avoiding any double counting between these categories is recommended. A separate total figure for government revenues and other transfers will be automatically calculated. Subtotal figures by year are also envisaged for this reporting table.

Step 5: Use of documentation box

The aim of the documentation box is to provide space to report the necessary definitions and methodologies employed for each relevant parameter included in the table and the description, as relevant. When an international agreed standard is used, it is possible to provide the relevant reference.

Step 6: Qualitative question

The reporting Party is invited to share information on whether it set a target for domestic resource mobilization. If yes, provide further details on the features of this target, the timing, and the progress monitoring process.

5.3. SO5-3 – International and domestic private resources

5.3.1. Introduction

The indicator aims at monitoring private resources mobilized by the private sector of the reporting Party for activities and investments ‘at home’ (domestic) and in third countries (international). The scope of this indicator encompasses financing by all private sector organizations including corporations (e.g., private sector funds), households and non-profit organizations (e.g., philanthropic foundations) from domestic and international sources. Such private sources of financing provide resources in the form of concessional and non-concessional resources to implement the Convention.

The indicator allows for reporting on innovative sources of finance and the number of co-financing partners, for those related to the private sector. Further information related to co-financing and innovative sources of finance in the public sector could be reported under the previous two indicators.

The reporting country should select the most relevant Tier approach based on the capacities and data available.

5.3.2. Prerequisites for reporting

  • Institutional arrangements in place for the collection of financial data on private resources allocated to combat DLDD.

  • Capacity to access commercial databases to analyse private sector reports and dedicated case studies.

  • Mechanisms to involve private actors in the compilation of the information.

5.3.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The UNCCD offers the option to report on SO 5-3 both in qualitative and quantitative terms, subject to data availability. No default data will be provided against this indicator.

Step 1: Identification of relevant data

Data relevant to this indicator are usually collected at central government level (in turn also from local authorities). Parties are encouraged to make their best efforts to provide information at the highest disaggregation level available.

Relevance to desertification/land degradation and drought

The relevance of funded activities, projects or investments of the private sector should be consistent with the DLDD-relevance criteria employed to report against the other indicators for monitoring domestic and international resource flows.

Flows

OECD statistics on development finance (from the CRS) include activity-level data on funds from around 40 of the largest philanthropic foundations, many of which provide finance for environmental objectives4. The OECD statistics on the amounts mobilized from the private sector also provide insights on international private sector contributions for development, including for SDG 14 and 155.

Step 3: Reporting in narrative format

SO5-3 requests the provision of relevant descriptive and qualitative information. The aim of this section is to provide Parties the space to report on information on the context and complement the reporting against Tier 1 (trends) or Tier 2 (table).

Examples

“The reporting country undertook important public–private partnerships with [the recipient country] and [the third country’s] private companies. These have been mobilizing XY euros to pursue…”

“Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are funded at 80% by public sources and they need to co-finance 20% of each project/programme (own contribution). This means that besides the development cooperation budget, the NGOs are the most important co-financing partners for activities relevant to the implementation of the Convention. These contributions come from the private sector, private donations, other donors and the European Union.”

Step 4: Compiling the table
Parameters

The table for SO 5-3 provides space to report at project level (or at the highest level of disaggregation available) on actions, investments or programmes that are considered relevant to combating desertification. The reporting Party can choose the methodology to accommodate definitions in use, but the reporting manual suggests some approaches for each parameter. Reporting countries are encouraged to clearly explain the definitions used.

  • Year: Indicate the year relevant to the reported activity. Explain whether the fiscal or calendar year is used.

  • Title of project, programme, activity or other: This field includes the title of the project or activity, as well as the type of investment and initiative.

  • Total amount in USD: The amounts should be reported in USD; if the reporting country decides otherwise, the approach should be explained clearly in the methodology. This implies the application of an exchange rate to the different domestic currencies. The World Bank annual average exchange rate is suggested; please indicate if (and how) a different exchange rate is used.

  • Financial instrument: Please indicate the financial instrument channelling the private resources reported.

  • Type of institution: Indicate which private entity is extending the resources relevant to DLDD.

  • Recipient/domestic: Indicate the recipient’s name if the reporting country’s private sector contribution is addressed to a recipient third country; indicate ‘domestic’ if the private sector of the reporting country provides contributions to activities in the reporting country itself.

  • Additional information: Please include any other activity-level information that you deem relevant, including the name of the private sector entity, details on the recipient and the description of the activity.

Table 24 below is populated with some examples (further rows can be added):

Table 24. Resources provided and received for International and Domestic private resources

Year

Title of project, programme, activity or other

Total amount in USD

Financial instrument1

Type of institution2

Recipient/ domestic 3

Additional information

2018

PPP4

2,500,000

Commercial loan

Private corporation

Domestic mobilization

Private loan blended with public grant funding

2018–2020

Risk mitigation instrument for land restoration

3,000,000

Private equity

Pension fund

Latin America

The Risk Mitigation Instrument for Land Restoration project combines a grant of USD X million with USD 3 million in private equity to deploy innovative risk mitigation instruments to restore degraded lands in Latin America.

2019

Desertification and Sandstorm Disaster Prevention and Control Project in the Western Region

1,400,000

Commercial loan

Private corporation

Domestic mobilization

Executing agency: XY Ecology Technology Co. Ltd.

Total international

xxx

Total domestic

Total per year

yyy

1 Charitable grant, commercial loans, private export credit, private equities, private insurance, other (specify)
2 Philanthropic foundation, non-profit institution, pension fund, private corporation, other (specify)
3 Recipient country/region domestic mobilization
4 The public contribution to the PPP is reported under SO 5-2.

Aggregating the information

Figures will be aggregated as totals by geography (one figure for domestic private resources, one figure for international private resources) and subtotals per year. Aggregation by financial instrument could also be meaningful information to gather, considering the wide range of instruments and their role within the DLDD financing landscape at domestic and international level.

Aggregation of figures must avoid double-counting across the table and the other indicators.

Step 5: Reporting methodological information

Unlike indicators SO 5-1 and SO 5-2 (which include a documentation box), the SO 5-3 indicator includes a separate question for the methodological information. This different approach leaves further flexibility for reporting countries regarding the requisite information and how to structure and elaborate on it, considering that reporting on domestic and international private resources may vary significantly from country to country.

5.4. SO5-4 – Technology transfer

5.4.1. Introduction

The Convention explicitly requires Parties to promote, finance and facilitate the financing of the transfer, acquisition, adaptation and development of environmentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable technologies relevant to combating desertification and/or mitigating the effects of drought; and encourages the facilitation of technology cooperation among affected country Parties through financial assistance or other appropriate means, and through international cooperation (Article 20).

This indicator aims at collecting information from Parties on resources allocated to the transfer of technologies to implement the Convention, both provided to and received from other countries. Moreover, it provides the space to report on technology transfer requirements, both in a qualitative and quantitative manner.

5.4.2. Prerequisites for reporting

  • Access to databases which allow for the identification of DLDD-related projects or activities that include a technology transfer component.

  • Capacity to undertake an inventory or a case-by-case approach if available data do identify technology transfer projects that address DLDD.

  • Capacity to select the most significant projects and activities focusing on technology transfer or including a technology transfer component and provide information on those selected projects.

5.4.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The UNCCD offers the option to report on SO 5-4 both in qualitative and quantitative terms, subject to data availability. No default data will be provided against this indicator.

Step 1: Identification of relevant data

There is currently no defined methodology for identifying DLDD-relevant activities that include a technology transfer component or are specifically aimed at transferring or developing technologies to combat DLDD; however, the template may accommodate different approaches.

The suggested approach is to draw upon the OECD DAC CRS database for ODA flows, OOF, and Private development finance and the Rio Marker for desertification, and select projects specifically aimed at transferring or developing technologies to combat DLDD or with a relevant component. It is possible to consider resources extended to teaching institutions, research institutes and similar agencies. There are potential interlinkages with projects dealing with technologies for climate adaptation, for which taxonomies and classifications are available6, which could serve as a reference for the identification of relevant technologies.

Step 3: Reporting in narrative format

The aim of this section is to provide Parties the space to report information on context and complement the reporting against Tier 1 (trends) or Tier 2 (table).

The description may include:

  • Strategies employed to support technology development and transfer, including case studies.

  • Support for the development and enhancement of in-country capacities and technologies.

  • Resources provided, received, and required for the use and dissemination of modern technology for the collection, transmission, and assessment of data on land degradation.

  • Measures to facilitate the adaptation of technology, knowledge, know-how and practices to wide use and integration with modern technology.

  • How Parties cooperate internationally in the fields of technology transfer as well as scientific research and development.

  • Efforts to encourage private sector activities related to technology development and transfer and how such efforts support developing country Parties.

Step 4: Compiling the table

Under Tier 2, country Parties are encouraged to report by recording data about individual projects aimed at transferring technologies to combat DLDD. The table is to be compiled either seeking to provide a complete picture on technology transfer activities; or with selected projects and measures for which more detailed information is available. In fact, it is possible to use the SO 5-1 technology transfer parameter to aggregate total amounts related to technology transfer. Reporting countries should clearly explain the approach to the compilation of the table, and with respect to the use of the SO 5-1 parameter.

Parameters

The reporting Party can choose the methodology to accommodate definitions is use, but the reporting manual suggests some approaches for each parameter included in the table.

  • Provided/received/required: Indicate ‘provided’ if for the reported activity the reporting country is the provider of the technology transferred; indicate ‘received’ if the reporting country is the recipient of the technology transferred; indicate ‘required’ if the reported activity is the technology transferred required by the reporting country.

  • Year: Indicate the year relevant to the reported activity. Explain whether fiscal or calendar year is used. It is possible to indicate a timeframe rather than a specific year if it falls within the reporting period.

  • Title of project, programme, activity or other.

  • Total amount in USD: The amounts should be reported in USD. If the reporting country decides otherwise, the approach should be explained clearly in the methodology. This implies the application of an exchange rate to the different domestic currencies. The World Bank annual average exchange rate is suggested; please indicate if (and how) a different exchange rate is used. It is possible to report on either amount committed or disbursed; the approach used should be explained and double counting should be avoided.

  • Recipient/provider: Indicate the name of the recipient if your country is the provider of resources; indicate the name of provider if your country is the recipient of resources. It could include the name of the country/region or be listed as ‘global’ (bilateral flows); or include the name of the institution and/or entity (multi-bilateral flows). If information on domestic transfer of technologies is included, indicate ‘domestic’ and provide further information on the providers and recipients of resources in the initiative.

  • Description and objectives: Include information on the objective of the technology transferred in the new context.

  • Sector: Indicate the sector according to the classification system used in other indicators.

  • Type of technology: Indicate the technology/ies being transferred. Explain the definition and categorization used for DLDD-relevant technologies in the methodological information.

  • Activities undertaken by the private sector, public sector of both.

  • Status of measure of activity: Indicate whether the activity is planned, ongoing or completed at the time of the last reporting year.

  • Timeframe of measure or activity: It is possible to indicate the timeframe covered by the implementation of the project, or the year of commitment or disbursement of amounts.

  • Use, impact and (estimated) results: include additional project-level information about the use of resources, the impact with respect to the objectives of the Convention, and results (estimated if the project did not conclude before the end of the reporting period).

  • Additional information: Please include any other activity-level information that you deem relevant, including, for example, information on co-financing arrangements and the respective role of the public and/or private sector.

Table 25 below is populated with some examples (further rows can be added):

Table 25. Resources provided, received, and required for technology transfer measures or activities

Provided/ received/ required

Year

Title1

Amount USD

Recipient or provider2

Description and objectives

Sector

Type of technology

Activities undertaken by3

Status of measure or activity4

Timeframe of measure or activity

Use, impact, and estimated results

Additional information

Provided

17

Land degradation neutrality

45,000

Democratic Republic of the Congo

…

Bioshpere protection

Geospatial Technologies for Land Degradation Assessment and Management

Public and private sector

Ongoing

2018–2020

Received

18

Soil management

China

Environmental protection

Technologies of sandy desertification control

Private

Completed

2019

Required

Regenerative agriculture

60,000

Domestic

Agriculture

Planting local flora to stabilize the soil

Public

Planned

2021-2023

…

Totals

Totals per year

1 Title of project, programme, activity or other
2 Recipient entity, country, region, global
3 Public sector, public and/or private sector; private sector
4 Planned/ongoing/completed

Step 5: Reporting methodological information

The SO 5-4 indicator includes a separate question for the methodological information, providing the space to report any relevant approaches and definition used in the reporting.

6. Strategic objective 1 to 4: voluntary targets, additional indicators and affected areas

6.1. Voluntary targets for strategic objective 1

6.1.1. Introduction

Parties may wish to set national voluntary targets that contribute to strategic objective 1 (SO 1) and therefore “to improve the condition of affected ecosystems, combat desertification/land degradation, promote sustainable land management and contribute to Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)”.

This includes, but is not limited to, the formulation of LDN voluntary targets in accordance with Parties’ specific national circumstances and development priorities. LDN voluntary targets reflect Parties’ ambitions in achieving no net loss of (and thus neutrality), or gains in, healthy and productive land when compared to the baseline.

The definition of voluntary targets should be based on best available data and knowledge. The assessment of land degradation and its drivers plays a key role in informing the decision-making process. Relevant stakeholders must be involved in the voluntary target definition process to ensure ownership and that the achievement of LDN does not come at the expense of adverse social and ecosystem impacts.

Targets need to be measurable to monitor progress. Parties are invited to formulate quantifiable, geographically explicit and time-bound voluntary targets aiming at achieving a neutral (no net loss) or improved (net gain) state of the land, and defining interventions that contribute to avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation, in line with the LDN response hierarchy (see figure 5).

Figure 5. Land Degradation Neutrality response hierarchy

Geographic specificity helps define realistic targets. Geographically explicit targets with distinct locations, ecosystem types and maps can provide increased focus on critical hotspot areas, aid prioritization and help create realistic and purposeful sub-national commitments and plans.

An example of a time-bound, measurable and geographically explicit LDN voluntary target set by Colombia is: “By 2030, the productivity of at least 2,000 ha of soils with crops and/or pastures will be improved, with agroforestry production systems in the Caribbean and Andean regions (Sucre, Santander and Boyacá departments)”.

LDN is intended to be achieved at the national level. Countries typically aim to achieve this through the definition of a combination of national target(s) and complementary targets at the sub-national level for a specific indicator and/or a specific geographic area (i.e., a particular ecosystem, natural area, watershed or subnational administrative jurisdiction), which together contribute to realizing Parties’ ambitions in achieving or exceeding LDN at the national level. Generic examples of LDN targets at different levels of application are presented in table 26 below.

Table 26. Generic examples of Land Degradation Neutrality targets at different levels of application

Level of application

Example

National level (no net loss)

“Achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline”

National level (net gain)

“Achieve LDN by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline, plus an additional 10% of the national territory has improved”

Sub-national level (no net loss)

“Achieve LDN in the Western province of country X by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline”

Sub-national level (net gain)

“Achieve LDN in the Southern province of country X by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline, plus an additional 25% of the province territory has improved”

Specific target (to avoid land degradation)

“Halt the conversion of forests and wetlands to other land cover classes by 2020”

Specific target (to reduce land degradation)

“Reduce the rate of soil sealing (conversion to artificial land cover) by 50% by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline”

Specific target (to reverse land degradation)

“Improve productivity and Soil Organic Carbon stocks in cropland and grasslands by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline”
“Rehabilitate X million hectares of degraded and abandoned land for crop production by 2030”
“Increase forest cover by 20% by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline”

Voluntary targets and actions undertaken to address land degradation can simultaneously contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, there is considerable potential for synergies and it is very important that LDN targets ensure policy coherence and alignment with other national commitments made under different Conventions and related initiatives (i.e., Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, land restoration commitments). In this context, LDN targets should be seen as an effective means of complementing and strengthening other country commitments and avoiding duplication of efforts.

6.1.2. Prerequisites for reporting

  • An in-depth reading of the LDN Target Setting technical guide.

  • A pool of national experts that report across various Conventions and related initiatives to ensure alignment and coherence between LDN-relevant national commitments.

  • A spatial data file of the target areas or a good understanding of the location and extent of the targets, allowing them to be reported on in a spatially explicit manner using the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer.

6.1.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The step-by-step procedure for reporting is as follows.

Step 1. Declare national voluntary targets

National voluntary targets are reported in table SO1-VT.T1 of the PRAIS 4 platform. Parties are invited to articulate, in quantifiable and time-bound terms, voluntary targets that contribute to LDN and/or SO 1 and to include information on the expected year of target achievement, location and total target area, type of LDN intervention (i.e., relevance of the target to the LDN response hierarchy), planned or ongoing measures to achieve the target, and the status of target achievement. Since targets set under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) can also address commitments made under other Rio Conventions and associated initiatives, Parties may also indicate other existing goals of relevance for their LDN targets.

Table SO1-VT.T1 is a spatial table and therefore should ideally be completed with the support of the Geographic Information System (GIS) tools available in PRAIS 4. The PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer enables Parties to delineate the location and extent of their targets, thereby making them geographically explicit, or to upload an existing spatial file (in vector format) of the target areas. This is an additional and optional element, but such location-based information can strengthen spatial approaches to sustainable land management and help integrate responses to land degradation at the landscape scale.

Additional information not included in the table may be reported in the “General Comment” field.

Step 2. Describe implemented actions relevant to the targets

Areas of implemented action (projects and initiatives on the ground) related to the targets can be reported on in table SO1.IA.T1. As for Step 1, areas of implemented action should ideally be delineated in the PRAIS 4 spatial data viewer.

Delineating voluntary targets and related actions currently under implementation can help track progress towards achieving LDN in a country by 2030, support the quantification of any remaining gaps and develop scenarios for closing those gaps. In addition, the UNCCD can use this spatial data to create information products to demonstrate the impact of the Convention and global progress towards LDN.

6.1.4. Dependencies

Although there is no direct dependency between the voluntary targets and SO 1 indicators, it is expected that the results of the geospatial analyses for the estimation of the proportion of degraded land will inform the definition and spatial delineation of the voluntary targets and related projects and initiatives on the ground.

There is a dependency between the targets set in table SO1-VT.T1 and the implemented actions reported in SO1.IA.T1; each reported action in table SO1.IA.T1 should correspond to one or more targets reported on in SO1-VT.T1.

6.1.5. Challenges

National coordination

  • With respect to the various plans and commitments formulated under the Rio Conventions and/or other related initiatives, there is the risk of lack of coherence, overlap and duplication of efforts. There is scope for better alignment on restoration in national plans between the three Rio Conventions, which could enhance planning and implementation.

  • National voluntary targets need to be well-defined, measurable and time-bound to monitor progress. The availability of GIS tools in PRAIS 4 may support the definition of more accurate and realistic targets in defined locations.

6.1.6. Further reading

6.2. Voluntary targets for strategic objectives 2, 3 and 4

6.2.1. Introduction

Parties may wish to set national voluntary targets that contribute to the achievement of SOs 2, 3 and 4:

  • SO 2: to improve the living conditions of affected populations;

  • SO 3: to mitigate, adapt to, and manage the effects of drought in order to enhance resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems;

  • SO 4: to generate global environmental benefits through effective implementation of the UNCCD.

The definition of voluntary targets should be based on best available data and knowledge. The assessment and estimation of the related indicators can play a key role in informing the decision-making process.

Targets need to be measurable to monitor progress. Parties are invited to formulate quantifiable, time-bound and, where relevant, geographically explicit targets.

Voluntary targets and actions undertaken to achieve the UNCCD SOs can simultaneously contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and multiple SDGs. Thus, there is considerable potential for synergies and it is very important that targets set under the UNCCD ensure policy coherence and alignment with other national commitments made under the SDGs, different Conventions and related initiatives.

6.2.2. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The step-by-step procedure for reporting is as follows.

Step 1. Declare national voluntary targets

Parties are invited to articulate, in quantifiable and time-bound terms, voluntary targets that contribute to the achievement of SOs 2, 3 and 4, and to include information on the expected year of achievement or actual year (if already achieved), the level of application (e.g., national, sub-national) and the implementation status (achieved, not achieved, ongoing, extended or postponed, partially achieved).

Delineating the SO 2, 3 and 4 target areas in PRAIS 4 is not requested at this stage. However, geographically explicit targets with distinct locations can help create realistic and purposeful sub-national commitments and plans.

Step 2. Provide any complementary information

Complementary information may be reported in the “General Comments” field. This may include whether the targets have been adopted or officially endorsed and if so, by which body (institution, government agency, regulation). Implemented action, such as target-related projects and initiatives on the ground can also be described.

Furthermore, Parties are encouraged to outline the linkages with the SDGs, indicate opportunities to create leverage and synergies with their countries’ socio-economic, infrastructural and biodiversity agendas, and collaborate with other multilateral environmental agreements.

6.3. Additional Indicators

6.3.1. Introduction

Additional indicators at the national and sub-national levels can assist in both interpreting and understanding the common global indicators associated with each strategic objective, and address locally-relevant issues.

6.3.2. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The step-by-step procedure for reporting is as follows.

Step 1. Report any national additional indicators

Countries are encouraged to identify complementary indicators for SOs 1 to 4 to better address national and sub-national specificities. These can be additional progress indicators or process indicators to monitor whether actions are being implemented as planned. Additional indicators can be quantitative and qualitative.

While sex-disaggregated data related to exposure of population to land degradation and drought are now collected through indicators SO 2-3 and SO 3-2, Parties are encouraged to identify further gender-responsive socio-economic and demographic indicators that may provide a better understanding of how and why specific populations are affected by land degradation and drought.

Additional indicators can be added on the PRAIS 4 platform via a dedicated form (referred to as AI for brevity in PRAIS 4). Parties may specify the name of the indicators, the associated SOs and their direction of change. A brief description of the indicators and other relevant information may be reported in the “Comment” field.

6.4. Affected Areas

6.4.1. Introduction

By its decision 11/COP.14, the Conference of the Parties requested the secretariat to further facilitate reporting on SOs 1, 2, 3 and 4 by, inter alia, including additional data fields specific to affected areas in the reporting system.

Therefore, PRAIS 4 facilitates countries that wish to report on affected areas as an additional and optional item to national reporting. Parties have the option to report on affected areas using a specific set of forms for SOs 1, 2, 3 and 4. The process, forms and tables to report on affected areas are the same as those used for national reporting. No default data is made available for affected area reporting.

6.4.2. Pre-requisite for reporting

  • Sub-national data specific to affected areas.

6.4.3. Reporting process and step-by-step procedure

The step-by-step procedure for reporting is as follows.

Step 1: Define affected areas

Parties wishing to report on affected areas are invited to specify the affected area definition in use in their country. In PRAIS 4, Parties may opt to use the definition of the affected areas contained in Article 1 of the Convention1, or to provide the operational definition of affected area in use in their country.

Once this part of the form has been completed and saved, the reporting forms for SOs 1 to 4 specific to affected areas (referred to as AA for brevity in the reporting forms) will open. These forms will not contain pre-filled default data as provided for national reporting. Therefore, Parties will be required to produce the data specific to affected areas and report it in the forms as explained in Steps 2–4.

Step 2: Delineate affected areas

Parties will be required to spatially delineate the area that corresponds to the definition provided in Step 1 above. Digitization tools in any GIS software (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS) could be used for this purpose or Parties may have an existing spatial file of the affected area available (e.g., ESRI shapefile, GeoJSON or any widely accepted file format).

Step 3: Calculation of affected area estimates for all indicators

Using the shapefile of the affected area produced in Step 2, Parties should calculate affected area estimates of all indicators for SOs 1 to 4.

Trends.Earth can be used to run these calculations on any area of interest. When calculating the indicators in Trends.Earth, Parties should upload the shapefile of the affected area produced in Step 2 and use it as the area of analysis. Parties should refer to the Trends.Earth documentation for further information on how to use their own area file in the calculations. Once the processing is complete, Parties will be required to upload their results to the PRAIS 4 platform and/or manually fill in the affected area forms with the required information.

For non-geospatial indicators (e.g., SO2-1, SO2-2, SO4-2 andSO 4-3), Parties may wish to assess the availability of sub-national information specific to the affected areas defined in Step 1, and report it in the forms provided.

Step 4: Generate reports

All forms and tables on the PRAIS 4 platform for reporting the affected areas should be filled in and supporting data and information provided, if desired, through the upload tools in PRAIS.

Once completed and verified by the Parties, the indicators’ estimates for the reporting and baseline periods should be officially submitted to the UNCCD. Parties are also encouraged to submit narratives on the methodology, data sources and data accuracy.

6.4.4. Challenges

Data availability and quality

  • Depending on the extent of the affected areas, spatial resolution of global default datasets available in Trends.Earth might not always be suitable to calculate indicators with enough sensitivity to spatial variation at sub-national level. Although higher spatial resolution data might be needed, Parties might be challenged by access to commercial satellite imagery, for example, where costs might be prohibitive.

Methodological approach

  • Affected area definitions may vary across countries, limiting the comparability of results across regions and/or globally.

6.4.5. Summary (main actions)

Key actions for reporting on affected areas are as follows:

  1. Define affected areas: Parties should specify the affected area definition in use in their country.

  2. Delineate affected areas: Parties should spatially delineate the area that corresponds to the definition provided in Step 1.

  3. Calculation of affected area estimates for all indicators: using the shapefile of the affected area produced in Step 2, Parties should calculate affected area estimates for all indicators.

  4. Generate reports: Parties should fill in the reporting forms for SOs 1 to 4 specific to affected areas.

1

Article 1 of the Convention defines as “affected areas” arid, semi-arid and/or dry sub-humid areas affected or threatened by desertification

7. Implementation framework: financial and non-financial resources, policy and planning, and action on the ground

7.1. About the implementation framework

7.1.1. Introduction

The implementation framework describes the approach adopted to support and implement the strategic objectives and furthermore provides Parties with an opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences. It focuses on three broad areas:

(a) Financial and non-financial resources

Sharing experiences in (i) successfully mobilized financial and non-financial resources; (ii) uses of land degradation neutrality (LDN) as a catalyst for leveraging investments; and (iii) improved use of existing and/or innovative financial processes and institutions.

(b) Policy and planning

Sharing experiences in (i) the development, implementation and monitoring of national, subregional and regional action programmes and/or plans for UNCCD implementation; (ii) the establishment of policies and enabling environments; (iii) leveraging of synergies; (iv) mainstreaming of desertification/land degradation and drought (DLDD); and (v) improvements in drought preparedness and management.

(c) Actions on the ground

Sharing experience in (i) successful implementation practices used to achieve sustainable land management; (ii) increasing restoration efforts and/or rehabilitating ecosystems; (iii) drought risk management and early warning systems; (iv) alternative livelihoods; and (v) the establishment of effective systems for sharing information and knowledge.

7.1.2. Approach to reporting and structure of the reporting template

Reporting on the implementation framework is qualitative and voluntary.

The reporting template of the PRAIS 4 platform includes a section for each of the above-mentioned areas ((a), (b) and (c)), organized as follows:

  • The title and a brief description of each topic;

  • The key question(s) related to the topics;

  • Complementary information on the topics (countries’ experiences as narrative).

Many questions in the reporting template of the implementation framework are self-explanatory, and guidance is provided only for selected terminology that may need explanation.

‘Yes’ responses to questions enable fields where Parties may provide details on the topic. These fields may change from topic to topic, although a few of them are recurrent, such as:

  • Use this space to describe the experience.

  • What were the challenges faced, if any?

  • What do you consider to be the lessons learned?

  • How did you engage women and youth in X?

The narrative nature of the reporting process gives Parties an opportunity to provide and share information on experiences and challenges. Parties are also encouraged to add one or more examples in support of the stated experiences, including the approach/procedure that was used, how the reported examples were successful and what factors contributed to the success. Each experience and example should be provided as text and should not exceed 1,000 words (approximately two pages of normal text in font size 12).

Some sections in the implementation framework include questions about the support provided to other Parties for implementing the Convention with details on modalities and contexts. Those questions are addressed in principle to those Parties to the Convention which may not suffer from DLDD, but which support those that do. However, it may also address those Parties that engage in South–South cooperation as part of the implementation of this Convention.

7.1.3. Review

The information provided through reporting on the implementation framework will be used, inter alia, for the official sessions of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention to showcase experiences gained in the implementation of the Convention. The reporting manual provides advice on the specific content and type of information that is required in the narratives concerning each area/aim, and hence contributes to focused reporting on current UNCCD priorities and enables a lively, targeted exchange during sessions.

7.2. Financial and non-financial resources

Parties are encouraged to answer questions related to the following three main topics.

7.2.1. Increasing the mobilization of resources

This section relates to strategies and actions aimed at increasing the mobilization of financial and non-financial resources for the implementation of the Convention from international and domestic, public and private sources as well as from local communities, including non-traditional funding sources and climate finance.

Examples of financial resources are funding from grants or credit, non-financial resources (e.g. goods, materials, capacity-building and volunteer time) and non-traditional funding sources (e.g. private investments and public–private partnerships, remittances, solidarity taxes, risk guarantees and insurances). International multilateral finance refers to the Adaptation Fund, Green Climate Fund, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) land degradation focal area and its special funds focusing on climate, dedicated multilateral and bilateral funds, and carbon markets.

The narrative preferably should include information on the type of resources that were mobilized, the source of funding, the purpose of funding (brief description of the project/activity) and the approach/procedure that was used to mobilize resources. Parties may also explain how this experience represents an increase in resource mobilization (i.e. what is different about it) and the main challenges, main factors of success, and lessons learned.

The narrative may also describe a country’s support to the mobilization of financial and non-financial resources for the implementation of the Convention in another country, including information on the partner that was supported, the type of resources mobilized, the source of funding, the purpose of funding (brief description of the project/activity), the approach/procedure used to mobilize resources, lessons learned, challenges and the main factors of success.

7.2.2. Using land degradation neutrality as a framework to increase investment

This relates to strategies and actions for taking advantage of the opportunity to use LDN as a framework to enhance the coherence, effectiveness and multiple benefits of investments. Parties are encouraged to clarify how the implementation of the LDN concept has influenced/is influencing investments. In particular, the aim is to find out whether the implementation of the LDN concept has facilitated support to land activities from different funding sources and assisted in bringing together different types of investors.

Experience(s) and examples to be reported should focus on Parties that use or have used LDN as a framework to enhance the coherence, effectiveness and multiple benefits of investments. Such experiences may include supporting land activities through investments targeting climate action, biodiversity, forests, water and similar; or engaging a variety of funding sources (governments, financial institutions, private sector and others) in land activities. Information about the size of the investment, its use (brief description of the project/activity), challenges faced, lessons learned and the partners involved should also be reported.

7.2.3. Improving existing and/or innovative financial processes and institutions

Parties are encouraged to report on their approach to improve the use of existing and/or innovative financial processes and institutions, such as the GEF or other newer funds. Existing financial processes refer to national budgets, bilateral development cooperation and multilateral development banks, while innovative financial processes are climate finance (e.g. Adaptation Fund, Green Climate Fund, dedicated multilateral and bilateral climate funds other than those of the GEF, and carbon markets), private investments and public–private partnerships, remittances, solidarity taxes, risk guarantees, insurances or similar.

Parties may report experiences in improving climate investments (policies, regulations or approaches that facilitate investments in UNCCD implementation); increasing coherence among commitments (integration of LDN or land activities to financial considerations of other priorities and sectors); or improving capacity for the preparation of high-quality project proposals.

In the description of each experience, Parties may include information on the type(s) of financial processes that were addressed (existing, innovative, GEF or other) and the measures that were taken to improve the use of the financial process concerned. The narrative should explain how the measures worked, the way they improved the use of the financial process, the challenges faced, lessons learned, and the main factors of success.

Parties are encouraged to provide one or more examples of support provided in another country to improve the use of existing and/or innovative financial processes and institutions. In the description, it is recommended to include examples of support that was provided, information on the type(s) of financial processes that were addressed (existing, innovative, GEF or other) and measures that were taken to improve the use of the financial process concerned. The description of the outcome may include information on how the measures worked, the way they improved the use of the financial process and the specific challenges, lessons learned and main factors of success.

7.3. Policy and planning

Parties are encouraged to answer questions related to the following five main topics.

7.3.1. Action programmes

This relates to the development, implementation, revision and monitoring of national, subregional and regional action programmes and/or plans as effective tools for UNCCD implementation, such as the national action programmes (NAPs). NAPs are developed through participatory approaches involving various stakeholders at national, subregional and regional levels, and they encompass practical steps and measures that contribute to combating land degradation/desertification and mitigating the effects of drought.

The narrative should report experience(s) in developing, implementing, revising and/or regularly monitoring national, subregional or regional action programmes and include information on the types of action programmes, the main measures taken in developing, implementing, revising or monitoring them, and the current status/results achieved. The narrative should also explain how the adopted measures were effective for UNCCD implementation and the main factors of success.

7.3.2. Policies and enabling environment

This section focuses on establishing policies and legislative measures to ensure an enabling environment for promoting and implementing solutions to combat desertification/land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought.

DLDD approaches can be designed to deliver other social, economic and environmental benefits, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and disaster risk reduction, among other things. Noting the link between gender equality and land degradation, DLDD approaches can also be developed with a clear gender dimension in implementation design.

Experience(s) and examples to be reported (including those from the LDN Target-Setting Programme, where applicable) may focus on the setting of policy and legislative measures to minimize drought risks, including regulations limiting deforestation or managing grazing, the establishment of protected areas, regulations prohibiting the use of certain chemicals or practices, and policies related to land-use planning, water harvesting or crop insurance, etc. More generally, the narrative may report on regulations and policies that cover all agricultural practices and land use at national level, and even subregional level (transboundary agreements ensuring the mobility of pastoralists, etc.), including information on the area covered by the policy or legislative measure (national/local/subregional), the targeted audience, main provisions, and institution(s) adopting the measure, as well as information on how the measure has succeeded in meeting its aim and the main factors of success.

Experience in setting up policy measures to mainstream gender in the implementation of the UNCCD should also be reported. Such experiences may involve, for example, enhancing women’s participation in decision-making concerning land, improving women’s land rights and access to related resources, or building women’s capacity for effective UNCCD implementation.

Parties are encouraged to provide one or more examples of support provided in the setting of policy and legislative measures in another country, including those related to mainstreaming gender in the implementation of the UNCCD. The brief description of the policy or legislative measure should include information on the area covered (national/local), targeted audience, main provisions, institutions adopting the measure, and main factors of success.

7.3.3. Synergies

This refers to strategies and actions aimed at leveraging synergies in DLDD-related activities and integrating DLDD in planning and implementation to generate simultaneous benefits and added value for other multilateral environmental agreements or international commitments.

DLDD processes can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, habitat loss and decline in biodiversity. As a result, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans and the Convention on Biological Diversity National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans may contribute to meeting targets under one or more of the Rio convention mechanisms mentioned as well as under the UNCCD, NAPs and/or LDN targets. Land-based interventions can help integrate and accelerate progress against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many of which compete for limited land resources. Implementation measures may include the adoption of conservation measures, sustainable land management (SLM) practices and/or ecological rehabilitation/restoration of past land degradation, and may be pursued in ecosystem-based approaches such as ecosystem-based adaptation, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and any other nature-based solution that involves land. Thus, the implementation of actions to address DLDD can be pursued in a holistic approach to achieve the objectives of the three Rio conventions as well as relevant targets under all 17 SDGs, in particular SDG target 15.3.

Parties may provide information on relevant activities or plans (LDN targets, climate or biodiversity commitments or plans, SDGs, NAPs or similar) and include information on their linkages, including with regard to synergies generated and the main factors of success.

7.3.4. Mainstreaming desertification/land degradation and drought

Parties are encouraged to report on their approach to mainstreaming DLDD in economic, environmental and social policies, with a view to increasing the impact and effectiveness of the implementation of the Convention.

The responses should provide information on experience gained in mainstreaming DLDD in economic, environmental and social policies (including experience gained from the LDN Target-Setting Programme), such as adopting SLM in policies for income generation/poverty reduction, gender equality, unemployment, migration, disaster preparedness, energy efficiency or wildlife conservation, among other things.

Parties may include the rationale behind the mainstreaming of DLDD in policies, information on coverage/users of the policy, and details of the process for preparing and deciding on the methods for DLDD mainstreaming. A description on how DLDD mainstreaming in policies increases the impact and effectiveness of the implementation of the Convention and generates added value for the policy should also be included, as well as the main factors of success.

7.4. Action on the ground

Parties are encouraged to answer questions related to the following five main topics.

7.4.1. Sustainable land management practices

Parties may provide a summary of one or more successful SLM practices based on the list developed using the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) Global SLM Database and included in the PRAIS 4 platform1.

The description of the practice may include information on the type of practice, main activities, main stakeholders involved, resources used, reasons for its success in avoiding or reducing land degradation in the long term, and main factors of success. When applicable, experiences from the LDN Target-Setting Programme should also be reported.

Additionally, a full description of the best practice can also be submitted through the WOCAT system to the dedicated knowledge base. Detailed information on how to submit to the WOCAT system can be found at this link: http://knowledge.unccd.int/WOCAT-SLM.

Parties are encouraged to provide one or more examples of support provided to another country to implement successful SLM practices. In the description, it is recommended to include information on the type of practice, main activities, main stakeholders involved, duration, and resources used. The reasons for the successful implementation of this practice, how it has avoided or reduced land degradation in the long term, and the main factors of success should also be reported.

If the practice is already included in the WOCAT system or another similar online database, a link to these systems should be included.

7.4.2. Restoration and rehabilitation

Parties are encouraged to describe their experience in implementing restoration and rehabilitation practices to (i) reverse land degradation and improve land-based natural capital; (ii) assist in the recovery of a degraded ecosystem by re-establishing the pre-existing ecological structure and function; or (iii) reinstate ecosystem functionality, with a focus on the provision of goods and services. Such practices may include, for example, soil nutrient replenishment through organic amendment, water harvesting, counter-erosion measures and reforestation.

In the description, Parties may include information on the type of practice, main activities, the ecosystem in question, main stakeholders involved and resources used. The narrative should also describe the main reasons for success, what support was provided for the recovery of ecosystem functions and services in the long term, and the main factors of success. If the restoration and rehabilitation refer to cases/examples that were mentioned in the question on SLM under the ‘Action on the ground’ section of the reporting form, Parties may refer to them or elaborate more specifically on one or more. Experiences from the LDN Target-Setting Programme should be reported when applicable.

Parties are encouraged to provide one or more examples of the support provided to another country to implement restoration and rehabilitation practices, including information of the type of practice, main activities, areas/ecosystems restored and rehabilitated, main stakeholders involved, and resources used. The narrative should also describe the main reasons for success, what support was provided to the recovery of ecosystem functions and services in the long term, and the main factors of success.

7.4.3. Drought risk management and early warning systems

Parties are encouraged to describe their experience in developing and operationalizing drought risk management, monitoring, and early warning systems and safety net programmes. Such experiences may include, for example, capacity-building and extension services, national strategies in place that cover drought risk management, and ways to monitor the early warning systems. The information may address questions relating to:

  • What are the current procedures/challenges relating to early warning systems in your country?

  • What mechanisms are in place for fostering the liaison and communication of drought monitoring and early warning information between national institutions in your country?

  • What are the causes of/reasons for vulnerability to drought in your country?

  • What criteria are used to prioritize vulnerability?

  • What are general challenges in developing a national drought policy in your country?

  • What steps have been taken for establishing a drought policy in your country?

In the description, Parties may include information on the type of activities, people involved, aim of the activities, and action taken. The narrative should also describe the outcomes of the activities and the main factors of success. Experiences from the LDN Target-Setting Programme should be reported, when applicable.

Parties may provide a summary of one or more examples of support provided in another country to develop and operationalize drought risk management, monitoring and early warning systems and safety net programmes. In the description, it is recommended to include information of the type of practice, main activities, main stakeholders involved, duration, and resources used. The reasons for the successful implementation of this practice, how it has avoided or reduced land degradation in the long term, and the main factors of success should also be reported.

7.4.4. Alternative livelihoods

Parties are encouraged to describe their experience in promoting alternative livelihoods, so as to ensure subsistence and generate income using natural resources in a (new) manner that prevents or reduces land degradation. This may include, for example, crop diversification, agroforestry practices, rotational grazing, or rain-fed and irrigated agricultural systems. It could also include income generation activities that are not directly dependent on natural resources, such as production of artisanal goods, renewable energy generation, eco-tourism, production of medicinal and aromatic plants, and aquaculture using recycled wastewater. The reported experiences may include capacity-building and extension services, provision of incentives, infrastructure improvements (roads, telecommunication) or support to product processing and/or marketing.

In the description, Parties may provide a brief description of the area/people that were involved, the aim of the activities, action that was taken, role of women and youth, and measures taken to encourage their participation in the activities. The narrative should also describe the outcomes of the activities and the main factors of success. Experiences from the LDN Target-Setting Programme should be reported, when applicable.

7.4.5. Establishing knowledge-sharing systems

Parties are encouraged to describe their experience in establishing systems for sharing information and knowledge and facilitating networking on best practices and approaches to drought management. Such systems cover a large selection, ranging from community-level farmers’ networks to national databanks and multi-country peer learning networks. They have a variety of functions, such as facilitating communication and alerts on drought, the sharing of experiences, information and technologies, institutional coordination, provision of scientific data and information, and promotion of the upscaling of good practices. The description may also include information on experiences in promoting women’s access to knowledge and technology.

When available, a list of the national or subnational information/knowledge-sharing systems and networks on drought preparedness should be included, together with a list of subregional, regional and international systems and networks on drought preparedness in which the country takes part. If possible, a link to each system/network website should be added. The list, together with the links, will be made available on the UNCCD Knowledge Hub.

In the description of each experience, Parties are encouraged to include information of the purpose and coverage (area/population) of the information/knowledge system or network, its specific focus/topic if any, the language(s) the information is available in, and a brief description of the main activities. They may also explain how the system/network has been used/useful so far, and the main factors of success.

1

https://www.wocat.net/en/global-slm-database/slm-practices-technologies-and-approaches/classifications-technologies.

Annex I: User-specific license options for national data uploaded to the UNCCD Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS)

1. UNCCD Mandate

Decision 16/COP.11 para. 9 requests the secretariat to ensure that data and information from the reporting process are available and accessible to all, especially at the national and local levels.

Decision 17/COP.11 para. 14 requests the secretariat to develop a policy to access data and information provided by Parties and other reporting entities, including through the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS), building on the practices and policies of other conventions and multilateral bodies, and to utilize intellectual property provisions to protect innovations submitted as best practices while implementing this data access policy.

2. Introduction

Licensing of national datasets aims to empower country Parties reporting through PRAIS to set the terms of use of their national data uploaded or created as part of the reporting process by creating a User-Specific Licence (USL). The default licence for PRAIS data can be seen in the “Terms of Use” section of the site. Parties uploading national datasets to the system have the option to edit the default licence in the Spatial Layers list by clicking on the form provided per uploaded layer. However, while Parties are free to set their terms of use for their national datasets, the default data provided to Parties through PRAIS and Trends.Earth is already in the public domain as described here, and therefore cannot be licensed separately by Parties. For example, the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Land Cover and the International Soil Reference and Information Centre Soil Grids data has been released under an “Attribution-Share Alike” licence. Thus, the use of these datasets is subject to the terms of this licence.

By choosing a USL, the user consents to the chosen licence. It is understood that the following terms and conditions are agreed to:

  • Nothing in or relating to this USL shall be deemed a waiver, express or implied, of any of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) or the United Nations, including its subsidiary organs.

  • The name and emblem of the UNCCD is the property of the UNCCD, which owns all rights to its use. The logo can only be used to identify events and activities related to the UNCCD.

  • The UNCCD shall not be held responsible for any use of information beyond that stipulated in this USL, where prior authorization was not sought and granted in accordance with the conditions expressed and communicated by the UNCCD.

3. Submitting national datasets to PRAIS

There are three mechanisms to share non-default reporting datasets in PRAIS:

  1. Uploading data directly to PRAIS and supplying metadata (information about the dataset) on the form provided.

  2. Via data transfer from Trends.Earth (when using national data for calculating UNCCD indicators in Trends.Earth).

  3. Creating spatial reporting data on the Spatial Data Viewer in PRAIS.

4. Licence Instructions

For every uploaded or created dataset in PRAIS, you may choose to:

  1. Accept the default Creative Commons (CC) licence.

  2. Choose an alternative CC licence which applies additional restrictions on the use of the data, or use an existing licence of your own.

The data licence will determine the level of public user access to national datasets hosted on PRAIS and managed by the UNCCD secretariat for the purposes of reporting. For the purposes of this agreement, the “Data” comprises any national data, with particular recognition of spatial data and associated attribute data provided by the country Party in the reporting process to the UNCCD through its creation on the PRAIS Spatial Data Viewer, using the PRAIS upload tool or via Trends.Earth. The Data may be provided to other PRAIS users on the understanding that they read it and consent to be bound by the terms and conditions of use set out in the USL (if the data is not already in the public domain).

Therefore, country Parties should familiarize themselves with the following options and select the one(s) best suited to their requirements for their Data:

4.1. Creative Commons Licences

There are three regularly used CC licences by which you can license your dataset. However, the UNCCD has an open data commitment and intends to share data provided by Parties with as few constraints and restrictions on its use as possible. Therefore, the data shared by country Parties will be licensed according to the CC Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) licence which means users of the data are free to:

  • Share — Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.

  • Adapt — Remix, transform, and build upon the material.

However, in return for using the data, users must respect the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the licence and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way which suggests that the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

To find out more about this licence (translated into all United Nations languages), please visit this link.

Alternatively, two other CC licences are offered to Parties, which impose additional restrictions on the use of the data:

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

This licence allows others to remix, adapt and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under identical terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

This licence is the most restrictive of the licences, only allowing others to download the data and share it with others as long as they credit you. However, they are not authorized to change it in any way or use it commercially.

4.2. Existing licences

Country Parties may upload or create spatial datasets with an existing data licence which may impose additional restrictions on the use of the data which are not covered in the above options. We invite country Parties to describe the licence and the permissions of use using the form provided.

Annex II: Metadata

1. Introduction

This annex details the structure of the metadata used by the Performance Review and Assessment of the Implementation System (PRAIS) 4 platform.

Metadata is information about data, the primary instrument to provide data users with a comprehensive description of the data, including its accuracy and quality, and provides key information to appropriately use data for decision-making. Without metadata, the user is extremely limited in interpreting and understanding the data.

Therefore, the availability of metadata increases the data’s value because it provides information on the data’s origin, its reliability and trustworthiness. Metadata is an inseparable component that makes data usable in Geographic Information System applications and other geospatial contexts. For several data exchange platforms, metadata provides the required information and structure for discovering and accessing data for different types of uses. In this context, the compliancy of metadata information with well-known standards is important in order to implement methods and tools enabling semantic searches and ensuring interoperability between systems. Accordingly, the PRAIS 4 platform metadata aims to maintain compatibility with one of the most used international metadata standards (ISO 19115, developed by the Technical Committee ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics), which is specifically designed to describe geospatial data.

2. Metadata structure and content

The current version of the PRAIS 4 metadata is organized in a single form containing three types of information:

  • Data content: a description of the essential characteristics of the data and its categorization;

  • Contact point: details on the person or entity to be contacted in order to request information about the data;

  • Geographic location: expressed as coordinates of the bounding box or as a placename.

The specific list of fields is described below.

Data content

  • Title: the textual label used to identify the data (data type: free text);

  • Abstract: an overview of the main characteristics of the data and a summary of the information it contains in an easily understandable manner for technical and non-technical users (data type: free text);

  • Date: the date of data creation (data type: date);

  • Topics: the formalized list of words used to describe the data (data type: list);

  • Character set encoding: the name of the character coding standard used by the data (data type: list).

Contact point

  • Name: the name of the person or entity authorized to provide information about the data (data type: free text);

  • Role: the function performed by the data contact point, such as the owner, distributor or custodian (data type: list);

  • Organization: the name of the responsible organization (data type: free text);

  • Email: the email address of the organization or individual (data type: free text);

  • Phone: the telephone number of the organization or individual (data type: free text);

  • Address: the physical address at which the organization or individual may be contacted (data type: free text).

Geographic location

  • Auto-detect bounding box: option to request the platform to derive the coordinates of a box, including the data;

  • Specify a placename: option to specify the name of the location that fully includes the data.