Celebrating the World’s Best Policies for Combating
Desertification
Call for Nominations
Deadline: 17 February 2017
“From the desperation of desertification and tyranny of extreme weather,
positive changes are emerging with real benefits for people’s lives.”
Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification
The Future Policy Award celebrates legislation and policies that create better living
conditions for current and future generations. The aim of the award is to raise global
awareness for these exemplary laws and policies and speed up the spread, implementation and strengthening of such laws in order to build just, sustainable and peaceful societies. The
Future Policy Award is the first award that celebrates policies rather than people on
an international level. Each year the World Future Council chooses one topic on which
policy progress is particularly urgent, and receives nominations from all over the world
for best policies that are inspiring, innovative and effective.
Celebrating Laws and Policies for Combating Desertification
In 2017, the World Future Council’s Future Policy Award is working in partnership with
the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to highlight laws and
policies that contribute to the protection of life and livelihoods in the drylands, and help
achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15, target 3, to “com bat desertification,
restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification,
drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation -neutral
world.”
Don’t let our future dry out!
Desertification and land degradation are among the greatest environmental challenges
of our time and a threat to the food security, livelihoods and health of hundreds of
millions of people. Drylands cover over 30% of the Earth’s land and are extremely vulnerable to over-­‐exploitation, inappropriate land use and climate variability. Political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all contribute to desertification, which
UNCCD describes as “a silent, invisible crisis that is destabilizing communities on a
global scale.” Droughts kill more people than any other weather-related catastrophe and
can amplify tensions within and between communities. It is estimated that 135 m illion
people are at risk of being displaced by desertification, and drylands are the most
conflict-prone regions of the world.
Climate change, and the increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather in arid lands,
makes combating desertification even more vital. Restoring degraded land can help it to
withstand the impacts of climate change, and has the potential to store up to 3 billion
tonnes of carbon annually. Securing healthy and productive land is the key to allowing
communities everywhere to not just survive but thrive.
To build a peaceful, just and sustainable future for people in the world’s drylands, and
achieve SDG 15.3, decision-makers must enact, implement and expand policies and
laws that foster the restoration and sustainable use of land and water resources in
affected areas. It is crucial to learn from policies that are already making an impact.
Policies to Change the World
Nominations for the best laws and policies to combat desertification can originate in
many different political fields, from conservation to sustainable land management, from
ecosystem payments to trade to finance. The nominated laws and policies can be local,
national or regional in nature, and should have been in existence for long
enough to prove their effective implementation and impact.
The laws and policies should deliver identifiable improvements, take into account
systemic aspects such as sustainable use of resources, equity, poverty eradication and
good governance, reflect the World Future Council’s holistic and integrated perspective,
and perform well against the 7 Policy Principles that have been adopted by the
W FC. (You can find more information about the principles at
http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/future_justice_principles.html)
The Nomination Process
To facilitate the nomination process, we have developed a template that you will find in
the Annex. We kindly ask you to send your nomination(s) by 17 February 2017 to Ms.
Fiona Curtin: [email protected].
The Selection Process
The WFC research department will apply the WFC Future Justice Policy Principles to all
nominated policies and provide a shortlist of policies for consideration by a Jury of
experts from all five continents at its meeting in June 2017.
The Award Ceremony
The winners will be presented in a formal ceremony with the participation of ministers,
decision-makers, media and donors in September 2017, in the framework of the
Thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of UNCCD in Ordos, China.
The World Future Council
The World Future Council brings the interests of future generations to the centre of law
and policy making. The Council consists of 50 eminent global change-makers from
governments, parliaments, the arts, civil society, academia and business. Together they
form a voice for the rights of future generations. The Council addresses challenges to
our common future and identifies and promotes effective legislative and policy solutions
among decision makers.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only legally
binding international agreement on land issues. The Convention works to promote good
land stewardship. Its 195 Parties aim, in partnership, to implement the Convention and
achieve the sustainable development goals. The ultimate objective is to protect our land,
from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide us all with food, water and
energy. By sustainably managing land and striving to achieve land degradation
neutrality, now and in the future, we will reduce the impact of climate change, avoid
conflict over natural resources and help communities to thrive.
For
further
inform ation,
www.worldfuturecouncil.org/future_policy_award.htm l
please
visit:
Nomination Form - Future Policy Award 2017
Name:
Organization: Email:
Address:
Tel./Skype:
Please complete this form in English or French.
Official title of the nominated law or policy:
You may nominate up to three policies, acts, laws, national action plans, decrees or ordinances of an
intergovernmental body, country, state, region or municipality. Nominated laws and policies should have been
in existence long enough to prove their effective implementation and, most importantly, to deliver identifiable
improvements. Governments are not permitted to nominate their own policies, but are welcome to nominate
those of other countries.
Country or countries the law/policy was
Date of implementation:
first introduced:
Ministries or departments responsible for its introduction:
Do you know if this law/policy has been adopted in other countries? If so, where?
If this is not the case, please describe to what extent it is transferable and applicable to other regions.
Please explain the reasons why this law/policy should be seen as a ‘best law/policy’.
Please describe the objectives of the law/policy whilst also referring to the means of implementation and actors
involved as well as its influence and impact. Max. 150 words.
Briefly describe your involvement with the nominated law/policy:
If possible, please provide the names and contact details of at least 3 experts we can
contact for further information regarding the law/policy (Ideally one from the following three
domains: policymaker (PO), civil society (CS), academic (A)):
Sources of information on this law/policy, preferably available online:
Thank you for taking the time to submit this nomination.
We kindly ask you to send your nomination(s) by email to Ms Fiona Curtin at
[email protected]
The deadline for nom inations is Friday 17 February 2017, but we will welcome
submissions in the weeks following this date as the analysis of nominations will be
an ongoing process.