Assembly/AU/Dec.492(XXII) DECISION ON ENHANCING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION IN AFRICA Doc. Assembly/AU/8(XXII) The Assembly, 1. RECALLS the Decision of the 21st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May 2013 on the need to strengthen African leadership in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification process; 2. CONGRATULATES the Government of the Republic of Namibia for the successful hosting of the Eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to UNCCD in September 2013, and on her assumption of the Presidency of the Convention for the next two years; 3. COMMENDS the Commission and partners for the efforts in enhancing Africa’s visibility in COP.11/UNCCD in Windhoek, Namibia and ENDORSES the Namib Declaration adopted at that Conference; 4. RENEWS our commitment to the Namib Declaration to enhance the implementation of the UNCCD in Africa in order to address land degradation, desertification, biodiversity loss and effects of drought, and to promote sustainable development on the Continent; 5. ENDORSES the establishment of an African Working Group on Desertification and Sustainable Land Management, to be convened by the Commission; 6. REQUESTS the Commission to review the African Coordination Mechanism in place in order to strengthen it and to improve Africa’s engagement in the UNCCD processes; 7. ALSO REQUESTS the Commission to support RECs and Members States in collaboration with Partners to review the Regional Action Programme to combat desertification in Africa and to align it to the UNCCD Ten Year Strategy. 8. FURTHER REQUESTS the Commission to rationalize and strengthen its specialized units, in particular the Semi-Arid Food Grains Research and Development (SAFGRAD) and the Climate Change and Densification Unit (CCDU), for an effective and vigorous provision of the necessary platform for guidance, experience sharing and coordination among the existing African Centres of Excellence on Desertification.