The Role of Local Communities in Revising National Action Programs to Mitigate Drought, and Prevent and Combat Desertification: Lessons from Romania

Abstract

An important task of signatory parties to the United Nations Conventionto Combat Desertification (UNCCD) declared ``affected countries{''} isto adopt a National Action Programme (NAP). After limited implementationof the 2000 NAP, and while confronted with the severe drought of 2007, adecision was made to proceed with its revision. A decision makingprocess based on stakeholder participation assumes the consequentreduction of enforcement costs and enhanced effectiveness of thepolitical programme. Another assumption is that UNCCD has an essentialsocial component, as the decrease in agricultural production representsa great concern for rural communities in drylands. Questionnaires meantto grasp the position of local communities on drought anddesertification were therefore instrumental in NAP revision. After beingcompleted by a significant and representative number of mayoraltiesthroughout the country, they were analysed at a centralized level. Animportant result of this approach was that it gave local communities keyinformation, so they could have a thorough understanding of theprocesses. In addition, they seem committed to mitigation measures, bymeans of consistent contributions in kind and money. The exercise of NAPrevision revealed several shortcomings which may be extrapolated forpolicy making on cross-cutting issues. First, the realization was madethat the political profile of NAP relates closely to the severity of thenatural phenomenon and its impact. Second, bringing together a multitudeof potential stakeholders incurs transaction costs, adding to thosealready required for technical expertise. Last, actions proposed withinan NAP may overlap with those of related programmes, such as climatechange mitigation/adaptation and water management, entailing a need forsynergetic action.