The 6th United Nations Conference of the Parties to the Convention against Desertification and Drought taking place in Havana reaches its crux with the top-level meetings planned for September 1-2. This is not only due to the authority of participating heads of state and government, vice presidents and ministers, but to the fact that the leaders' roundtable features a ministers' interactive dialogue and an important inter-organizations panel aimed at seeking practical solutions to eliminate poverty plus an effective way to combat the dangerous scourge of desertification.

It will be a dynamic exchange because economic support is not all that is needed -- equally required is the united political will of all members of the convention, known by many as the poor people's conference.

This is why the idea of opportunities and challenges in forming coalitions charged with eradicating poverty and protecting the environment at local, national, bilateral and multilateral level, should come as no surprise.

The agenda includes the situation in the planet's rural areas -- the poorest ones where we can observe the most serious effects of increased soil degradation and its consequences including emigration, water shortages and lack of healthcare.

The results of the analysis are to be published in a document entitled "The Havana Declaration."

The first week's conference debates on technical aspects focused on desertification. This is not simply a problem of soil quality or the earth's biological capacity but a process of great magnitude and social consequence.

The Havana meeting hosts the youngest of the environmental conventions created in the wake of the Earth Summit. However, the phenomena confronting us are even larger than those contained in other important conventions.

In discussions that took place at the event's meetings and forums the situation of resources was constantly floated, given the annual economic costs of $42 billion that desertification causes. This worldwide major problem damages more than one billion hectares, two thirds of which are found in Africa, affecting over one billion inhabitants.

Representatives from the African countries warned that the current financial crisis and the economic impact of policies mainly affect arid regions that are more sensitive to economic, environmental and social vulnerability. They likewise affirmed that they are unable to adopt the appropriate measures due to lack of financial resources.

It is hoped that the meeting designates the World Fund for Environmental Development as a mechanism of the convention, as it could then determine long-term financial viability and access to resources for those countries suffering from the mal of desertification.

At the World Fund for Environmental Development Council's last assembly it was decided to add soil degradation, principally desertification and deforestation as a theme. This means that in the short-term, the convention will receive $500 million additional aid, thus allowing member countries better access to direct financial resources in order to deal with the problem.

Hama Arba Diallo, the convention's executive secretary, explained that finance is to center on projects that could help affected nations improve their planning systems and thus improve the lives of those who live in arid rural zones extremely damaged by soil degradation and which are also the poorest in the world.

Support is to focus on speeding up actions boosted by countries concentrating on integrated and multi-sector remedies compatible with the convention's work program priorities and maximizing the existent synergies with the other two Río conventions: the Convention of Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change.

The Fund's support enables the creation of capacities that will contribute to incorporating soil sustainability as one of the priorities of national development, land investment to improve the economic welfare of local populations, and research into sharing information, knowledge and tools to better the quality and efficiency of the Environmental Fund projects.

After the expected adoption of the decision, those counties that are endangered by desertification will be able to request direct financial help from the multi-million dollar World Environment Fund so that they can plan and undertake action programs at national, sub-regional and regional level.