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Luc-Marie Constant Gnacadja or simply Luc Gnacadja is a
Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
ese politician and
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. He was Executive Secretary of the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through ...
from 2007 to 2013.


Political career

Gnacadja served in the government of Benin as Minister of the Environment, Housing, and Urban Planning from June 1999 to February 2005 under long-time President
Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou (; 2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Benin, Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a milita ...
. Due to major political changes taking place since 2005, particularly with President Kérékou barred from running again by a two-term limit and an age limit of 70 years for candidates, Gnacadja ran for president as the unique candidate of the Envol movement in the March 2006 presidential election, receiving 11th place and 0.68% of the vote in the first round.


United Nations career

In terms of ministerial authority, Luc Gnacadja represented Benin as the head of delegation to the UNCCD and at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and
Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...
(CBD) while serving as Minister. In September 2007, Luc Gnacadja was appointed as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) by
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
, after he was endorsed by the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD. In applying for the position, Gnacadja was said to have been backed by Beninese President
Yayi Boni Thomas Boni Yayi (born 1 July 1951) is a Beninese banker and politician who was the president of Benin from 2006 to 2016. He took office after winning the 2006 Beninese presidential election, March 2006 presidential election and was re-elected to ...
. Gnacadja's second term concluded at the end of September 2013. Since he first took office in 2007, he managed to effectively address the UNCCD's lack of scientific basis. His vision of the UNCCD process was based on moving the Convention towards effective implementation through evidence-based policymaking, target setting and monitoring of implementation by means of agreeing a strong and globally trusted set of impacts and progress indicators by the scientific community; so as to build a strong and authoritative science and policy interface for the Convention. Accordingly, the Conference of the Parties (COP) at its eighth session in 2007 decided that future sessions of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST) shall be organized in a predominantly scientific and technical conference-style format and focus on a specific thematic topic relevant to the implementation of The ten-year Strategy to enhance the implementation of the Convention (2008-2018), to be determined in advance by the COP The UNCCD 3rd Scientific Conference on “Combating Desertification, Land Degrdation and Drought (DLDD) for poverty reduction and sustainable development: the contribution of science, technology, traditional knowledge and practices” (decision 18/COP.10) is expected to be held in March 2015 in
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.


Key issues

In 1992, the first
Earth summit The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92, Cúpula da Terra), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 ...
held in Rio agreed to combat
land degradation Land degradation is a process where land becomes less healthy and productive due to a combination of Human impact on the environment, human activities or natural conditions. The causes for land degradation are numerous and complex. Human activitie ...
. Under Gnacadja's direction, Rio+20 held in 2012 witnessed the birth of a new paradigm: "land degradation neutrality" meant to reduce land degradation to the minimum level close to the unavoidable degradation by means of prevention while at the same time restoring degraded areas whenever possible by means of
sustainable land management Land management is the process of managing the use and development of land resources. Those resources are used for a variety of purposes for example agriculture, forestry, water resource management, human settlements and tourism. One aim of l ...
(SLM). In this respect, one of his main interests include a priority focus on Land and
Soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
in the Global
Sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
Agenda. Gnacadja was a guiding voice for sustainable land development in the negotiations leading up to Rio+20, the June 2012 UN Conference on
Sustainable Development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...
. His personal efforts to promote adoption of an international commitment to a “land degradation–neutral world” was deemed a critical step forward according to The expert committee overseeing the Cook Prize for Desert Architecture led by Prof.
David Perlmutter David Perlmutter (born December 31, 1954) is an American celebrity doctor, author, low-carbohydrate diet advocate and promoter of functional medicine. Perlmutter has been widely criticized by dietitians and physicians for promoting misinformat ...
, chair of the Bona Terra Department of Man in the Desert at the BIDR.


Education and awards

Luc Gnacadja earned an architecture degree at the African Crafts School of Architecture and Urbanism in Lomé,
Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
, and later studied at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
University's Kennedy School of Government and the
World Bank Institute The World Bank Institute is the capacity building branch of the World Bank. It provides learning programs, policy advice and technical assistance to policy makers, government and non-government agencies, and development practitioners of developing c ...
. In March 2003, Gnacadja was awarded the Green Award 2002 by the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
in Washington."Secretary-General appoints Luc Gnacadja of Benin Executive Secretary of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification"
United Nations website, SG/A/1092, September 11, 2007.
for promoting environment-friendly public expenditure reform in Benin. On November 17, 2014, Gnacadja was awarded the Jeffery Cook Prize in Desert Architecture at the International Drylands, Deserts and Desertification Conference organized by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR).


Other activities

Gnacadja is an honorary councillor of The World Future Council (WFC) launched in 2007 in Hamburg,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
by Jakob von Uexkull. The WFC is an international Foundation consisting of some eminent global personalities who promote change by advocating at the highest levels for a sustainable, just and peaceful future and providing decision-makers with practical solutions to the global challenges facing future generations.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnacadja, Luc Living people Environment ministers of Benin Housing ministers of Benin Urban planning ministers of Benin 20th-century Beninese politicians 1958 births Sustainability advocates People from Porto-Novo Candidates for President of Benin Beninese officials of the United Nations Beninese architects Harvard Kennedy School alumni 21st-century Beninese politicians