Delegates attend the opening ceremony of High Level Segment of the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Windhoek, Namibia, Sept. 23, 2013. Government ministers and other heads of delegation from 195 parties to a UN special convention on fighting expanding deserts across the globe are set to start on Monday a two-day meeting here. The high-level gathering begins as the UNCCD COP11, which opened here on Sept. 16, went into its second week. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)

Related:

UN opens high-level meeting on combating desertification

WINDHOEK, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Government ministers and other heads of delegation from 195 parties to a UN special convention on fighting expanding deserts across the globe started on Monday a two-day meeting here.

The high-level gathering begins as the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which opened in the Namibian capital on Sept. 16, went into its second week. The participants will discuss in the form of three round tables on topics including achieving a land degradation neutral world, promoting good practices in implementing the convention, and scaling up investments in avoiding land degradation and restoring degraded land.  Full story