We thank you co facilitators and the secretariat for your efforts in coming up with this current text. My delegation has few comments to make.
On the preamble , we prefer the shorter version because it is concise and communicates effectively.
On para 26, the last line should read demographic dividend instead of youth dividend.
On target 15.3, it speaks to restoring degraded lands and soil, striving to achieve a land degradation neutral world and combating desertification. This is a Herculean task which cannot be achieved in four years time, that is by 2020.
Besides, some of the concepts in this target are new and are currently being developed. They require time.
The issues in the target would require the mobilization of huge resources to achieve them. This also requires time.
The Convention on land degradation and desertification has not agreed to achieve any of these issues by 2020. We ,therefore, call for the date to be changed to 2030 as was reflected in your revised targets proposition and also in line with the post 2015 development agenda.
Thank you.
