A/RES/59/235 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 22 February 2005 Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 85 (e) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2004 [on the report of the Second Committee (A/59/483/Add.5)] 59/235. Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 58/242 of 23 December 2003 and other resolutions relating to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, 1 Recalling also its resolution 58/211 of 23 December 2003, in which it declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, Reaffirming that desertification constitutes a serious obstacle to sustainable development and contributes to food insecurity, famine and poverty, which are factors that can give rise to social, economic and political tensions, including forced migration and conflicts, and that the Convention is an important tool for poverty eradication, Reaffirming also the universal membership of the Convention, and acknowledging that desertification and drought are problems of a global dimension in that they affect all regions of the world, Noting that timely and effective implementation of the Convention would help to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2 Emphasizing the need for the provision of adequate resources for the focal area of land degradation, primarily desertification and deforestation, of the Global Environment Facility, Stressing the need for further diversification of funding sources to address land degradation, in accordance with articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, _______________ 1 2 04-49036 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1954, No. 33480. See resolution 55/2.