The Secretariat acts as an advocate for land, ensuring land-related issues, from land degradation neutrality to drought resilience are put front and center on the development agenda. The Secretariat champions for healthy, productive and accessible land around the world.  

The Secretariat plays an instrumental role in addressing the causes and devastating impact of land degradation and drought. It supports countries that want to: 

  • achieve national/regional land degradation neutrality 
  • identify how land and soil are critical for climate change adaptation and mitigation 
  • implement land management practices 
  • design programmes and projects that transform communities 
  • provide science and research needed to take informed decisions.  

It sets the global land agenda and represents a multitude of stakeholders around the world in the areas below: 

The Secretariat acts as a bridge between science and policy. It builds momentum for a global commitment to halt land degradation and rehabilitate degraded land.  

The Secretariat provides access to the latest data and knowledge, ensuring that best practices are shared and opportunities for capacity-building are increased.  

The Secretariat also assists the Conference of Parties (COP) and its subsidiary bodies to carry out their tasks and activities. This includes a multitude of tasks, ranging from the preparation of substantive documentation to logistical arrangements for the sessions. 

The UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). It aims to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations. 

The UNCCD permanent secretariat is located in Bonn, Germany. 

Key documents
Programme budget

Programme budget for the year 2022

Audited financial statements

Audited financial statements for the year 2023

Audited financial statements for the year 2022

Audited financial statements for the year 2021

Audited financial statements for the year 2020

Audited financial statements for the year 2019

Audit of the Global Mechanism

Audit of the Global Mechanism at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

Status of contributions to the core budget

Current status of indicative and outstanding contributions

Financial rules

Financial rules of the Conference of the Parties, its subsidiary bodies and the Convention Secretariat [Amended]