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Nearly 670 million people will still be facing hunger in 2030 – 8 percent of the world population. This is equivalent to the population facing hunger in 2015 when Agenda 2030 was launched. What’s more, access to food is not necessarily leading to healthier eating, mainly because food and agricultural policies are not aligned with delivering healthy food. Governments need to repurpose food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets affordable. This is the conclusion of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022  (SOFI 2022) Report released Tuesday, 5 July 2022, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). SOFI is published every year to track progress towards reaching the 2030 sustainable development goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. The latest report presents an update on the situation of hunger and malnutrition around the world. Globally, between 720 million and 828 million people faced hunger in 2021, about 150 million more people since COVID-19 broke out. The last report identified conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks as the key drivers of hunger and malnutrition. To these, SOFI 2022 adds policies that lead to inequality. Policies are no longer having a significant effect in reducing hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms, SOFI 2022 states. And in fragile economies, there are constraints to using financial policies to transform agrifood systems. For instance, all over the world, financial support is directed mainly to produce staple foods, such as rice, sugar and meat, not fruits and vegetables. As a result, fruits and vegetables are more expensive and unaffordable. Moreover, food and agricultural policies are not aligned with the promotion of healthy diets. Further, the war in Ukraine is affecting supply chains, in turn raising the costs of fertilizer, energy, and food, such as grains, especially in the first half of 2022. Considering the unfolding challenging economic situation globally, the report states that public-private partnerships are needed to boost investment. However, partnerships require the support of a robust governance system to ensure vulnerable communities benefit, and not powerful industry players. The second edition of the Global Land Outlook (GLO2) released in April 2022 also calls attention to the issue of food insecurity. It spotlights the impacts of modern agriculture on food systems that alter the land and the impacts of globalizing food systems. Global food systems are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss. The disconnect between where food is produced and consumed is key. In the past, local consumption led to land degradation. Behind this rapid land use change today are the demand for food internationally and for urban communities. GLO2 urges the international community to re-think its global food systems. It calls for a turn to the sustainable management of the land, which experience shows can “both improve the productivity of the land and reduce the cost of food production.” The international community has committed to restore one billion hectares of land by 2030, an area the size of the United States or China. GLO2 points to hundreds of practical ways to carry out the desired ecosystem restoration at local, national and regional levels. This year’s SOFI report is a joint initiative of the FAO, International Food and Agriculture Development (IFAD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The brief and full reports are now available online.

Dear representatives of the UNCCD-accredited CSOs,   In the decision 5/COP.15, Parties requested that the Executive Secretary “facilitate the renewal of the membership of the Civil Society Organization Panel until the next Conference of the Parties, starting immediately after that fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties, in accordance with previous decisions.”   Following this request, the secretariat would like to share the attached call for nominations and the information related to the elections. Organizations wishing to nominate representatives to serve as panel members will need to submit the documents stated in section 1 paragraph d of the attached document. The deadline for the submission of candidates is 17 July 2022. Once the candidates have been reviewed and accepted, the election process will be open from 21 July to 4 August 2022. Please share this information with your networks and nominate the best candidate to represent your organization for the next two years. Only organizations accredited to the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD are eligible to nominate candidates.   Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you need any additional information. You can also contact the current CSO panel at csopanel@unccd.int. We look forward to receiving your nominations.

Green jobs present a sustainable solution to create better prospects for the growing young population of Africa, which represents 50 per cent of the continent’s population and is expected to double to more than 830 million by 2050.

The Commonwealth Living Lands Charter adopted on 25 June 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, at the conclusion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is a bold step to build the resilience of nearly 2.5 billion Commonwealth citizens, or one-third of the global population. The Commonwealth Living Lands Charter: A Commonwealth Call to Action on Living Lands (CALL) expresses the will by leaders of the 54 member states of the Commonwealth to “voluntarily dedicate a ‘Living Land’ to future generations of every country with assured prosperity, sustenance and security.” It will be backed by CALL implementation plans to be developed by all Commonwealth nations. The Charter makes the strongest commitment yet to work on the global challenges of climate change, the loss of biodiversity and land degradation in a coordinated and synergistic way. Commonwealth leaders underlined the need to build natural resilience through biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change. The Charter also represents a significant contribution towards the achievement of global voluntary commitments to restore 1 billion hectares of degraded lands by 2030, with half of these pledges made under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Already, under the Land Degradation Neutrality targets, 21 Commonwealth countries committed to restoring 110 million hectares. Speaking on behalf of UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw at the high-level launch event in Kigali, Louise Baker, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, said: “The Living Lands charter offers Commonwealth countries a roadmap for greater resilience. In the face of climate change, it offers adaption and hope. In the face of environmental degradation, it offers restored ecosystems. In the face of food insecurity, it offers more production without more costly inputs. And in the face of economic turmoil, it offers reward. For every dollar invested we are seeing rates of return of at least 7-30 dollars from restoration.” Ms Baker acknowledged the leadership roles Commonwealth members are playing in large-scale land restoration projects, such as the Great Green Wall in the Sahel and the G20 Initiative on Land and Terrestrial Ecosystems. She also stressed that finance and a multisectoral, all of government approach will be key to getting “a tough job” done of restoring degrading land, saving biological diversity and limiting the Earth’s warming. “The Global Mechanism of UNCCD has launched a partnership for project preparation to work with strategic partners like the Commonwealth and with its Climate Finance Access Hub – and climate finance advisers – to deliver a pipeline of viable and bankable projects – that deliver for land and climate at the same time. The Global Mechanism is there to help nations put land at the heart of climate action,” Ms Baker added. According to UNCCD's flagship Global Land Outlook 2 report released in April 2022, up to 40% of all ice-free land is already degraded – meaning its benefits have been lost to varying degrees, with dire consequences for climate, biodiversity and livelihoods. Business as usual will, by 2050, result in degradation of 16 million square kilometers (almost the size of South America), with 69 gigatonnes of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. Land restoration is a powerful and cost-effective tool to address the interconnected climate, biodiversity and land crises, with economic returns estimated at US$ 125-140 trillion every year - as much as 1.5 times global GDP in 2021 (US$ 93 trillion).

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has designated me to be the Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), effective 17 July 2022, and until a new Executive Secretary is appointed. I am confident that with the support of UNFCCC management and staff, the continuity will be uninterrupted during this transitional period to deliver on the ambitious agenda ahead of UNFCCC COP27. I also remain committed to ensuring that there will be no disruption in the dispensing of my functions as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and, particularly, the delivery of the mandate the UNCCD Parties have entrusted me with at COP15.  I look forward to working with the Secretary-General and UNFCCC Parties to facilitate a smooth transition to the next UNFCCC leadership and extend my thanks to the UNCCD COP15 President, the Bureau and staff for the willingness to share my time with our sister Convention.

Desertification and Drought Day  Madrid, Friday 17 June | 11:00   Opening remarks by Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary, UNCCD  Your Excellency Pedro Sanchéz, Prime Minister of Spain;  Your Excellency, Teresa Ribera, Deputy PM and Minister of Ecological Transition  Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries  H.E. Mr Alain-Richard Donwahi, President of UNCCD-COP15  Excellencies Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps  Representatives of Civil Society Organisations,   Members of the press,   Distinguished guests,   Ladies and gentlemen,  I am delighted to welcome you to this event marking the global celebrations of the 2022 “Desertification and Drought Day.”   A day officially declared by the UN General Assembly in 1997.  A day that seeks to share innovative solutions to ensure lives and livelihoods are no longer lost to drought.    A day when each of us can participate in actions that increase our collective resilience because every action counts. There is no small action. There is only INACTION.  A day to celebrate the progress we are making and to inspire each other to act now to build the resilience of present and future generations.   We all know it:  an ever growing number of countries and people are being affected by drought globally.  Let me illustrate what I mean.  Half of the world’s population is expected to face severe water scarcity in the next 8 years.  Consequently, as many as 700 million people (about 10% of the world’s population) are at risk of being displaced during that period1  Drought is set to increase in severity and frequency. Think about this: the consequences of droughts could affect up to three-quarters of humanity by 2050. There is nowhere on earth to hide!  If we are unable -or unwilling- to avert the severe alterations we are inflicting on the Planet, let’s be prepared to confront the new reality.   Drought is a natural hazard, but we can avert the humanitarian disasters that are un-folding in our very eyes, in some parts of the world.   As we speak, the situation is dire: at least 26 million people are struggling for food in Eastern Africa following four consecutive poor rainfall seasons2.  Make no mistake: no country - poor or rich - is immune to drought. Spain, our host for this year’s observance day, painfully knows this. From the United States to Australia, from Mali to Mexico, from Madagascar to Canada.   Drought has multiple nick-names: forest fires; food and energy shortage; forced migration; civil unrest; water rationing, to name but a few.   We need to further build our resilience to droughts. With Climate change, they are likely to appear more frequently, and when they do, to hit harder.   In this sense, commitments made by countries to restore one billion hectares of degraded land are a step in the right direction.   Indeed, we need to protect and manage the land. Without healthy and productive land, livelihoods and jobs will become increasingly precarious. Younger people will be left with fewer prospects.   At the last UNCCD Conference in Abidjan, the 197 Parties decided to act on drought together. Another step in the right direction.   They agreed to establish a new intergovernmental working group on drought which is responsible for identifying concrete policy options.   There is high hope that at the next Conference of the Parties due for 2024 in Saudi Arabia, Parties would agree on meaningful policy actions to mitigate the growing impacts of drought.   Just a couple of weeks ago, the US government announced its plan to elevate drought and water security to a strategic international policy level.   This is inspiring.   Prime Minister Sanchez,   I want to thank you and the government of Spain for your great hospitality.   In particular, I want to thank you for helping us remember that yes, droughts and their effects can be devastating, but they do not have to turn into human disasters.   Preparing in advance is far cheaper than reacting and responding to impacts after droughts hit.   We should therefore set up effective early warning systems and mobilize sustainable finance to improve drought resilience.  The good news is we know what needs to be done to drought-proof our future.   But the time to act is now.   As the rallying call for this day is “Rising up from drought together,” let me conclude with an African proverb:   “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”   So, together, let’s go faster and further.   Thank you very much.