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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UNCCD secretariat are organizing a round table discussion on “Good land governance and land degradation neutrality” in the margins of the Second Arab Land Conference on 22 February 2021 from 12:30 to 14:00 (UTC/GMT+2). The round table will bring together speakers from Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon to discuss the role of land tenure in addressing desertification, land degradation and drought in the Arab region. The session will also present the ongoing cooperation of FAO and UNCCD on a technical guide on how to integrate the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure on Land, Fisheries and Forest in the context of National Food Security (VGGT) into achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN). Participants in the round table will be encouraged to actively engage in the discussion and provide feedback that can enrich the technical guide with regional examples. Simultaneous interpretation in Arabic and English will be provided. To participate in the round table discussion, please register on the conference website. You can download the event concept note here.

This year's Desertification and Drought Day theme has been announced. "Land restoration can contribute greatly to post-COVID19 economic recovery. Investing in land restoration creates jobs and generates economic benefits, and could provide livelihoods at a time when hundreds of millions of jobs are being lost," says UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. Check our the event page and see how you can support the campaign. Let's build back better with healthy land! Read more: Role of land in COVID19 response 17 June: Desertification and Drought Day

This year UNCCD Science-Policy Interface member Dr. Rattan Lal has received the prestigious civilian Padma Shri Award from the Indian government for his revolutionary research in the field of soil science, which helped millions of smallholder farmers produce larger yields while taking better care of their land. The innovative soil-saving techniques developed by Dr. Lal have helped improve food and nutritional security of more than two billion people, saved hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems, promoted restoration of degraded soils and aided in reducing global warming. Dr. Lal's achievements have been previously recognized by the World Food Prize. Read more: Padma Shri Awards 2021 Dr. Lal wins the 2020 World Food Prize Dr. Lal featured by Ohio State University PBS presents the 2020 World Food Prize UNCCD Science-Policy Interface Land and climate

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To celebrate the World Wetlands Day and to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, UNCCD has joined other international organizations for a virtual panel discussion "Wetlands: Securing fresh water for all" on 2 February 2021.

Statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: Arabic | Chinese | French | Russian | Spanish  Joseph Biden Jr., President of the United States, issued an Executive Order yesterday outlining the bold steps his administration will take to tackle the climate crisis at home and throughout the world. I welcome this decision and the President’s offer to host a Leaders Climate Summit in April. President Biden’s Executive Order moves forward the goals he set on his first day in office. The actions laid out are expected, among other results, to revitalize the country’s energy sector, conserve natural resources and leverage them to drive the country toward a clean energy future and deliver justice for communities that have been subjected to environmental harm. These actions are not only bold. They reflect the policy priorities that people all over the world are demanding. People want responses on climate change to focus on the land and forests, according to the largest survey ever conducted of public opinion on climate change. The conservation of land and forests, a switch to renewable energies and adopting climate-friendly farming techniques are the top three calls to action identified through a global poll conducted by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Oxford University, and others. Over 1.2 million people in 50 countries that make up 56 percent of the global population responded to the poll. The public has witnessed the dangers of land use change across all countries. And it is not just in the loss of species or of productive land. It is in the increase in extraordinary and dangerous weather events such as hurricanes, droughts and floods. It is in recurrent food shortages and crop failures. It is from the society-wide impacts of a pandemic of the kind that is linked to land use change. And it is in these impacts worsening with every passing year. It is not a question of whether change is possible. It is whether the will to change exists. More than 70 percent of the natural ecosystems are significantly altered already according to a Special Report of the authoritative Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. One in every five hectares is degraded beyond repair, according to country reports submitted to this Convention. At the same time, close to 800 million hectares of degrading land can be restored to health. About 250 million hectares of this is farmland. Reversing these processes will create green jobs and offer multiple benefits. It will revitalize farmlands where communities are falling behind. It is an opportunity to turn unusable land into clean energy farms. It will discourage the conversion of natural land, reduce emissions from the land and sequester significant amounts of carbon into the soil. The public is asking us to build back better for a resilient future through better decisions and smart plans. We know what needs to be done and where, and the framework for action exists. We must stop financing activities that encourage land users to convert natural ecosystems into other uses. Instead, finance must be directed to three concrete activities. First, better foresting activities. Second, fixing land that was converted and damaged. And third, farming practices that fix the land while increasing its output. This is a time like no other. We know what the public wants. I call on world leaders to heed the public’s call for bold policy actions on the land. For more information, contact: Wagaki Wischnewski, wwischnewski@unccd.int