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By UNCCD Executive Secretary Ms. Monique Barbut Are you overwhelmed by the depressing news coming at you daily? Conflict, forced migrants, famine, floods, hurricanes, extinction of species, climate change, threats of war… a seemingly endless list.  It might surprise you, but you can really make a difference on many of these issues. Just like every raindrop counts towards a river and every vote counts in an election, so does every choice you make in what you consume. With every produce you consume, you strengthen the river of sustainability or of unsustainability. It is either a vote in favor of policies that spread social goods like peace and poverty eradication or social bads like – conflict or grinding poverty. We look up to governments a lot, forgetting that governments set up policies to encourage us to make specific choices. That’s how powerful our lifestyles choices are.  Imagine, what would happen if the world’s over seven billion consumers committed, every year, to just one lifestyle change that will support the provision of goods from sustainably managed land.   Every year, we make New Year resolutions about change. Why not include as one of those resolutions, a change of habit leading that will lead to a smart sustainable consumer lifestyle? Without any government intervention, you can make choices that will help to end deforestation, soil erosion and pollution or reduce the effects of drought or sand and dust storms. However, to make the right lifestyle change, each of us must first find out where the goods we consume are cultivated and processed. For instance, if they are linked to conflict in regions with rapidly degrading land or forests or polluted water or soils, then chose an alternative that is produced sustainably. It is a small, but achievable change to make every year.  Every country and product has a land footprint. What we eat. What we wear. What we drink. The manufacturer or supplier of the products we consume. The brands related to these suppliers that we will support. We prioritize buying from the local small farm holders to reduce our global land footprint. Consumers have plenty of options. But a vital missing link is the informed consumer.  Through mobile phone apps**, it is getting easier and easier to track where the goods we consume come from. It is also getting easier to find alternative suppliers of our choice, as the private sector embraces the idea of ethical business. The information you need is literally in the – mobile phone in the – palm of our hand. But you must believe in your own power to change the world. The global effect on the market may surprise you.  We will reward the food producers, natural resource managers and land planners struggling against all odds to keep the land healthy and productive. This is cheapest way to help every family and community in the world to thrive, and avoid the damage and loss of life that comes from environmental degradation and disasters.  Make 17 June, the celebration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, your date with nature. It’s the mid-point of the year and a good moment to review the progress you are making towards your New Year resolution of a sustainable lifestyle.  In 2030, when the international community evaluates its achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, you can point to positive changes that you have contributed in favor of present and future generations. You are more powerful than you think. Take your power back and put it into action. Read more: For information on how to track your land footprint, read: Fixing what the land is losing between the farm and your fork Information about World Day to Combat Desertification is here To understand the link between drought and land degradation read: Recurring droughts are clear and present dangers The opinion is available in other UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish About UNCCD The UNCCD is an international agreement on good land stewardship. It helps people, communities and countries to create wealth, grow economies and secure enough food and water and energy, by ensuring land users have an enabling environment for sustainable land management. Through partnerships, the Convention’s 197 Parties set up robust systems to manage drought promptly and effectively. Good land stewardship based on a sound policy and science helps integrate and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, builds resilience to climate change and prevents biodiversity loss.

Espagnol 17 June 2018, Quito, Ecuador. More than 3.2 billion people, or 2 in every 5 people, are impacted by land degradation today and up to 143 million people could move within their countries by 2050 to escape water scarcity and falling crop productivity due to the slow onset impacts of climate change. To avoid these threats, Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, has called on consumers and the private sector to join governments to save healthy land. She added that lack of preparedness for future droughts in particular, could lead to massive social and political upheavals. “Everything we produce and consume has a land footprint. A bicycle requires 3.4 square meters of land. Ten square meters of land are used to produce a laptop. Producing one kilogram of beef takes 22 square meters,“ but few people give thought to these daily processes “because the losses are not visible – or at least not accounted for - in the products we consume,” Barbut stated. “We are all decision-makers because in our daily lives, our choices have consequences. Our small decisions transform the world,” she stressed, and called on consumers to make choices that reward land users whose practices protect the land from degradation. Barbut, who heads the international agreement that deals with desertification, land degradation and drought effects, also warned that it is dangerous to reduce the true value of healthy land to its economic value alone. She made the remarks in observance of the World Day to Combat Desertification on 17 June. The global observance event took place in Quito, Ecuador. Ecuador promotes a bio-economy among its agriculturalists in order to diffuse sustainable land management technologies, which maintain the land’s productivity. The country is also pursuing the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality, which means avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation to ensure the amount of healthy land it had in 2015 is the same in 2030, and stays stable thereafter. Barbut also underlined the need to “go beyond conscious consumerism” to engage the private sector and governments in better land uses because “the real value of the land is not just economic.” “Land is worth so much more than the economic value we attach to it. It defines our way of life and our culture – whether we live in the city or the villages. It purifies the water we drink.  It feeds us.  It surrounds us with beauty. But, we cannot meet the needs and wants of a growing population if the amount of healthy and productive land continues to decline so dramatically,” Barbut said. Tarsicio Granizo, Minister of Environment, Ecuador, said “desertification is a matter that not only has to do with the environment, but also with food sovereignty and with protection of the agricultural soil.” The Global Land Outlook (The GLO) of 2017 states that 45% of the food consumed globally comes from the world’s dryland areas, and that falling productivity, food shortages and water scarcity in these regions is creating insecurity. The GLO warns that about 20% more productive land was degraded from 1983-2013, and that Africa and Asia face the greatest threats, going forward. “We must do far more to recognize the immense value of healthy and productive land in strengthening the resilience of the world’s poorest communities, which are facing more drought and other slow-onset climate disasters,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in marking the Day. Five of the 8 slow onset events identified by the Climate Change Convention as potential future sources of huge losses and damage are manifestations of declining land productivity. These are desertification, salinization, land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss and rising temperatures. Globally, about 2 billion hectares of land are degraded. Most of it can be restored back to health. “Science has given us the knowledge and tools we need for managing land to build resilience to drought and the impacts of climate change. Governments and the communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the land can take steps now to prepare for future drought,” Guterres said. The sustainable land management technologies needed to minimize and reverse many of these effects exist, but the policy instruments and investments to promote their spread are non-existent. As a result, some of the most land-dependent communities are exposed to the growing powerful and adverse weather effects, such as recurrent droughts, unpredictable rainfall and disappearing ground water sources. Barbut highlighted three critical actions that consumers and the private sector can take to encourage land users and governments to save healthy land from further degradation and to recover nearly barren lands. First, changing consumer behavior and unsustainable production patterns. Second, adopting more efficient land use planning. Third, creating mechanisms like the LDN Fund that will motivate the private sector to invest in land restoration. “The public needs to be empowered.  If they know that the choices they make every day can make a difference in terms of how the land is used – whether it is abused or nurtured – I am sure they will choose and consume more wisely,” she said. “Governments must create incentives that can encourage the private sector to see that sustainable management of the land and the restoration of degraded land is the socially responsible thing to do. The UNCCD is ready to help initiatives that can restore degraded land at scale,” she said. She called on countries to formulate the targets to be achieved by 2030, which signals that “a country has a systematic plan to ensure sufficient high quality land is available in the long-term to meet the demand for essentials like food and water.” Minister Granizo said “the Government of Ecuador is proud to host, for the first time in Latin America, the celebration of this international day, which was attended by prominent authorities of the Convention to Combat Desertification.” World Day to Combat Desertification is observed every year on 17 June to raise awareness about the status of the land resources, especially at country level, and to mobilize required actions.  ----- About UNCCD The UNCCD is an international agreement on good land stewardship. It helps people, communities and countries to create wealth, grow economies and secure enough food and water and energy, by ensuring land users have an enabling environment for sustainable land management. Through partnerships, the Convention’s 197 Parties set up robust systems to manage drought promptly and effectively. Good land stewardship based on a sound policy and science helps integrate and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, builds resilience to climate change and prevents biodiversity loss. Notes to Editors For information about sustainable land management technologies For information on global progress towards achieving land degradation neutrality To learn the meaning of achieving land degradation neutrality For background information about the 2018 World Day to Combat Desertification Media Contacts For inquiries about the World Day, contact: wwischnewski@unccd.int.

Cologne, Germany – To celebrate 2018 World Day to Combat Desertification, the UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace (CBM) team organized a youth engagement event at St. George’s International School on 15 June. The team presented the work of the convention to the students who come from many different countries, explaining how desertification and land degradation are relevant to everyone and contribute to many global challenges, such as forced migration and climate change. The team highlighted various ways in which young people can get involved in the fight against land degradation, from global initiatives developed by the UN to photo competitions and community-organized tree-planting programmes. In the follow-up Q&A session, the students have also asked how their everyday choices can affect the land – for example, buying local produce to support small farms that invest in sustainable land management. The upper-school students were also curious how their future career paths, such as studying GPS mapping and remote sensing, can be used to protect land resources. The event concluded with a photo session and a lottery – the three lucky winners will get a chance to visit the UN premises in Bonn and witness the UNCCD CBM team in action.  

The European Court of Auditors has published a background paper on the effectiveness of the actions being taken by countries in the region affected by desertification. The paper was published ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification that will be marked on Sunday, 17 June 2018. The paper states that 13 countries in the EU have declared they are affected by desertification, and that the auditors have visited 5 of those countries. The Auditors report will answer two key questions: 1) Do the Commission and the Member States have reliable information on areas at risk of desertification – including an effective monitoring system? 2) Do the Commission and the Member States have a sound framework to address desertification? In January, the EU Court of Auditors announced that it would examine the EU strategy to combat desertification. For more information, visit the EU Court of Auditors announcement. Read the press release, which is available in 22 other languages. Download the background paper.  

This year on World Day to Combat Desertification, we think about the real value of land.  Not just its economic value. Land is worth so much more than that. It defines our way of life and our culture – whether we live in the city or the villages. It purifies the water we drink. It feeds us. It surrounds us with beauty.  But rapid population growth and changing consumption patterns have generated excessive pressure on our finite land resources. This, in turn, has led to land degradation around the world. Globally, thirty percent of all land has lost its true value due to degradation. How can we meet our most basic needs - let alone our wants - when the amount of healthy and productive land is declining so dramatically?  The future looks bleak. Fortunately, with changes in consumer and corporate behavior, and the adoption of more efficient planning and sustainable practices, there can be enough for all. Enough land to provide sufficient food and water for everyone. Enough to deliver the other goods and services we need and want from nature.  Difficult choices and trade-offs will be needed, including a commitment to change long-established consumption patterns. But get the decisions right, and the future looks a lot brighter.  So, I would ask you: when you choose what to eat, what to wear or what to drive, think about how your choice impacts the land – for better or for worse.  We are all decision-makers. In our daily lives, our choices have consequences. And our small decisions can transform the world. Let us try and act accordingly. Nature offers us many opportunities. Let us work together to transform the way we consume, produce, work, and live together without compromising our current or future social, economic or environmental security. Without compromising the land on which it all depends.  The Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030 is an important response to these challenges. And a pathway forward, together.  It will help us conserve and manage the land we have well. It will help us recover degraded lands; stop land grabbing; fight climate change; increase food production and provide clean water.  Support Sustainable Development Goal 15.  Tell us how you plan to achieve the goal of land degradation neutrality.  Our way of life – on land – depends on it.  Learn more: Read the address in other languages: French | Spanish | Arabic | Russian | Chinese Video message from Ms. Monique Barbut (with Spanish subtitles) Celebrate 2018WDCD  

Bonn, 8 June 2018 - Ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification to be celebrated on Sunday, 17 June 2018, Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, has penned an opinion for dissemination by mainstream, alternative and social media, on this occasion. The opinion is available in all UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Download it for free to distribute through any broadcast media of your choice, preferably on or about 17 June. Weekly, fortnightly and monthly publishers can disseminate the opinion in the issue that coincides with this date. For inquiries, contact:wwischnewski@unccd.int