Stories

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Changwon Initiative, UNCCD and Korea Forest Service are launching two global contests: a virtual choir competition and a video contest to to promote efforts to combat desertification and restore degraded lands and forests. The submission deadline is 30 September 2021. The winners will be announced at the anniversary ceremony in Changwon, South Korea on 15 October 2021 and will receive cash and other prizes.  How to enter: Virtual choir competition Video contest  

Renowned explorer and environmentalist Zhai Mo set sail on 30 June to journey around the Arctic Ocean and raise awareness on the links between climate change and land degradation. The journey that has been made possible for the first time in human history due to global warming and the melting of Arctic ice caps is a momentous opportunity to call the world's attention to the impact that human activities have on the environment – particularly the Arctic, which is the second largest polar desert in the world after Antarctica. Zhai Mo was recently named “UNCCD Supporter – Arctic Adventurer for 2021 Desertification and Drought Day.” Captain Zhai Mo will travel from Shanghai across the East Sea, the Western Pacific, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea, the Kerala Sea, the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Greenland Sea, the Davis Strait, the Gulf of Baffin and the Bofert Sea to complete a journey of more than 18,000 nautical miles in about 128 days.  Zhai Mo is the Ambassador of China's Maritime Science and Technology, National Marine Public Interest Image Ambassador, recipient of the Zheng He Marine Special Contribution Award, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Chinese Society of Navigation. In2015, he completed the "Re-Walking the Maritime Silk Road." We will follow his Arctic expedition with frequent updates. Stay tuned!

Vanessa Nakate is  a UNCCD Land Hero from Uganda and a climate justice activist who founded the Youth for Future Africa, the Africa-based Rise Up Movement and One Million Activists Stories.

As part of the celebration for the 25th anniversary of the UN in Bonn, the City of Bonn and the Bonn International Non-Governmental Organizations (BINGO) organized a webinar “#UNBonn25: Global Action – Local Interaction” on 23 June, addressing the important linkages between landscapes, agriculture and fair consumption.

The Desertification and Drought Day Regional virtual event of Annex IV, including the Northern Mediterranean Country Parties of the UNCCD, was held online on Wednesday, 16 June 2021. The event, which started at 1 p.m. (CET), was moderated by Mr. Erkan Güler (Türkiye), Chair of Annex IV. The interventions during this session revolved around the theme of the 2021 Desertification and Drought Day: “Restoration. Land. Recovery”. As emphasized by Mr. Guler and UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Ms. Tina Birmpili in their opening statements, the main objective of the event was to send out a strong message about land-centered solutions to build forward better. Ms. Birmpili also underlined the relevance of land degradation neutrality, saying, “We need to integrate land degradation neutrality initiatives and drought plans into international processes such as the Paris Agreement and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. We need global partnerships that allow us to share best practices, cutting-edge technologies and innovative business models”. During the event, representatives of six Annex IV Country Parties (Portugal, Slovenia, Israel, Italy, Hungary, and Türkiye)shared their national experience on the fight against land degradation and drought. The session ended with the closing remarks of Mr. Peter Molnar, Vice-Chair of Annex IV. For more details, the presentations are available here: Hungary | Israel | Italy | Portugal | Slovenia | Türkiye  

The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 15.3.1, for which the UNCCD is the custodian agency, utilizes three sub-indicators: land cover, land productivity and carbon stock. These can be calculated from Earth Observation (EO) and other geospatial information in accordance with the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1. After three years and the recent finalization of the GEO-LDN technology competition, GEO-LDN is: Ready to support countries reporting to the 15.3.1. SDG indicator using an innovative and user-oriented approach Ready to make land use planning more sustainable, evidence-based and transparent GEO-LDN involves all relevant stakeholders (data providers and data users) and welcomes active engagement from new stakeholders in an inclusive and open process Learn more about the Initiative GEO LDN home GEO LDN Initiative YouTube playlist