News & stories

As the COP26 closes with a call for more ambitious and measurable climate actions by governments, activists around the world are ramping up their efforts to continue work outside the conference halls. Our Land Ambassador, a Malian-French singer and songwriter Inna Modja, in her recent interview with CNN presented the CodeGreen, a new coalition of artists and coders who want to use non-fungible token (NFT) auctions to raise money for climate projects. Inna, who is a co-founder of CodeGreen, discussed its potential to mobilize funds for projects along the Great Green Wall. In the Sahel, where 80 per cent of the population rely on agriculture for their livelihood, the Great Green Wall goes beyond growing trees to create opportunities for vulnerable populations, especially, for youth and women. The first CodeGreen is  planned for the World Economic Forum in Davos. Watch the interview here

Communities all over the world have suffered some of the most brutal effects of drought and flooding this year. Flash floods in western Europe, eastern and central Asia and southern African. And catastrophic drought in Australia, southern Africa, southern Asia, much of Latin America, western North America and Siberia are cases in point. The impacts extend well beyond the individual events. For example, the rise in food insecurity in the southern African region and unprecedented wildfires in North America, Europe and Central Asia.   What is going on? This is much more than bad weather in some cases, and is increasingly so. The UNCCD organized an event at COP26, the Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow, United Kingdom, to focus attention on the land-water-climate nexus. The science and policy responses discussed make it clear that human decisions exacerbated by climate change are significantly – and arguably, catastrophically – amplifying the impact of drought and floods.  The discussion encouraged more strategic land use decisions. Decisions that ensure what we do where, and in particular, what we plant where, mitigatesthe impacts of both extremes, be it too much or too little rainfall. It also shed light on how important it is to have healthy soils. Soils that are replete with organic matter will obtain “more crop per drop”, and reduce the risks associated with drought and flooding.  Extreme events, including both droughts and floods are on the rise. With more land projected to be get drier and more and more people living in drylandsin the future, the discussions centered on the shift more than 60 countries are making from “reactive” response to droughts and floods to “proactive” planning and risk management designed to build resilience. Participants from Malawi, Pakistan, Honduras, Grenada and Burkina Faso provided concrete examples of policy alignment and cross-sectorial approaches to implementation. Here is a quick overview of the highlights. Read more:  Land and drought

A high-level ministerial event on the African led Great Green Wall initiative held yesterday identified critical elements to help the public and private sectors to make best use of the billions of dollars pledged this year, and bring to fruition 8,000km of green projects, stretching right across Africa

After a year of hard work, the UNCCD Performance Review and Implementation System (PRAIS) has undergone a major upgrade –from the 3rd (PRAIS 3) to 4th edition (PRAIS 4).

Enhancing knowledge on the differentiated impacts of land degradation, desertification and drought on women and men With a view to strengthening gender-related knowledge, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) secretariat is currently conducting a "Study on the differentiated impacts of land degradation, desertification, and drought on women and men." The study aims to address the socio-economic dimensions of land degradation and desertification with a gender lens and document existing practices. In line with objective 4 of the UNCCD Gender Action Plan, this study will also contribute to developing a baseline on gender-related issues in land degradation and desertification. It builds on the efforts of the UNCCD Parties to produce gender-related knowledge and sex-disaggregated data on matters relevant to the Convention. The Secretariat seeks to collect cases studies and promising practices from Convention Parties, international organizations, civil society organizations (national and international), indigenous peoples’ organizations, academia, and other relevant actors on 5 different topics: Information and data on differentiated gender roles in the communities fighting land degradation, desertification, and drought. How women and men experience changes in environmental conditions, in particular land degradation, desertification, and drought. How land degradation affects women’s empowerment (including participation, economic empowerment, health, mobility, access to and use of resources, access to social services). How land degradation exacerbates the socio-economic vulnerability of specific groups of women. How gender is mainstreamed in national policies related to desertification and land degradation. Transformative actions taken by governments at the national level to ensure that women and men benefit equally from policies and programs addressing land degradation, desertification, and drought. Case studies submitted in English, French, or Spanish will be reviewed and collated, and the Secretariat may follow up to gather further information on individual projects or case studies. Case studies should be sent by 1 December 2021 to the following address: gender@unccd.int .You can also contact us at this address in case you have any questions. Download the questionnaire: PDF | WORD  Read more: UNCCD Gender Action Plan Land tenure

The UNCCD, IUCN, WWF and ICRAF held a regional dialogue on 2 November 2021 for Asia-Pacific UNCCD country Parties on “Advancing global actions for native grassland and rangeland restoration.” This is the second in a regional dialogue series that began with the first one in July for Northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe. The main objective of the dialogue was to raise awareness on rangeland restoration, identify the challenges and opportunities in implementation and explore how national commitments to rangeland restoration can be strengthened through the UNCCD process. During the meeting, the participants shared the national status of rangelands and grasslands, current initiatives, policies and best practices as well as the challenges and opportunities their countries are facing. Among others, capacity building on data collection,  knowledge sharing, monitoring systems, policy coordination and collaboration, land tenure and governance were highlighted in the discussion. This meeting built on the results from the multi-actor dialogue on rangeland restoration held in December 2020, organized by IUCN, WWF and UNCCD and the information provided the first Global Rangelands Atlas launched in May 2021. According to the Global Rangelands Atlas, rangelands that cover 54 per cent of global terrestrial surface, are home to billions of people and hold many economic, ecological, social and cultural values, and a wealth of biodiversity. However, they have been neglected, receiving much less attention, investment, and advocacy than other ecosystems. The conversation to recognize the importance of rangeland restoration will continue through upcoming regional dialogues and other activities to support the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UNCCD COP15 in May 2022 and the International Year on Rangelands and Pastoralism in 2026.