News & stories

Boulogne-Billancourt, France – 12 December 2017 – The LDN Fund became one of the projects showcased at the One Planet Summit as an initiative that offers practical solutions to global environmental issues.   The innovative investment vehicle provides environmentally, socially and financially sound approaches to the key challenges of land use. While healthy and productive land can store huge amounts of carbon and help mitigate the effects of climate change, the degraded soil loses much of this capacity. Land degradation occurs when people over-exploit natural systems while under-investing in them. At the same time, changes in climate can cause drought and desertification, leading to further land degradation and threatening the livelihoods of millions.  The LDN Fund enables public funders to secure the risks taken by private investors and target the climate and sustainable development goals simultaneously. The initiative, brokered by UNCCD Global Mechanism and managed by Mirova, brings together project leaders, land users and investors to promote healthy land as an investment in the future that can create green jobs, ensure food security and help address the effects of climate change.  Concluding the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned that the commitment to protect land and water resources from the effects of climate change resulted in several very specific measures, including the USD300 million to activate the LDN Fund and mobilize action against land degradation and desertification. France, Canada and other partners have announced their financial support for the initiative, making the target to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030 a realistic goal. Watch the Summit Live.  

Rabat, Morocco – 7 December 2017 –The official ceremony attended by the representatives of government ministries, African ambassadors, delegates of UN agencies and bilateral organizations marked the inauguration of the UNCCD Regional Coordination Unit (RCU) for Africa in Rabat, Morocco.  In her speech, the UNCCD Executive Secretary Mrs. Monique Barbut expressed her gratitude to the Government of Morocco for hosting the RCU and highlighted the country’s contributions to international processes related to sustainable development and climate change, as well as its leadership in such land-based action as the 3S Initiative.  She has also introduced the chief of the RCU, Mr. Boubacar Cissé.  Welcoming the RCU to Rabat, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, Maritime Fisheries, Water and Forests and Combating Desertification of Morocco Mr. Aziz Akhhannouch outlined the opportunities for intra-African cooperation that the presence of the RCU in Rabat will reinforce and stated that the government of Morocco will continue to support the RCU in fulfilling its mandate.    

Ankara – 7-8 December 2017 – The regional workshop for Central Asia met to finalize national and regional working programmes of five countries under the Central Asian Countries Initiative on Land Management Phase 2 (CACILM 2). The next step of the initiative builds on the successful implementation of the first stage of the programme to scale up integrated natural resources management on 2 600 000 hectares of drought-prone and salt-affected agricultural landscapes in Central Asia and Türkiye, aiming to sequester 6.8 mln ton CO2e. The UNCCD secretariat played a catalytic role in supporting the UNCCD National Focal Points during the initial conceptualization phase.   Welcoming the ambitious regional programme, the head of the FAO Sub-regional office for Central Asia and Türkiye, Ms. Yuriko Shoji emphasized that “partnerships and collaboration is at essence of CACILM2.” The representative of UNCCD Secretariat Ms. Jamal Annagylyjova in her presentation explained that CACILM programme was established back in 2006 as a platform for enhancing implementation of the convention in the region and that CACILM2 will enable capacity building of the countries in implementation of their obligations under the convention. Special session of the meeting was dedicated to the synergies between UNCCD and the regional programme. CACILM 2 will be closely linked to UNCCD by providing the platform for strategic dialogue for the countries, technical agencies, donors and partners on issues of LDN targets mainstreaming and measures, as well as LDN data in CACILM activities. CACILM 2 will also focus on the development of regional drought vulnerability mapping, thus contributing to the UNCCD Drought Initiative and providing new opportunities for collaboration. A proposal to include the UNCCD Secretariat in the Regional Coordination Council was also presented.  The multi-country programme, implemented by FAO (FAOSEC and AGL) and supported by GEF, governments of Central Asia and Türkiye, ICARDA, ICBA, GIZ, ZOI and other regional organizations, will start operating in early 2018.   

Ratchaburi Province, Thailand – 5 December 2017 – The World Soil Day ceremony took place at the Khao Cha-Ngum Royal Study Centre for Land Degradation Development under the theme “Caring for the Planet Starts from the Ground.”  The event drew more than 2 000 participants, including the representatives of the national and local government, teachers, researchers, farmers, students from neighboring provinces and representatives from UN agencies, international institutions and the private sector.  The ceremony commemorated the memory of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who earlier this year was honored as the first recipient of the Humanitarian Soil Scientist Award for his dedication to soil resource management. The organizations and individual farmers who employ best practices in sustainable soil management have also received recognition during the ceremony. The participants also visited the experimental plots, soil pits and natural forest at the Centre. The event, organized by the national Land Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Government of Thailand and the Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was featured in a nation TV report with the focus on approaches to land degradation and the role of organic soil carbon in sustainable land management.  

Santiago de Chile – 5 December 2017 – The seminar “Caring for the planet begins with the soil” at San Sebastian University gathered representatives of academia, government agents, producers, researchers, international organizations, civil society members and students to discuss the protection and management of soils in sustainable agriculture.  The event was organized by the UNCCD Coordination Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean in association with FAO and the NGO "Sustainable soil" (Suelos Sustentables) with the support from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chilean society of Soil Sciences, La Frontera University and San Sebastian University. The topics presented for discussion included land degradation neutrality in the framework of sustainable development goals, incentives for the recovery of degraded soils and the science behind soil care.  Participants have agreed to make soil contamination a central topic for the next year’s World Soil Day events in Chile, since this is a very relevant theme for the country due to the soil degradation caused by the mining practices and the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture. The presenters also highlighted the need  to broaden the scope of discussion to include the farmers and private associations.  

The UNCCD CSO panel has strengthen its communication and outreach capacity with the launching of a new website that will be used for sharing information, experiences and knowledge among the nearly 500 civil society organizations accredited to the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD.Visitors can find all the relevant information on the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties, the latest publications issued by the CSO panel and the links to the work undertaken in the last biennium by the panel members.The website offers a great opportunity to get to know what CSOs are doing in the implementation of the UNCCD not only at the national level but also during the negotiations. To visit the website click https://www.csopanel.com.