Stories

19 April 2018, London – The Deputy Executive Secretary Pradeep Monga represented UNCCD at the Climate Change event during the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Speaking about priorities for land-related climate action, Mr. Monga stressed that achieving common well-being takes on a new meaning in the context of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 development agenda.  Building a secure and prosperous future will require wise management of land – the single most important common asset and source of well-being for a vast number of people and communities. While land use sector provides livelihoods to millions of people worldwide, it also accounts for nearly a quarter of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, unsustainable land use practices, coupled with the effects of climate change, lead to land degradation, falling agricultural yields, rise in rural poverty, land abandonment, forced migration and conflict. The answer to these global challenges lies in the joint approach to regenerating the land, making the investment in sustainable management of natural resources one of the smartest actions that countries could undertake together. Healthy and productive soil captures more carbon than it releases, and can contribute significantly to mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change.   116 UNCCD country parties have already committed to set voluntary national targets for Land Degradation Neutrality by 2030 to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation. Investing in healthy land can generate multiple benefits required under the SDGs, such as food, water and energy security, poverty eradication, resilience of rural communities and ecosystem restoration. It will take a unified and strategic effort of all countries to enact smart policies, leverage innovative financing and strengthen partnerships to win race against time and achieve these goals. Photo: Mr. Pradeep Monga (left) with the Prime Minister of Fiji H.E. Mr. Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama. Read more: Land and climate change Land degradation neutrality target setting programme

18 April 2018 – Santiago, Chile – A side event on land degradation neutrality, organized by the UNCCD regional coordination unit, took place in the margins of the Second meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on the Sustainable Development. The program of the side event included discussions on combating desertification and achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) in the context of he 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, as well as a presentation from Chile as a pilot country of the LDN target-setting programme. The side event, attended by representatives of various delegations to the Forum, included a dialogue on the indicators and  data used in the UNCCD reporting process, a presentation of national reports, and the discussion on the relationship between LDN and objectives of other Rio conventions. Participants were also invited to visit an information booth that offered publications and posters highlighting UNCCD activities. The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on the Sustainable Development brings together over 500 delegates from the LAC countries to discuss approaches to the regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including multi-stakeholder cooperation and inter-regional dialogue.  

16 April 2018 – Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco – The UNCCD Regional Coordination Unit for Africa has started working from its new location in Morocco. The Unit Coordinator Mr. Boubacar Cissé, who was previously based in the UNCCD headquarters in Bonn, will lead the unit team, developed through cooperation and host agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco. The RCU Africa relocation serves to strengthen the implementation of the convention in the region most affected by desertification, drought and the effects of climate change. UNCCD assists country Parties in achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) targets, reducing migration flows, creating land-based jobs and coping with recurrent droughts while ensuring gender consideration by supporting major initiatives, such as the Great Green Wall and the 3S (Stability, Sustainability, Security) initiative.    

18 April 2018 – Bonn, Germany – Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza has been appointed as Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. The appointment was announced by the UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ms. Monique Barbut, who expressed her confidence in the new Managing Director who took up his duties on 26 March 2018. It is with great pleasure that I introduce Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza from Colombia as the new Managing Director of the Global Mechanism.  Mr. Mendoza brings a rich blend of experience from the private sector, international negotiations and regulatory processes into the top management of the UNCCD secretariat. — Ms. Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Mendoza brings to the position extensive experience at the intersection of international development, climate finance, project finance, international policy, and resource mobilization. He has served in a number of high-profile positions, including ten years at the World Bank in both technical and managerial roles, and more recently as part of the senior management team and interim Director at the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He has been responsible for designing and implementing key components of the operational procedures, coordination and complementarity with other financial mechanisms and resource mobilization strategies of the Green Climate Fund. At the World Bank, he managed the relationship with the key funders for the Bank’s Pacific program, particularly the governments of Australia and New Zealand. He was also the advisor to the Bank’s Vice-President for concessional finance and global partnerships where he was part of the team that successfully reached a replenishment of USD50 billion for the International Development Association, the Bank’s fund for the poorest countries.  I am excited to join the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD at a crucial time when we are moving to support countries to achieve the targets that have been identified during the Land Degradation Neutrality target setting process undertaken under the Convention. — Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of UNCCD Mr. Mendoza holds a Bachelor and Master degrees in Aerospace Engineering from, respectively, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University. Read more: The Global Mechanism The land degradation neutrality target-setting programme

The following three candidates are suitable for the elections to become the alternate CSO representative to the SPI: Noel Oettle/Environment Monitoring Group/South Africa: presentation | application form Surya Narayana Reddy/Grameena Vikas Samithi/India: presentation | application form Pradeep Mahapatra/UDYAMA/India: presentation | application form Please use the this form to vote for the best candidate. Deadline for the submission of your vote is 27 April 2018 midnight CET. You are requested to select only one of the proposed candidates, whose applications have been reviewed by the CSO Panel taking into account the requirements indicated in the call for CSO representative to the SPI.  The most voted candidate will be elected alternate CSO Observer to the SPI. 

11 April 2018 – Bonn, Germany – The first intersessional meeting of the COP 13 Bureau gathered in Bonn to take stock of the progress towards implementing decisions taken at the UNCCD COP13 in Ordos, China. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Wu Zhimin, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, State Administration of Forestry and Grassland of China. Openings remarks were made by the President and the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ms. Monique Barbut. Addressing the meeting participants, Ms. Barbut outlined the work to be done during the next biennium according to the COP13 decisions that will drive the UNCCD activities around the implementation and reporting related to the new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework.  During the meeting, the activities of the Committee on Science and technology (CST), the Committee for the review of the implementation of the Convention (CRIC), the final report and the outcomes of the thirteen session of the Conference of the Parties (COP13), the Work plan of the Secretariat, the Global Mechanism and the subsidiary bodies of the Convention have been discussed.   The next COP 13 Bureau meeting is scheduled to take place in February 2019 in the People’s Republic of China.