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The Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Target Setting Project recently won the inaugural Impact Award of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The award recognizes the project’s innovative, science-based and participatory approach to support countries in setting targets to halt land degradation by 2030.  The IUCN Impact Award was designed to recognize the most successful or innovative project implemented by IUCN in 2018. An expert panel, consisting of members of IUCN’s leadership team, selected the LDN Target Setting Project for its support of national commitments worldwide to spearhead action on the ground. The LDN Target Setting Project supports countries in setting voluntary targets to achieve LDN by 2030 as a means to protect and restore land as well as contribute to food security and biodiversity conservation along with climate change mitigation and adaptation. The project is implemented by the IUCN Global Drylands Initiative and executed by the Global Mechanism of UNCCD. The project is a key step in advancing the UNCCD LDN Target Setting Programme that is implemented with the technical, institutional and financial support of some 20 international partners. The Project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Programme has mobilized almost USD 8 million from multiple bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, including Türkiye’s Ankara Initiative and the Republic of Korea’s Changwon Initiative. To date, over 120 countries have committed to setting voluntary LDN targets. Of these, 84 countries have already set their LDN targets, and 76 of them are directly supported by the GEF-funded LDN Target Setting Project.  Since its launch in 2016, the LDN Target Setting Project has generated strong momentum. By helping countries define measurable LDN targets, it has helped implement the UNCCD priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at national level. This Impact Award recognises the LDN vision of the participating countries and the collaborative efforts to foster stronger international engagement and commitment for achieving this vision. The number and the spectrum of countries, institutions and partner agencies involved in LDN target setting along with high-level political commitment for LDN have helped to bring LDN into the mainstream sustainable development agenda. This creates a foundation for achieving target 15.3 of the SDGs and developing operational synergies with related SDGs, Rio Conventions and other initiatives both globally and nationally.  The recently declared 2021–2030 UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration offers an unprecedented opportunity to scale up actions to restore ecosystems, create jobs and address climate change. LDN can play a pivotal role in these efforts, and IUCN, together with the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, are leading the way to inspire bold actions through the development of innovative and transformative projects and programmes to achieve LDN.  Read more: LDN Target Setting Programme IUCN Global Drylands Initiative LDN Target Setting Project Countries with voluntary LDN targets   Image: (c) FAO  

Kostyukovichi, Belarus – Peatlands occupy around 2.5 million ha in Belarus, only 900,000 of which still retain their natural state. Massive peat excavation, started during the Soviet period, resulted in about 300,000 ha drained to harvest peat deposits for fuel. Between 3 and 5 milion tons of peat are excavated each year, mainly for export.  Kostyukovichi is a small town in eastern Belarus, Mogilev Region, with about 16,000 inhabitants. In 1986, the town was considerably affected by Chernobyl disaster which led to massive migration. Today the region continues to face serious ecological problems – drained peatlands pose a high risk of fires which can carry radioactive contaminated soil, water and biomass to other locations.    “In 2002, there was a strong fire which we were fighting for almost a year to prevent adjacent forest fires and stop radioactive contaminated smog” explained a representative of Mogilevvodstroy, a regional water design company. In 2018, the company participated in a pilot project implemented in collaboration with the UNCCD and the Environment Ministry of Belarus with the support of the Changwon Initiative. Mogilevvodstroy carried out an environmental feasibility study and constructed the cascaded dams on old drainage channels to prevent water loss from the mire to adjacent river. As the result of the project, water level was raised about two meters. It will take hundreds of years to restore the peat levels, but rewetting of drained mires stops further mineralization of open dried peatlands and locks in carbon, preventing fires and allowing wetland biodiversity to come back. At the end of the project, experts will evaluate the benefits of restoration for carbon storage and biodiversity conservation.  The growing awareness of multiple benefits that wetlands provide for regulating micro-climate, biodiversity, human health and alternative sources of income for local populations, Belarus has been investing in restoration of degraded areas, building on proven positive experience and creating new legislation focused on protection and sustainable use of peatlands.   A draft of the new law of peatlands will be submitted for parliamentarian hearing in the summer of 2019. According to Mr. Korbut of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, the new law will regulate peat extraction and make rehabilitation of disturbed areas mandatory for peat producers. “We would like to demonstrate and share our national experience with other countries that face the problem of peatland restoration and the whole world,” added Mr. Korbut.    Restoration of at least 60 000 ha depleted peatlands and disturbed bogs by 2030 is a part of  of national voluntary target that the government of Belarus has set up to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN). Joint national and international peatland restoration efforts in Belarus are expected to cut about three million tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 20 years period.  The Global Environmental Facility together with UNDP and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection has been supporting peatland restoration on 55 thousand ha in Belarus since 2006. A national database of peatlands has been established during of the project which also serves as a testing ground for using phytoamelioration methods to accelerate formation of mire type of biotope.  Learn more:  Peatland restoration project in the news The LDN programme

On Tuesday the 21st of May 2019, the UNCCD Secretariat, represented by its Capacity Building Marketplace (CBM) hosted students from the University of Cologne pursuing the Master in Environmental Sciences. The visitors were officially welcomed by UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Pradeep Monga who also gave a general introduction to the UN system and to the UNCCD. During this visit, the students and their accompany Academic Manager, Stefan Grønnerud, were exposed to a three and half intense and inspiring session of formal presentations on many subjects, ranging from Land Degradation and Its impacts on the societies, and Sustainable Land Management, to the SDGs and Land Degradation Neutrality. They had an introduction to the role of UNCCD and to the CBM and interns’ experience within the UNCCD. They also had the opportunity to meet with several officials of the UNCCD working in various fields from top management to technical issues.

Women farmers, project implementers, policy makers and NGO representatives came together on 13-17 May to discuss mainstreaming gender in projects that contribute to achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) targets in Zambia.

The UNCCD coordinator for Northern Mediterranean Mr. Erdogan Ozevren met with India's Ambassador in Turkey Mr. Shri Sanjay Bhattacharyya on 17 May to discuss the preparations for the high-level segment of the upcoming UNCCD COP14 that will take place on 2-13 September 2019 in New Delhi, India.

Around 500 participants from over 100 countries attended the Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19) that took place on 15-17 May to discuss catalyzing efforts for reducing soil erosion – one of the processes of land degradation.