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4 May 2018 – Kyiv, Ukraine – The Coordination Council to Combat Land Degradation and Desertification met to discuss the implementation of national action plan (NAP) to combat land degradation and desertification in Ukraine, as well as the results of the land degradation neutrality (LDN) target setting process, in particular the proposed national voluntary targets.  The meeting has brought together representatives of central and regional governmental bodies, local municipalities, scientific institutions, international and civil society organizations, and experts.  The Coordination Council has outlined the recommendations on protection and sustainable use of land, as well as the proposed national voluntary LDN targets, focusing on the stabilization of soil organic matter (humus) as the main target to achieve LDN in Ukraine by 2030. Regarding supplementary LDN targets, proposals have been made on rehabilitation and sustainable use of peatlands, restoration of irrigation and the improvement of soil conditions in irrigated lands. Read more: Achieving land degradation neutrality Land degradation neutrality target-setting programme  

Promoting sustainable land use unifies our voices for bird conservation   Birds are highly sensitive to their environments. With 30 per cent of the land now degraded, the long journeys migratory birds fly every year across continents to find food, breeding and rearing grounds are becoming ever more dangerous and exhausting. As they lose the land resources that usually sustain them, migrating birds are increasingly forced to find new habitats. It is making their journeys longer, more tiresome and their survival and reproduction less secure. In short, land degradation poses an existential threat to migratory birds.  The commitment countries made in 2015 under Sustainable Development Goal 15 to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030, is a commitment that guarantees the future survival of migratory birds. By choosing land degradation neutrality, the countries agreed to avoid degrading any new land, to reduce the degradation of the lands currently in use and to reverse the process in the degraded areas.  To date, 116 countries that are Party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification are setting in place the measures needed to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation by 2030. Over half of these countries now have concrete targets to assess their progress towards meeting the LDN target. Of the latter, 40 countries are working on schemes to recover and transform degraded large areas and landscapes into healthy ecosystems - havens for migratory birds and for human wellbeing.  Encouraging land users all over the world to adopt sustainable land use and management practices is to unify our voices for bird conservation. Each commitment to land degradation neutrality is a vote to secure the feeding, breeding and rearing grounds for migratory birds. Read more: World Migratory Bird Day Land degradation neutrality  LDN targets Sustainable land management World Day to Combat Desertification

9-12 April, 2018 – Fortaleza, Brazil – The Global Support Programme workshop for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has brought together 62 delegates from 26 countries to develop technical capacity for the UNCCD national reporting process.  During the opening session, representatives of the national and regional government, local institutions and the UNCCD spoke of Brazil's historical commitment to the work of the convention, as well as the role that capacity building can play in the UNCCD implementation in the country and across the region. An extensive agenda with considerable technical components motivated the participants to work closely with the UNCCD team of facilitators to gain expertise on how to effectively use the UNCCD reporting tools, including the recently revamped PRAIS3 platform and the innovative Trends.Earth tool developed by Conservation International. These instruments will enable country Parties to prepare and analyze their indicator data as part of the UNCCD reporting process and LDN monitoring, as well as future reporting under the SGD process.  The workshop included a discussion on various UNCCD-related issues of regional importance, as well as additional sessions with the representatives of UN Environment and Mirova, during which the delegates received detailed information on the operationalization of the GEF funded Umbrella Project and the LDN Fund. FAO and the Partnership Initiative on Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) have also organized side events to discuss UNCCD initiatives related to the implementation of the convention. The event has been positively evaluated by the delegates as an on-target initiative to ensure a successful UNCCD national reporting process and prepare for the seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), which will take place in Guyana in January 2019.

3 May, 2018 – Bonn, Germany – The UNCCD has actively participated in the forty-eighth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference to demonstrate the importance of land degradation neutrality (LDN) as a groundbreaking actionable concept for mitigating and adapting to climate change. During the tenth meeting of the Research Dialogue, UNCCD has successfully shown the relevance of land-based solutions to global environmental challenges by presenting an innovative poster on LDN – a framework for maintaining ecosystems and human well-being under a changing climate – to numerous interested SBSTA participants. Following the interactive poster session, the UNCCD further participated in effectively co-shaping the dialogue between science and policy representatives on supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The UNCCD experts contributed to the discussion centred around science for understanding and science for action and impact. One of the key issues addressed by the participants of this fruitful climate change-focused dialogue was the required shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns. The UNCCD played a key role in emphasizing the importance of an enabling governance environment at the global level for shaping sustainable land-based solutions to the challenges posed by the climate change. 

23–25 April, 2018 – Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – UNCCD discussed innovative ways to integrate science, practice and policy to effectively combat desertification as part of the three-day international workshop organized by the ministry of environment, water and agriculture (MEWA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Several experts, managers, scientists from public and private sectors, representatives of the government, international organizations and research institutes gathered to discuss innovative methods to combat desertification. The presentation "Leveraging Innovation through the Integration of Science, Practice and Policy to Combat Desertification," delivered by the secretariat, focused on achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) as the essential element in reaching multiple Sustainable Development Goals. The UNCCD also presented its current projects as part of the exhibition that featured work of international and local civil society organizations. The workshop is the first step towards knowledge sharing and exchange of information and best practices to combat land degradation and desertification in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the region.  To learn more, please visit: http://www.iwcd.info  

3 May, 2018 –  Chinsali, Zambia (IPS) –  As global climate experts meet in Bonn this week to discuss how to take climate action forward, Zambia counts itself amongst the leaders as President Edgar Lungu officially launches the Plant a Million (PAM) trees Initiative. In fact, the initiative is even more ambitious than its name implies, and aims at planting at least two billion trees by 2021. According to President Lungu, the initiative is in line with the country’s Seventh National Development Plan whose aim is to diversify the economy from copper dependency. President Lungu says the initiative, which targets young people through schools, colleges and universities, will be used as a vehicle for mindset change among Zambians to begin to value the importance of planting trees as a tool for economic diversification. “This initiative marks the beginning of growing money through trees and government stands ready to support it and ensure that it succeeds,” he said during the launch at Kapasa Makasa University in Muchinga Province, Northern Zambia. In line with the country’s commitments to international treaties, especially the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, President Lungu said government envisages not only creating a tree-based economy, but also mitigating climate change through the initiative. He is particularly concerned with the country’s alarming deforestation rate of 276,021 hectares per year, making Zambia one of the most deforested countries in Africa. “The Plant A Million initiative will significantly contribute to reducing deforestation which has earned Zambia a bad name of being one of the most deforested countries in Africa as a result of uncontrolled harvesting of trees,” he said. The Zambian president added that he was impressed with the youth involvement model through schools, colleges and universities, saying it will help push the agenda of mindset change because “when our learners appreciate the importance of trees, it will in turn create a positive impact in families and the communities at large.” Speaking earlier, Higher Education Minister Nkandu Luo said her Ministry would use the initiative to redefine the education system from exam-based to real-world practices. “Over the years, the thinking in our school system has been that education is passing exams but we are redefining this thinking, so that people know that education is total transformation of a human being, and this programme is one of the ways to do it,” she said. As one of the brains behind the initiative, Professor Luo said that Zambia was aiming to break the world record of planting the most trees, which is currently held by India. Last year, Volunteers in India planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours in a record-breaking environmental drive. About 1.5 million people were involved in the huge campaign, in which saplings were placed along the Narmada river in the state of Madhya Pradesh throughout Sunday. India committed under the Paris Agreement to increasing its forests by five million hectares before 2030 to combat climate change. “We are aiming to beat the world record, to go above 66 million trees done by India. We aim to plant at least a billion trees by 2019, and another billion plus by 2021; and I am positive that with universities’ involvement, it is doable,” she said. Meanwhile, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Jean Kapata is optimistic that the initiative will not only add value to people’s livelihoods through income from the sale of fruit and other forest products, but also contribute to the country’s ambitious mitigation targets as set in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). “As you may be aware, tree planting plays an important role in addressing impacts of climate change, and mitigating effects of climate change. In this regard, the Zambia Plant A Million initiative is also responding to national efforts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. Zambia has undertaken, and is still implementing, several tree planting and preservation projects across the country. Central to such initiatives has been the goodwill of the country’s first president, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, who was a pioneer of tree planting during his time in office. And according to Emmanuel Chibesakunda, PAM initiator and project manager, the initiative wants to build on this foresight and activism of the 94-year-old freedom fighter and founding father of the nation. “I am pleased to announce this morning that Dr. Kenneth Kaunda has kindly agreed to be the goodwill ambassador for this initiative,” announced Chibesakunda amid thunderous applause from those who gathered to witness the ceremony in a district which is also home to Dr. Kaunda. “Dr. Kaunda did not only lead our country into independence, but also pioneered tree planting in Zambia.” Chibesakunda shared his inspiration for the initiative, which he said was from his father who taught him that talent was like a seed which needed to be planted in the right soil to germinate into beautiful fruit. This led to his passion for trees, and especially the involvement of children and young people. “My father told me that we all have talents, but what matters is where we plant them,” he told the gathering. “And my desire for this project is that we plant the knowledge in the young generation, let us put the future into their hands.” So far, tree nurseries have been set up at 12 schools in Lusaka, and the project expects to reach 720 schools in the next two years in 60 districts across the country. Read the article in French and Spanish on the IPS site. Photo: President Edgar Lungu just before planting a tree during the launch of Plant a Million Trees Initiative in Chinsali District. Credit: Munich Advisors Group