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 Ordos, September 11, 2017 – Up to 2 billion hectares of land are degraded. On average, 12 million hectares are lost every year and 169 countries are affected by land degradation, desertification and drought. In an unprecedented global campaign to save productive land, 112 countries, as of today, have agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030 a national target for action.   The world’s largest and most populous nations, including Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Russia and South Africa have committed to the national targets in a move that could see over 1.3 billion mostly poor people regaining food, water, energy and job security, and resilience to climate change. Conservative estimates put the cost of land degradation globally at US$297 billion per year.   Under the land degradation neutrality target setting programme spearheaded by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and supported by 17 international partners, more than 60 of these countries have already established national land degradation baselines and set neutrality targets.    Joining the initiative signals a country’s determination to restore degraded land to ensure the amoung of productive land available today is maintained going forward.   “Desertification is the joint mission of all mankind and the responsibility of the international community to ensure a beautiful planet,” said Mr. Wang Yang, China’s Vice Premier.   “Over the coming decades China will put an emphasis on the development of an ecological civilization - including by combating desertification – to ensure better societal fairness and human well-being,” he added.   Wang was speaking on behalf of President Xi Jinping at the Ministerial meeting of the 13th session of the UNCCD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, where more than 80 ministers discussed pursuing land degradation neutrality as a viable response to the growing threats of desertification, drought, and sand and dust storms.   Desertification, land degradation and drought are threats to global security due to their impacts on number of livelihoods tied to the productivity of land - more than 2 billion. This year, drought led to the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War. Distress migration driven by desertification in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to reach 60 million out to 2045.   “The population is growing at an extra 200,000 people every day, while 20 countries have declared drought emergencies in the last 18 months alone. We were clearly not sufficiently prepared for these challenges. Hundreds of millions of people go to bed desperate, hungry and thirsty as a result. Under business as usual scenarios, there is no future relief,” said Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary, UNCCD.   She said the Convention, at its current Conference, “can offer the poor a new deal. By using our land resources rationally and acting before it is too late, there is enough for everyone to live well… We can be better prepared for drought and offer stable, green and land-based employment and development for millions of rural people. We can promote harmony between city and country and offer opportunity for all,” Barbut added.   A priority issue for the ministers is the mechanism needed to ensure communities that are vulnerable and at risk of drought have the means to take early action. They will also consider how to address the new sources of sand and dust storms, how to motivate the private sector to invest in land-restoration, and motivate mayors and local and regional leaders to support the achievement of these targets.   The 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification (COP13) is taking place in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.   At a press conference with journalists, Mr Liu Dongshen, Vice Minister State Forestry Administration, said for some years now, China has restored more land than it has degraded. Last year, it registered a net surplus of more than 2,000 square kilometers. This year, the country has restored over 1,000 square kilometers above the net balance.   In addition to the strategic plan for 2018-2030, the ministerial declaration and the decisions COP13 will take on drought, land rights and sand and dust storms, he underlined the mobilization of youth as an important issue from the Conference, which China will pursue going forward.   More than 4000 delegates are participating in COP13, which runs until 16 September.   For more information or interviews contact: wwischnewski@unccd.int or telephone +8615598835711 (in China)

11 September 2017 – Ordos, China – Up to 2 billion hectares of land are degraded. On average, 12 million hectares are lost every year and 169 countries are affected by land degradation, desertification and drought. In an unprecedented global campaign to save productive land, 112 countries, as of today, have agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030 a national target for action.   The world’s largest and most populous nations, including Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Russia and South Africa have committed to the national targets in a move that could see over 1.3 billion mostly poor people regaining food, water, energy and job security, and resilience to climate change. Conservative estimates put the cost of land degradation globally at US$297 billion per year.   Under the land degradation neutrality target setting programme spearheaded by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and supported by 17 international partners, more than 60 of these countries have already established national land degradation baselines and set neutrality targets.    Joining the initiative signals a country’s determination to restore degraded land to ensure the amoung of productive land available today is maintained going forward.   “Desertification is the joint mission of all mankind and the responsibility of the international community to ensure a beautiful planet,” said Mr. Wang Yang, China’s Vice Premier.   “Over the coming decades China will put an emphasis on the development of an ecological civilization - including by combating desertification – to ensure better societal fairness and human well-being,” he added.   Wang was speaking on behalf of President Xi Jinping at the Ministerial meeting of the 13th session of the UNCCD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, where more than 80 ministers discussed pursuing land degradation neutrality as a viable response to the growing threats of desertification, drought, and sand and dust storms.   Desertification, land degradation and drought are threats to global security due to their impacts on number of livelihoods tied to the productivity of land - more than 2 billion. This year, drought led to the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War. Distress migration driven by desertification in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to reach 60 million out to 2045.   “The population is growing at an extra 200,000 people every day, while 20 countries have declared drought emergencies in the last 18 months alone. We were clearly not sufficiently prepared for these challenges. Hundreds of millions of people go to bed desperate, hungry and thirsty as a result. Under business as usual scenarios, there is no future relief,” said Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary, UNCCD.   She said the Convention, at its current Conference, “can offer the poor a new deal. By using our land resources rationally and acting before it is too late, there is enough for everyone to live well… We can be better prepared for drought and offer stable, green and land-based employment and development for millions of rural people. We can promote harmony between city and country and offer opportunity for all,” Barbut added.   A priority issue for the ministers is the mechanism needed to ensure communities that are vulnerable and at risk of drought have the means to take early action. They will also consider how to address the new sources of sand and dust storms, how to motivate the private sector to invest in land-restoration, and motivate mayors and local and regional leaders to support the achievement of these targets.   The 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification (COP13) is taking place in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.   At a press conference with journalists, Mr Liu Dongshen, Vice Minister State Forestry Administration, said for some years now, China has restored more land than it has degraded. Last year, it registered a net surplus of more than 2,000 square kilometers. This year, the country has restored over 1,000 square kilometers above the net balance.   In addition to the strategic plan for 2018-2030, the ministerial declaration and the decisions COP13 will take on drought, land rights and sand and dust storms, he underlined the mobilization of youth as an important issue from the Conference, which China will pursue going forward.   More than 4000 delegates are participating in COP13, which runs until 16 September.   For more information or interviews contact: wwischnewski@unccd.int or telephone +8615598835711 (in China)

11 September 2017 – Hamburg, Germany/Ordos, China – The Future Policy Award (FPA) ceremony was held at the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia (China). The international “Oscar for best policies” honours laws and practices that successfully combat desertification and land degradation. The FPA is awarded by the World Future Council (WFC) in cooperation with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Among the laureates are the Ethiopian Tigray region, Brazil and China. The ceremony was attended by 300 high-level guests and ministers from all over the world including H.E. Mr. Zhang Jianlong, Minister of State Forestry Administration of China, H.E. Ms. Bu Xiaolin, Governor of Inner Mongolia, as well as Tigray’s President H.E. Mr. Abay Weldu. The FPA aims to draw more attention to desertification and effective ways to combat it: In the last century, droughts cost more lives than any other weather-related catastrophe. Climate change intensifies the process of desertification. Actions to combat desertification, therefore, not only contribute to protecting the environment but can also provide social and political stability. Ethiopia’s Tigray region was granted the Gold Award. Using a unique combination of collective action, voluntary labour and the involvement of youth, the people of Tigray are restoring land on a massive scale. As a result, erosion has decreased significantly, groundwater levels are recharged, and the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices made a remarkable contribution to food self-sufficiency and economic growth. The Future Policy Award highlights the world’s best policies and laws that create the framework for better living conditions for current and future generations. The winning policies are introduced in short videos which are on our YouTube Channel. Further information on the winning policies may be obtained through our website as well as on futurepolicy.org. STATEMENTS:Monique Barbut, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): “Drylands cover close to 40% of the Earth’s land surface. Hundreds of millions of people are directly threatened by land degradation and climate change is only going to intensify the problem. So far, this underestimated environmental disaster has received far too little attention. The Future Policy Award 2017 is turning the spotlight on the looming environmental challenge and effective responses. The seven Future Policy Awardees are all from affected countries, and demonstrate great environmental and political determination.” Jakob von Uexkull, Founder of the World Future Council (WFC): “Drylands are among the most conflict-prone regions in the world. Not tackling desertification and land degradation means accepting humanitarian disasters. But if we take up this challenge, so much is gained: By reversing desertification we can help build peace, food security and a safe future for millions of people.” H.E. Abay Weldu, President of Tigray State (Ethiopia) “I am delighted and honoured as head of the Regional Government of Tigray knowing that Tigray has won Gold Future Policy Award 2017. The people of Tigray demonstrate that all challenges can be overcome if the leadership is addressing the will, need and priority of the people. Tigray’s people have proved that development is possible without harming our mother Earth.” BACKGROUND The Future Policy Award is the only award which honours policies rather than people on an international level. Each year, the World Future Council chooses a topic for the Future Policy Award on which policy progress is particularly urgent. In 2017, in partnership with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), laws and policies were evaluated that contribute to the protection of life and livelihoods in the drylands, and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15, target 3, to “combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.” More information:  Read more about the winning policies and the award in our brochure  Follow the 2017 Future Policy Award on Twitter with #FPA2017  For more information about the Future Policy Award, see here.  MEDIA CONTACTS:  Miriam Petersen  Media & Communications Manager, World Future Council  Tel: +49  40 307 09 14 19 (L),  +49 1573 68 38 736 (M) │ E: miriam.petersen@worldfuturecouncil.org  Wagaki Wischnewski  Public Information and Media Officer, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification  Tel: +49 228 815 2820 │ E: wwischnewski@unccd.int The World Future Council  The World Future Council brings the interests of future generations to the centre of policy-making. Its up to 50 eminent members from around the globe have already successfully promoted change. The Council addresses challenges to our common future and provides decision makers with effective policy solutions. In close cooperation with civil society actors, parliamentarians, governments, business and international organizations the World Future Council identifies “best policies” around the globe. The World Future Council is registered as a charitable foundation in Hamburg, Germany. www.worldfuturecouncil.org The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification  The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the only legally binding international agreement on land issues. The Convention promotes good land stewardship. Its 196 Parties aim, through partnerships, to implement the Convention and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The end goal is to protect our land, from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide us all with food, water and energy. By sustainably managing land and striving to achieve land degradation neutrality, now and in the future, we will reduce the impact of climate change, avoid conflict over natural resources and help communities to thrive. www.unccd.int 

Ordos, 6 September 2017 Time for the Butterfly to Flap its Wings Friends, Focal Points,  Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,  Welcome to Ordos.  Allow me to extend my sincere thanks to the Govt. of the People’s Republic of China for their warm and efficient welcome.   When in China and when you want to urge wisdom, quoting Confucius is a good place to start.  Confucius once said “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change”. As most of us are neither the wisest or stupidest of people, we are – we must – learn to embrace change.  I fully recognize, for UNCCD Parties, the last few years have been all about change.  We have made a lot of progress. I would suggest, it has been something of a metamorphosis.   A complete change in form: caterpillar, to pupa – safe in its chrysalis - to butterfly. The same genetics but a very different beast.  Historically, despite the importance of the issue [the egg], UNCCD made slow progress. We got caught up in affected and non-affected and a process that prioritized perfect agreement rather than tangible progress. We were perhaps content to advance at the pace of a caterpillar.   But do you know…when the caterpillar becomes a pupa – and retreats inside its chrysalis/UN cocoon – it starts to digest itself?  If you were to cut open a chrysalis [at just the right time], a sort of protein rich caterpillar soup would ooze out.  And it is not entirely a soupy mess. Groups of cells survive and use the protein-rich soup to form the adult butterfly. The transformation is complete.  So it may have felt like UNCCD spent a little too much time wading through a soupy mess.  But it is time well invested: a new strategy framework has been born. A framework I trust will be endorsed at COP13.  It gives us a new sense of purpose and common cause.  With land degradation neutrality as an organizing principle embedded within the strategy and as Convention is recognized as the custodian of this target, we have an important accelerator target for the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Change agreement.   The indicators developed by UNCCD Parties on land cover, land productivity and organic carbon will be used to measure progress at global level. This global push has allowed us to begin forging partnerships on issues such as remote sensing and satellite data.  With a clear target and with the data to back it up, we have been able to get much better organized.   This data is allowing, currently, 110 countries to set voluntary national LDN targets to drive their national action plans.  This is a massive undertaking involving 11 donors and thousands of colleagues across Ministries and departments worldwide.  So at this COP we can already learn how that exercise is progressing, where the gaps and the hotspots are.  But change is definitely gathering pace. COP 21 endorsed the importance of land in carbon sequestration and the IPCC planning to release in 2019 a special report on the role of land in tackling climate change.  At the same time, we see a new climate narrative emerging that explicitly recognizes the need to address the resilience challenges of communities in the face of water scarcity and drought in particular.   This year, once again, we have been rightly outraged by needless losses, instability, famine and death in drought afflicted areas of Africa and South America.  I commend Parties that have taken vigorous actions for their leadership.  On biodiversity, we saw short term action plans for ecosystem restoration emerging out of the Cancun COP.  Parties to the Biodiversity Convention are aligning on our indicators for Aichi Target 15.  While the UN Forest Framework new strategy also endorses the LDN approach.  The move of the GM to Bonn is a clear success.  A strong, complementary corporate identity has emerged with clarity on who does what - that does away with unnecessary duplication.  The new Deputy Executive Secretary – Mr. Pradeep Monga – has taken up the mantle of enhancing our internal systems. We improve and simplify our administration to provide a better cost / benefit to your financial contributions. So, from what may have seemed like a soupy mess a few short years ago, something rather wonderful is emerging.   Land, like the butterfly, is emerging as the critical component in a number of politically relevant, high profile issues.  There is political will to address land issues and the secretariat and the GM are increasingly able to act effectively.  The stars are aligned.   But, I fear, this is a limited window of opportunity.  And there are huge expectations for what we can achieve by 2030.   So at this COP and in the near future, we need to focus on IMPLEMENTATION.  Implementation means:  1) Turning your LDN targets into action.  It would be intolerable for me that we have invested so much time and effort into getting to this point and you, dear Parties, did not see the real benefit. Much of the work needs to continue to be done by your own governments, of course.  But there are important external developments, particularly financial ones.  At COP13, you will hear about the launch of the LDN Fund.  This is the first time that there is a fund dedicated to rehabilitating degraded land.  I am more delighted that it will be managed by the private sector. In that, I thank the Mirova-Nataxis group for their outstanding work in shepherding the establishment of the Fund.   You will also here other truly great commitments to LDN implementation from a number of Parties.  So while an increasing amount of public and private financial resources is expected, the missing piece is now a pipeline of technically sound projects – drawn from your LDN targets - delivering on the sustainability triple bottom line.  So, moving beyond just cooperation at inter-secretariat level we are working with the UNFCCC and CBD, to elaborate together the Rio Conventions Project Preparation Facility to assist in the development of investment-ready projects at the scale needed to create economic and social benefits while addressing pressing land, climate, and biodiversity challenges. 2) But we also need to take decisions on issues that we have not yet dealt with. I think in particular about what should be the positive agenda to address droughts or sand dust storms. Gender and land tenure security are also of special importance.  We would all like to see the transformative projects you are developing become more gender sensitive and responsive to the heavy daily workload of rural women.   3) On all these issues, Knowledge/Strategic Communication: To support you further, we need to focus on our knowledge base.  We will work with the SPI to support the IPCC and IPBES special reports that are due to be released in the coming months.  I hope you will also find the Global Land Outlook a useful strategic communications product.  Partnerships I think you can see, I am optimistic and enthusiastic.  We are at a unique moment.  To my mind, it is absolutely the time for UNCCD to emerge from the shadows.  To emerge like a butterfly from the chrysalis.  To do this, we will rely on your insight. We will draw on not a little ancient Chinese wisdom.  And will hope for bold, forward looking decisions.   Thank you.

6 September 2017 – Ordos, China – Zhang Jianlong, Minister of State Forestry Administration, China, this morning opened the first ever United Nations conferences of the Rio Conventions to be hosted in China. The thirteenth session of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is taking place from 6-16 September in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The 196 country Parties attending the 13th session of their Conference are expected to agree on a 12-year Strategy to contain runaway land degradation that is threatening global food and water security. Ministers are expected to announce their targets for land restoration, to agree on measures to address the related emerging threats of forced migration, sand and dust storms, and to agree on actions to strengthen the resilience of communities to droughts. Globally, 169 countries are affected by desertification, with China accounting for the largest population and area affected. China’s target is to reduce by 50 percent all of its desertified areas by 2020, Zhang said. “A fire burns harder when we all add some tinder,” he said, urging countries to agree on a new strategic direction that will lead to ecological restoration.   China has developed industrial models to combat desertification, and reported that “the area affected by desertification has declined for three inventory periods in a row, since 2004.” Only 20 years ago, Ordos, the city and burial place of Ghengis Khan was an empty desert. Today it is a green, modern city with a growing industrial base, and a global model of the economic potential of restoring and rehabilitating degraded land at scale. More than 2 billion hectares of productive land is degraded and more than 1.5 billion people are living off degraded land. Without joint action, the annual loss of 12 million hectares of productive land, on average, is expected to worsen in the face of increasing, frequent and recurrent severe droughts. Severe drought in 2017 led to what many claim is the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the second world war, with more than 25 million people across four countries – Nigeria, Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia – facing starvation and famine. By restoring degraded land, countries would be better placed to respond to new, complex and interconnected challenges that are emerging, such as forced migration, food and water supply and the loss of livelihoods. Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary, said the political, social and economic costs of land degradation are high, but expressed optimism and enthusiasm about the outcomes of the Conference. In under 2 years, since the adoption of the land degradation neutrality targeting under the Sustainable Development Goals, a seismic shift has taken place. “Today, 110 of the 169 countries that declared in 2013 that they are affected by land degradation or drought have expressed interest in recovering large areas of degraded over the next 12 years, under a special global initiative, the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme,” she observed. During the two-week Conference, many countries are expected to announce their targets – the amount of the land they plan to restore or rehabilitate during the next 12-years. But Barbut said it is challenging for countries to make commitments to achieve this Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target when there is no assured finance, and welcomed a private sector-led profit-making financing initiative under development that is designed to support the realization of the target. “Under the New Strategy, drought mitigation would, for the first time, become a strategic area of focus of the Convention,” Ms Barbut asserted. “We must be well prepared for the future, and national drought policies which are based on realistic vulnerability assessments and that have effective early warning systems and risk mitigation measures will be vital,” Barbut stressed. More than 70 ministers are expected to attend the Conference during the high-level segment, when most of the emerging issues will be addressed and country commitments of the targets will be announced. Photo by IISD/Francis Dejon For information contact: Wagaki Wischnewski, wwischnewski@unccd.int

The UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI) has released the "Sustainable Land Management contribution to successful land-based climate change adaptation and mitigation" technical report and the accompanying "Sustainable Land Management for Climate and People" science-policy brief. The publication provides scientifically sound practical guidance for selecting SLM practices that help address DLDD, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and for creating an enabling environment for their large-scale implementation considering local realities. It targets a broad audience from scientists, policy makers, landowners, community stakeholders and enterprises.  Read more: The UNCCD Science-Policy Interface Best practices on SLM technologies