News & stories

12 September is the UN Day for South-South cooperation. Collaboration among peoples and countries of the global South that contributes to their national well-being, their national and collective self-reliance and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals is a key aspect of UNCCD-enabled projects such as the Ningxia International Knowledge Management Center for Combating Desertification in China. The center is the result of cooperation between UNCCD and China under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Ningxia Forestry Grassland Administration as one of the projects to implement the Ordos Declaration adopted at UNCCD COP13. Under the MoU, the center commits to offer from 2019 to 2023 training including in-person lectures, field exercises, study trips and online webinars to developing countries on policies and technologies related to land degradation, rehabilitation and mitigation of drought effects. In December 2019, the center co-organized together the UNCCD the first international seminar in Ningxia Yinchuan, China. 15 participants from Africa and Asia participated in lectures, community interviews, business visits and university workshops. Due to COVDI-19, since 2021 the center has been developing a series of online training courses to include virtual seminars and field trips that showcase policy measures, technologies and business models of dryland ecosystem restoration, water saving afforestation and ecological resources-based green economy development under south-south cooperation program of China to support capacity development for countries affected by desertification. Photo above: Visit to straw grid sand fixation site.  

The UNCCD CSO Panel has released the latest issue of its newsletter. This issue introduces the recent news from the CSO network from May to August 2021, summary report of the CSOs meeting with the LDN Fund and TAF, report on the 2021 World Desertification and Drought Day, GGW Accelerator and upcoming events. Read more...

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, the intergovernmental treaty which unites 171 countries to protect and use wisely the wetlands and the resources they provide. The Ramsar Convention is the oldest of the modern global intergovernmental environmental agreements. In the fifty years since it was founded, a lot more became known about the importance of wetlands for water security, disaster risk reduction, mitigating climate change, supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods.  Across the world, wetlands are of great importance to humanity. All agricultural production depends on water which is transported and provided to humankind through wetlands. More than half of the world relies on wetland-grown produce for their staple diet, for example from rice paddies. Wetlands also provide more than a billion livelihoods across the world in an array of activities that also deliver food, water supplies, transport, and leisure. Wetlands loss contributes to poverty and food insecurity. During the months of August and September 2021, the anniversary website is featuring stories and messages on why wetlands are important and what can be done to ensure they are better protected and used. On October 7, the Ramsar secretariat will host an intergenerational dialogue between leaders past and future to create connections across generations to elevate the urgency to protect, conserve and restore wetlands. This anniversary-themed video presents the many benefits of wetlands and gives the overview of the convention's work.  

Great Green Wall Accelerator: This dynamic team has started coordinating efforts among donors, implementing partners and strategic partners, through ongoing consultations, to implement a harmonized results management framework. The expected result is an online platform with various functionalities, such as: monitoring or matchmaking and the integration of innovative technologies to systematize data collection and analysis. The framework is built on the willingness of stakeholders to be held accountable toward their commitments to GGWA. It will ensure Great Green Wall stakeholders are on a path toward a common vision and objectives that can benefit millions of people through new job opportunities and an urgently needed land-based recovery. LDN targets: Development of the Transformative Projects and Programmes (TPP) by countries that have set their national voluntary Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets is progressing well. In many cases, the work is ambitious. It will contribute not only to achieving LDN and land restoration, but will also have components on response to drought, climate change, gender, capacity building and other challenges. Online consultations with stakeholders and partners for both national and regional TPPs are under way. They include regional and multi-country TPPs. Reporting platform: The reporting platform for the upcoming UNCCD reporting cycle (2022) is being developed, with the support of the Global Support Programme (GSP). The Global Environment Facility (GEF) recently approved this new phase (GSP-III) to support finalization and completion of a new reporting portal, capacity building and other relevant activities. UNEP will implement while UNCCD executes it. The new online reporting portal will be launched in the last quarter of 2021. The Global Mechanism presented the new reporting framework on Strategic Objective – 5 through online sessions held on 6 & 7 July 2021. Many government representatives participated and provided their valuable inputs. Drought Toolbox: The work supporting the activities of Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) on drought and enhancement drought toolbox is in progress, with various inter-agency agreements in the process of being finalized. This work is supported by the Global Environment Facility’s "Enabling Activity project for implementing UNCCD COP Drought Decision," which is implemented by FAO and executed by FAO and GM/UNCCD. The initiative was officially launched at an inception workshop held during the second quarter of 2021, in collaboration with implementing and participating agencies. Things to look forward to: Return to office: During the past 18 months, staff adapted remarkably well to the COVID-19 restrictions and embraced and handled new working methods, despite the challenges of working virtually and the travel limitations. In September, we will start returning to the office at 50 per cent capacity. We will continue to observe the guidance issued by our host Government and the Secretary-General and to prioritize the health and safety as we make this transition. As we look forward to a healthy and productive autumn ahead, let me share some of the achievements and highlights since my last message. Tenth Anniversary of Changwon Initiative: On 12 October 2021, UNCCD and the Republic of Korea will launch the celebration of this milestone event in a virtual format. The Changwon Initiative was launched at COP10 in 2011. It has played a vital role in the birth and establishment of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept, process and activities, and setting up of the Land for Life Award. The celebration is a moment to recognize past achievements and map the way forward for making the Initiative an accelerator of LDN implementation in the coming years. More information on the Changwon Initiative can be found at this link. Restoring Balance with Nature Campaign: The three Rio Conventions (CBD, UNCCD and UNFCCC) are joining forces to ensure that all of us take actions in our own backyards to change the course of history by restoring balance with nature. This joint campaign will be launched in the last quarter of the year. Public outreach: As the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration gains momentum, the Convention is reviewing its communications approach to align it with the public sentiment for action on the land. We are developing an integrated communications strategy with two aims. First, to give the public an intuitive and simple experience with our web presence. Second, to give the UNCCD a fresh and dynamic look, ensure consistency in our messaging and improve our outreach to the public through both the social and mainstream media. These changes will also take place later this year.

The international community needs a strong biodiversity framework to guarantee the future we want, says Ibrahim Thiaw, the UN’s top policy advisor on land. “We live on the land and when we degrade it, we erode the soil and compromise the ability to feed ourselves…. We need a framework that is anchored in ecosystem management, particularly in sustainable land management,” he said. “Reviving ecosystems, which includes restoration of the land, is necessary for successful climate and biodiversity action,” he said. He laid out the triple benefits, in terms of real and immediate action, that follow when land is restored. “It reduces potential emissions from the land use sector. It stores carbon in soils and vegetation. And it enhances the ability of communities and ecosystems to withstand climate change, which also benefits biodiversity conservation.” Ibrahim Thiaw, who heads the Convention that addresses desertification, land degradation and drought, made the remarks during the high-level event on sustainable consumption and production patterns. The event, which was streamed live on Monday, 30 August, was hosted by the Government of Colombia, in the context of the post-2020 framework that will be adopted at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, in 2022. The latest science on land and  biodiversity loss, desertification and climate change all shows that changing consumption and production patterns are today the leading drivers of the loss of productive land. In response, 127 countries have committed to restore degrading land over the last six years. Over one billion hectares of land is earmarked for restoration by 2030, of which more than 450 million hectares are commitments by over 100 countries under the Convention’s Land Degradation Neutrality initiative. Read more...

Mr. President Duque, Secretary General, Ministers, Friends and Colleagues Warmest greetings from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. We are at a critical point in the discussions on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Hence the timeliness of this meeting. Biodiversity and climate are two sides of the same coin. Land, a precious and finite resource, binds them. Land links species and carbon. It sustains life, above and below ground. Much has already been said. I therefore have a single, simple message to you: We need a strong biodiversity framework to ensure the future we want. A framework that is anchored in ecosystem management. Particularly in sustainable land management. We live in land. When we degrade land, we erode our soils. We inhibit our ability to feed ourselves. We jeopardize the quality of the water we drink. Of the air we breathe. When we degrade habitats, we accelerate species loss. Ecosystem restoration - including land restoration – is a condition to successful climate and biodiversity action. It is the cornerstone of any strategy that seeks to restore balance among humans and nature. The foundation for the achievement of the sustainable development goals. Let me emphasize: restoring land health has a triple benefit in terms of real and immediate climate action: It reduces potent emissions from the land use sector, Stores carbon in soils and vegetation, Snd it enhances the resilience of communities and ecosystems, which in turn benefits biodiversity conservation. It all comes full circle. Land restoration is also a relatively quick way to create jobs to drive a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and make us less vulnerable to the next crisis. I am happy to note that restoration is being given high prominence in the current draft of the framework that is being discussed by your negotiators. I am confident that that this will remain the case. I can assure you that the UNCCD will be an active partner in supporting you to implement the global biodiversity framework once it is adopted. And this is where the synergies among the Rio Conventions will be most noticeable. A comprehensive, complementary approach to the implementation of the three Rio Conventions is necessary. No country will be fulfilling its mandate under one convention without fully implementing the other two. The tools to leveraging the synergies between the three conventions are actually in our hands. Namely: The biodiversity framework, The Land Degradation Neutrality targets and the National Action Plans from UNCCD, And the nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. A land and ecosystems restoration approach will also guide coordinated action with other processes focused on human health, pollution abatement, water management, and disaster risk reduction. Excellencies, The land is not the solution to all of humanity’s problems. We still need to fully decarbonize our economies, rethink how we produce and consume resources and intensively address the loss of species and other components of their habitats – as we are discussing in the context of this very meeting. But if we protect, manage, and restore the land, the benefits will be immense. Working together and collaboratively in policy and action, we can and must unlock these benefits, for people and the planet. Thank you very much.