News & stories

In the latest installment of the UNCCD science to policy weblog, Prime Minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir writes about Iceland's goal to reach carbon neutrality before the year 2040. We are taking actions that tackle the three major global environmental challenges – on biological diversity, climate change and desertification – simultaneously.     Read more

Iceland will reach carbon neutrality before the year 2040. This is the ambitious goal that my government set in September 2018 when it introduced a new climate action plan to get us there. We are taking actions that tackle the three major global environmental challenges – on biological diversity, climate change and desertification – simultaneously.

Please join us to mark some of this year's achievements, all of which have been made possible thanks to cooperation and support of all UNCCD stakeholders: 120 countries are now part of the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN TSP) 60 countries have established LDN targets 46 countries have mapped LDN transformative projects and programmes (TPP) GM has pledged its support to ten countries developing the LDN TPP and another three countries under the 3S Initiative  Thirteen countries have submitted project ideas under the 3S Initiative, with five major projects already under development 44 countries have joined the Drought Initiative The financing needed to develop Great Green Wall TPP portfolio has been secured Almost 3 000 new subscribers joined the UNCCD News Alert Nearly 4 000 new followers joined us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, instagram, Weibo e-learning videos on the new UNCCD reporting process received close to 3 000 views on the UNCCD YouTube channel Over 80 countries reported their WDCD events, and the #2018WDCD social media campaign received over 460 000 impressions. The campaign hashtag #2018WDCD received 4 772 704 impressions UNCCD published three new titles this year  The UNCCD Library twitter activity increased five fold thanks to daily updates of the library catalogue and the library section of the Knowledge Hub that feature publications related to the UNCCD focus areas The new World Atlas of Desertification was the most accessed entry in the UNCCD e-library this year Other popular titles included the Scientific Conceptual Framework fo LDN, Global Land Outlook and Gender Action Plan

The first global assessment of land degradation based on Earth observation data reported by governments will be presented and reviewed at the Seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 17) to be held on 28-29 January 2019 in Georgetown, Guyana.   The assessment, conducted by reporting countries using a harmonized approach, shows trends in land degradation between 2000 to 2015. It is based on data gathered from 145 of the 197 countries that are party to the Convention. This is the most extensive compilation of official data on this subject since world governments agreed to tackle the problem of land degradation in 1994, and then adopted a binding agreement – the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification – in 1996.   The assessment is expected to provide the baseline for assessing progress in the reduction or reversal of land degradation globally, going forward. It will also contribute to country efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN), which is Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3.   Journalists wishing to cover the Committee meeting in January are invited to register and obtain accreditation through this online portal: https://indico.un.org/event/27508/   The secretariat of the UNCCD jointly with Guyana Land and Soils Commission will organize a media training for journalists on Sunday, 28 January 2019. A few Caribbean journalists who meet the required criteria will be sponsored for the training and to cover the event. Interested journalists are reminded that the application deadline is this Friday, 21 December 2019. Detailed information is available here.   Detailed information about CRIC17 is available via this link.

The first global assessment of land degradation based on Earth observation data reported by governments will be presented and reviewed at the Seventeenth Session of the Committee for the Review of Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 17) to be held on 28-29 January 2019 in Georgetown, Guyana.   The assessment, conducted by reporting countries using a harmonized approach, shows trends in land degradation between 2000 to 2015. It is based on data gathered from 145 of the 197 countries that are party to the Convention. This is the most extensive compilation of official data on this subject since world governments agreed to tackle the problem of land degradation in 1994, and then adopted a binding agreement – the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification – in 1996.   The assessment is expected to provide the baseline for assessing progress in the reduction or reversal of land degradation globally, going forward. It will also contribute to country efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN), which is Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3.   Journalists wishing to cover the Committee meeting in January are invited to register and obtain accreditation through this online portal: https://indico.un.org/event/27508/   The secretariat of the UNCCD jointly with Guyana Land and Soils Commission will organize a media training for journalists on Sunday, 28 January 2019. A few Caribbean journalists who meet the required criteria will be sponsored for the training and to cover the event. Interested journalists are reminded that the application deadline is this Friday, 21 December 2019. Detailed information is available here.   Detailed information about CRIC17 is available via this link.

The UNCCD Executive Secretary Ms. Monique Barbut joined the global leadership network that unites over 200 female & male decision-makers determined to break down gender barriers and make gender equality a working reality in their spheres of influence.  Ms. Barbut made a pledge to cultivate a positive and supportive organizational culture among all staff where gender equality and empowerment of women are measurable and embedded in all decision-making and programming processes of the UNCCD. She also took upon herself to advocate for concrete measures, such as women’s access to land rights, which the UNCCD Parties can champion for mainstreaming gender and the empowerment of women in achieving land degradation neutrality. Read more about the International Gender Champions here.