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Last 20th of October 2018, the UNCCD as well as other UN organizations present in Bonn, organized the UN Day which took place in Bonn’s Markt Platz. This year, the event had the theme "Leaving no one behind".
Bonn, Germany – Five regional training workshops on reporting have been conducted in March-May 2018 as part of the capacity building activities implemented by the UNCCD secretariat, the Global Mechanism (GM), UN Environment and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The workshops have been attended by a total of 316 participants from 140 country Parties of the convention. Post-workshop evaluations submitted by the Parties provided an overall positive feedback as well as a request for further training on reporting requirements under the UNCCD. The secretariat and the GM have compiled a preliminary report on the strength and weaknesses of the workshops to improve future capacity-building initiatives related to the UNCCD reporting and review process. Read more: Full report UNCCD reporting process
Bolzano/Bozen, Italy – Researchers, practitioners, representatives of governmental structures, NGOs, UN agencies and the private sector institutions converged this week in the autonomous province of South Tyrol in the Alps of northern Italy for the Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS) International Conference. GLOMOS, a partnership between the United Nations University Institute for Human Security (UNH-EHS) and Eurac Research, aims to improve the living conditions of people in mountainous regions by increasing the resilience of mountain communities to climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. Mountain regions cover a quarter of the planet’s land surface and are home to twelve percent of the world’s population. The wide range of ecosystem services that the mountains provide are vital to human well-being, serving as the world’s water tower for half of humanity’s freshwater. During the conference, much of the discussion centered around the need for research on the modeling and simulation of mountainous socio-ecological systems, so that decision makers can access scenarios for landscape-level planning could both optimize interventions and help navigate tradeoffs. The participants worked to identify gaps and prioritize future work, so that the outcomes of the meeting can help orient future research agendas. The UNCCD Lead Scientist Dr. Barron Joseph Orr, who participated in a high level panel at this GLOMOS event, presented the specific challenges land degradation poses to mountainous regions and explained how land degradation neutrality (LDN) could serve as a framework to help turn scientific knowledge into action. Read more: Mountain Partnership Mountain Research Initiative Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment Scientific conceptual framework for LDN
Bonn, Germany – Once again UNCCD has joined other UN organizations based in Bonn for a yearly celebration in the historic Marktplatz on 20 October 2018. To entice the crowds to visit the UNCCD booth and learn more about the organization's work, the Capacity Building Marketplace team designed fun activities to engage guests of all ages. They could trace a maze or spin the roulette for a chance to win a prize by answering a question related to one of the UNCCD focus areas: land degradation neutrality, sustainable land management, The Drought Initiative, sand and dust storms, land and human security, land and gender, land and climate change. Another big draw for the guests was a table presenting UNCCD publications, including the Global Land Outlook. Among many visitors who came to support UNCCD and its work toward sustainable development goal 15 "Life on Land" were the Mayor of Bonn Mr. Ashok Alexander Sridharan and the Consul General of Türkiye in Cologne Mr. Baris Ceyhun Erciyes. Learn more: UN Day 2018 photos on Flickr More about the event UN organizations in Bonn
UNCCD Parties decided at COP13 that the secretariat should commission a study on “The role that measures taken to implement the Convention can play to address desertification, land degradation and drought as one of the drivers that cause migration.” The study will be presented at the UNCCD COP14 in 2019. The introductory part of the study, which has already been commissioned by the secretariat, will set the scene and explore how land degradation and drought are influencing migration patterns. The substantive, narrative portion of the study, led by the secretariat in collaboration with partners, will include a literature review and collect best practices that have contributed to addressing the adverse drivers of migration related to desertification/land degradation and drought (DLDD). The UNCCD secretariat invites contributions from Parties, UN Agencies and other international organizations, civil society organizations (CSOs) and researchers on documented good practice that contribute to addressing the adverse drivers of migration related to DLDD. Contributions most relevant to the study would be those focusing on sustainable land management and land restoration and rehabilitation and should be: evidence-informed, a positive case, geographically traceable, factual and concise (less than 2,000 words in length). You can contribute a case study online by 18 November 2018 using this link. Read more: English French Spanish
On Thursday the 11th of October 2018, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat, represented by its Capacity Building Marketplace (CBM), hosted once again, students from Bonn University, taking the Masters in Agriculture and Food Economics (AFECO). During their visit the students and their accompany professors, Mr. Jan Börner and Ms. Manuela Meraner, had participated in interesting programme, comprised inter alia of formal presentations made by staff from top management to young professionals of UNCCD, UNESCO-UNEVOC and UNV; a panel discussion, an exhibition and interviews of students and professors. The whole session was chaired by the Chief of the Science, Technology and Implementation Unit (STI) of the UNCCD, Mr. Johns Muleso Kharika, who shared his expertise and experience most liberally.
