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Learning from Brazil’s innovative model to reverse desertification in Caatinga Brazil’s vast rainforest, rich in biodiversity, has captured the imagination of people around the world and attracted large-scale financing from donors committed to preserving this unique ecosystem. But what about the other, lesser-known or naturally endowed biomes?  The Caatinga drylands occupy 11 percent of the country, an area about 100 million hectares in the northeast of Brazil. It is home to over 34 million people. Preserving the unique resources in this region is vital because drylands are highly susceptible to land degradation. In 2016, Brazil established the Recovery Units of Degraded Areas and Reduction of Climate Vulnerability (URAD) initiative to address the main drivers of land degradation in the Caatinga. The project, which in the long run will be financed from the moneys generated by domestic environmental fines, received a start-up funding of USD$1 million from Brazil’s Climate Fund and US$9 million from the international community. Under the program, a recovery area is defined by its watershed. The local communities are mobilized to restore their watershed. They get support in the form of resources and training needed. The start-up cost per family for carrying out a watershed recovery is estimated at US$ 8,000. About 30 to 40 families take part in each project. The first activities aim to produce highly tangible results, such as restoring a water source. Direct results are they key to keeping the enthusiasm among community members going and to motivating them to take further actions. The first URAD community-level interventions were completed in half the estimated time. In turn, local people started to have confidence in government projects. The interest to get involved and enthusiasm in the projects grew and spread throughout other communities. But the watershed recovery project is rooted in more than providing direct benefits to communities. The participation of local communities is a guiding principle. Studies show that environmental actions that reduce the population's climate vulnerability are more likely to succeed when they involve local communities in decision-making to create sustainable value chains, generate employment and improve the quality of life. The URAD watershed recovery initiative is also founded and fully integrated in a sustainability model. The environmental, social and economic interventions are taken seriously with specific results targeted. For URAD, environmental actions aim to conserve soil, recover spring water, preserve biodiversity and improve the conditions for food production. Social actions focus on meeting the water, energy and sanitary security of the communities. Beekeeping and integrated crop-livestock-forest systems are examples of the sustainable activities being encouraged to meet livelihood needs – the economic side. The project is also designed to generate short-, medium and long-term needs. This is essential in project planning because political leaders, who are the main decision-makers, often mostly care about and invest depending on the short-term political gains or losses of what they do. Communities, on the other hand, are more willing to invest in actions that change their lives for the long haul. URAD’s short term goals were to recover water sources, contain soil erosion, reduce land degradation, mitigate the effects of drought and cut down soil and water pollution. In the medium-term, the productive capacity of the soil would recover, and help Brazil to fulfil its commitment to achieve land degradation neutrality. The conservation of the Caatinga is expected to improve the quality of life for the local people year by year, and reduce forced migration to urban areas. In the long-term term, the communities and their lands, plants, animals and natural resources are expected to adapt or become resilient to climate-change and it’s impacts. Brazil invests in the drylands because the URAD strategy has the potential to transform the reality for thousands of rural communities. With community-owned successes at the core of each intervention, the new model to reverse desertification has every chance to succeed. Learn More: Brazil sets up a novel model to reverse desertification

This is a Call for Content by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification - Capacity Development and Innovations Office (UNCCD-CDIO) for people to show the world the voices of the women. It is part of a new project being developed by the CDIO called “Women and the UNCCD". The UNCCD Secretariat invites women of the world to be part of the project, which aims inter alia to tell the stories of women’s tremendous contributions to the successful implementation of the Convention thus far. Whether you work on a farm, in a village, in a school, at the sub-regional, regional or international levels to help promote the message and implement the actions to Support Sustainable Land Management. You have a story to tell, and lessons to teach. The world is waiting to hear and to learn from you! The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification wants to give a face and a voice to all women who gave their hearts and souls to reverse desertification through the “Women’s Project”. If you are (or know) one of them, send us a video, an artwork, an essay, or audio telling your story! Show us how you work to combat desertification by including a description of yourself, together with a visual representation of your efforts. We look forward to hearing from you. On this year's, International women's day, we are releasing a new website. Check out this latest video by the amazing girls from St Vincent and the Grenadines to know more:   To follow the social media updates using the hashtag #womenandunccd  Eligibility of participants Participation in the Call is FREE! Participation in the Call means an agreement to the Call Rules. All entries must be original works produced by the participant. The UNCCD reserves the right to modify the original video such as, but not limited to include the corporative elements of the UNCCD or modify the length. Submissions must not include any endorsements of products or services, or any obscene, violent, racist, religious intolerance, or defamatory content.  Submission process Send your video to cdioprojects@unccd.int including the title of the video and your name and country. Stay tuned, your video will most likely be shown to the world soon.   Contact:  If participants have any questions or comments or if they need assistance, they should send an email to cdioprojects@unccd.int

‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity' is the theme of UNCCD COP15 to be held from 9-20 May 2022 in Abidjan  Abidjan/Bonn, 9 February 2022 – Côte d’Ivoire has unveiled the logo and announced the theme of a major United Nations conference on the future of land management that the country is hosting from 9 to 20 May 2022 in Abidjan. Releasing the brand for the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP15) 90 days to the start of the in-person event, Mr. Abou Bamba, head of the COP15 Organizing Committee said the theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity', is a call to action to ensure land, the lifeline on this planet, continues to benefit present and future generations. The statements delivered by the speakers at the launch event in Abidjan reflect the host country’s commitment to host a COP with tangible impact, with interactions expected at a Heads of State level, concrete initiatives agreed for women and youth and, for the country, the Abidjan Legacy Programme that will drive job creation and the sustainable development of the economic, social and environment sectors. Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, welcomed the announcement, and said stakes for the global event in Abidjan couldn’t be higher. "Caring for land is more than a conservation issue, it’s an existential one. Ensuring the land stays healthy, productive and available sustains life." — UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw “Caring for land is more than a conservation issue, it’s an existential one. Ensuring the land stays healthy, productive and available sustains life. Recent droughts signal a precarious future world. The food and water shortages, along with the wildfires caused by severe drought we have seen since 2015, have occurred in places or on a scale never witnessed before,” Thiaw said. “COP15 is a pivotal moment to rally and unite the world around the vision of a land-degradation neutral world. In this vision, natural land is preserved, degrading land is recovered and put to sustainable use, and ecosystems and biodiversity are made resilient to the coming effects of climate change. The window for reversing climate-related and other human-induced threats is closing rapidly,” Thiaw cautioned. About 70 percent of all ice-free land has been altered globally. Two billion hectares of land are degraded, according to World Resources Institute. The international community has pledged to restore one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030, according to the Global Potential for Land Restoration: Scenarios for the Global Land Outlook 2, with half of the global commitments made by Parties to the Convention. COP15 is expected to agree on actions to increase investment for land restoration and tackle the growing impacts of drought. UNCCD conferences of the parties are held every two years. COP14 was held in New Delhi, India, in September 2019. COP15 was re-scheduled from late 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Convention is the global voice for land helping to rally commitments for sustainable land and water management worldwide for a resilient future, with healthy land as a solid foundation for all life. It is ratified by 197 countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, which did so in 1997. Read more: UNCCD COP15 Land Degradation Neutrality Role of land in COVID response  

UN Secretary-General António Guterres re-appointed Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania to head the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for another three-year term

The Great Green Wall is a symbol of hope in the face of one of the biggest challenges of our time – desertification. Launched in 2007 by the African Union, this game-changing African-led initiative aims to restore Africa’s degraded landscapes and transform millions of lives in one of the world’s poorest regions, the Sahel. Once complete, the Wall will be the largest living structure on the planet – an 8,000 km natural wonder of the world stretching across the entire width of the continent.

Women and climate is the focus of a new charitable non-fungible token (NFT) art drop, launched 21 January on the margins of the World Economic Forum’s digital edition of Davos. It will land on the pioneering marketplace SuperRare, featuring digital artwork inspired by the interlinked challenges of gender equality and climate justice.  This carbon-net negative event is a collaboration between the climate tech non-profit Code Green co-founded by  UNCCD Land Ambassador Inna Modja and the World of Women NFT collection that unites female artists to celebrate women’s diversity and power. Inna says she was inspired to create this auction by her experience traveling along the Great Green Wall — an African-led initiative growing an 8000-km green corridor across the continent to improve the lives of millions of women on the frontline of climate change.  "Being from Mali, I have seen with my own eyes that women and girls disproportionately bear the brunt of the global climate emergency. They are the main stewards of natural resources like land, making up 80 per cent of the agricultural workforce. Through absolutely no fault of their own, climate change is destroying their livelihoods and sparking widespread food insecurity, mass migration and conflict. The Great Green Wall is a powerful solution that can help empower women to take charge of their own destinies." — Inna Modja Inna contributed some of her own artwork to the Women and Climate charitable NFT drop that will channel 70 per cent of all proceeds to women-led land restoration solutions along the Great Green Wall. Image: Twin Mamas by Inna Modja Read more: Great Green Wall initiative Land and gender UNCCD Land Ambassadors NFT community supports climate action, sustainably