News & stories

On 12 April the Team of the Capacity Building Marketplace (CBM) visited the high school students of the CJD Christophorusschule in Königswinter, Germany. The main purpose of this visit was to raise awareness about the importance of engaging the youth in sustainable development and the value of the land to our lives. The multinational/multicultural CBM Team comprising Anna Berecz (Hungary), Lina Pérez (Colombia), Jorge Sanz (Spain), Raissa Tadia (Cameroon) and Ines Belhous (France) engaged around 80 students between the ages of 15 and 18 on several issues including the importance of proper land management, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the work being done under the Convention, and the opportunities that  the Marketplace offers, such as scholarships, university programs, vacancies, and much more. They also demonstrated through video and stories of personal experiences what it means to be an intern at the UNCCD, and doing daily work at the Marketplace.

Brazil has committed US$100 million dollars raised from domestic environmental fines to finance activities to reverse land degradation in an initiative known as the URAD model that combines social inclusion, local development and environmental sustainability. The results are amazing, with activities being completed well ahead of schedule and behaviour change in the communities evident long before reaping the expected long-term fruits.