Patricia Kombo is a young social entrepreneur and a climate activist from Kenya. She studied journalism at Moi University and is known for her tree planting activities, especially her nonprofit PaTree Initiative that planted over 10,000 trees as of 2020. She is actively engaging school students in…
Madam President, Dear Bureau members, It is, as ever, a pleasure to speak to you and work with you, regardless of the distance the pandemic has forced upon us. I hope that everyone is holding up during what has been a long and wearying period for us all. I commend your continued commitment to our…
A statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw After a year in which COVID-19 has swept the world, killing almost three million people – so far – and devastating the global economy, today’s World Health Day is a moment to reflect. This year’s theme of "Building a fairer, healthier world for…
Senegalese singer and UNCCD Land Ambassador Baaba Maal believes that the future of Africa is in the hands of the youth. He is actively supporting the new narrative on the Sahel as the region of opportunities, rich in traditional culture and with a large potential for development in the management of…
Remarks by UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw Your Excellency Chairperson Ambassador Ammo Aziza Baroud, Excellencies Permanent Representatives, Ambassador Fatima Mohamed, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is indeed a real pleasure to address you today in my capacity as the…
Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, has welcomed the Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives that were made public this week. The Initiatives aim, among other things, to restore roughly 240 million hectares of degraded land in Saudi Arabia and…
Statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw All of our planet’s inhabitants – humanity, and all wildlife species – require water to survive. We learn very young that life cannot exist without water. Yet over 2 billion people still lack access to safe water today. This year’s World Water Day…
Statement by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw This year’s International Day of Forests theme of ‘Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being’ emphasizes the role forests must play in building a better, heathier and more equitable world as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic…
Monsieur le Président du CRIC, Monsieur le Vice-Président, Cinq jours de débats en ligne, en raison de 2 heures par jour, n’auront naturellement pas suffi pour remplir pleinement notre mandat de revue de la mise en œuvre de la Convention. La situation est loin d’être idéale. Grâce à votre…
The Group on Earth Observation Land Degradation Neutrality (GEO-LDN) Initiative announced the winner of its international technology innovation competition on the development of tools to support land use planning for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). The team that presented the “LUP4LDN”(Land Use…
Remarks by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw Welcome to the nineteenth session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention. This is a unique session, for reasons that we would have preferred to avoid. This is the first session of the UNCCD to be held online. The…
UN TV webcast The nineteenth session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 19) to the UNCCD will be conducted online from Monday, 15 March to Friday, 19 March 2021. The five daily online meetings will last for two hours from 12:30 – 2:30 pm Central European…
At least 90 countries have already set voluntary national targets to restore more than 450 million hectares of land under UNCCD – the largest global restoration initiative and a significant milestone for the Convention. But where is the land that is being restored? How many people will benefit from…
Statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw This year International Women’s Day celebrates the theme ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’. After a year of unprecedented impacts from the pandemic, it’s clear that women globally have been disproportionately…
UNCCD relies on the input of expert women in implementing its mandate. In particular, the members of our Science-Policy interface (SPI), which guides the application of world-leading science into meaningful and impactful policy that we, our Parties, and our partners can use on the ground. The SPI…
This year World Wildlife Day celebrates the theme ‘Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet’. Currently, up to 350 million people live within or close by forests, including some of our most ecologically diverse ecosystems.
Inna Modja is a Malian actress and singer who topped the charts across continents. She has appeared in the Great Green Wall documentary, making an extraordinary journey along this new world wonder. Inna actively engaged with communities involved in the visionary initiative and later said that during…
Updated just in time for CRIC19, the UNCCD conference will be indispensable to the participants of the first-ever fully virtual gathering of the convention Parties in March.
In this corner of the UNCCD, I will occasionally share my thoughts and highlight significant developments of interest to our readers and stakeholders. As with most international organizations, COVID-19 impacted our work. But I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction and that now is…
Ricky Kej is known internationally as a music composer, No.1 artist on the US Billboard chart and a Grammy Award winner. Committed to creating awareness on environmental and social causes, he composed UNCCD Land Anthem that showcases his strong dedication to music as a powerful catalyst that moves…
