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…
The first webinar on land-based jobs for youth was held successfully in November last year. Experts shared practical knowledge to help young people to overcome key obstacles to creating their own jobs. More specifically, they talked about building self-confidence and generating creative ideas. Due…
January 2021 marked a grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, with over two million people dead. Since the new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged on the global stage in early 2020, an historical and unprecedented effort has been deployed to quell this global health crisis. As we settle into…
This week we celebrate women and girls in science. Meet Alondra Jazmín Fraustro Cardiel, a young scientist from Mexico who with her team won our UNCCD Land Heroes Award for community environmental education. Their project Ciencia Mágica created a Family Garden Kit to promote the growth of…
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UNCCD secretariat are organizing a round table discussion on “Good land governance and land degradation neutrality” in the margins of the Second Arab Land Conference on 22 February 2021 from 12:30 to 14:00 (UTC/GMT+2). The round table will bring…
This year's Desertification and Drought Day theme has been announced. "Land restoration can contribute greatly to post-COVID19 economic recovery. Investing in land restoration creates jobs and generates economic benefits, and could provide livelihoods at a time when hundreds of millions of jobs are…
This year UNCCD Science-Policy Interface member Dr. Rattan Lal has received the prestigious civilian Padma Shri Award from the Indian government for his revolutionary research in the field of soil science, which helped millions of smallholder farmers produce larger yields while taking better care of…
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To celebrate the World Wetlands Day and to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, UNCCD has joined other international organizations for a virtual panel discussion "Wetlands: Securing fresh water for all" on 2 February 2021.
Statement by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw Arabic | Chinese | French | Russian | Spanish Joseph Biden Jr., President of the United States, issued an Executive Order yesterday outlining the bold steps his administration will take to tackle the climate crisis at home and throughout…
Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Ibrahim Thiaw welcomes the announcement that the Government of Canada is set to invest up to 55 million Canadian dollars in the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund. The Fund supports private sector projects in developing countries…
En français Dear friends, 2021 must be the year to reconcile humanity with nature. Until now, we have been destroying our planet. We have been abusing it as if we had a spare one. Our current resource use requires almost two planets but we only have one. If we compare Earth’s history to a calendar…
The ambitious Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative has received at least 14.326 billion United States Dollars in new funding. The funding will fast track efforts to restore degrading land, save biological diversity as well as create green jobs and build resilience of the Sahelian…
Biodiversity is our life insurance, but it is under threat. The COVID19 crisis has dramatically changed our lives; and it has also brought to the forefront the crucial need to better preserve biodiversity. Our lives and economies rely on nature. France, together with the United Nations and the World…