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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
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…
Help us improve your future experience with UNCCD website by participating in this short survey! We would love to know more about your expectations and needs, and at the same time, identify problems that might affect your user experience. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes and your responses…
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.
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…
