Statements

Excellencies, dear Friends,   It is a pleasure for me to address you today from the headquarters of the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.  Let me begin by expressing my recognition to the Russian Federation for hosting this event. The Nevsky Congress is a clear testimony of the paramount importance of the environmental agenda.   No corner of the globe is immune from the devastating consequences of climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and drought.   Sea levels are rising, oceans are acidifying, the Arctic is melting, forests are burning, weather extremes are intensifying.   Droughts hit everywhere and with more intensity.   Rising temperatures are fuelling environmental degradation and economic deterioration.  Therefore, the theme of today´s meeting “Ecology: a right, not a privilege” couldn’t be more relevant.   We cannot afford to take today´ situation for granted.   Resolute and concerted actions are needed for the sake of present and future generations;   for their right to a decent life and environment.   However, all rights go hand in hand with responsibilities.   And our collective responsibility is to think about our Planet and to take care of the land which belongs to us all.  Without urgent action on how we use and steward our land, we cannot aspire to sustainable development for all.   Land generates the food we eat. Land produces the fibre necessary to our clothing. The water we drink is coming from terrestrial ecosystems.   The quality of the air we breathe also partly depends on the health of our land.   Therefore, I would like to call upon all the participants here today to think about land restoration as a powerful and cost-effective sustainable development tool.   Investing in large-scale land restoration to build resilience to drought, combat soil erosion, and loss of agricultural production is a win-win solution for everybody:   for the environment, for the climate, for the economy, and for the livelihoods of local communities.   Sustainable agriculture and nature-based solutions are a smart way to increase food production, stabilize climate, create employment, and wealth and prosperity.   These challenges are of importance to all.   Ladies and gentlemen,  Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.   2024 is also the year of COP16 of the Convention, which will be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.   The UN Convention to Combat Desertification is the only legally binding global treaty set up to address land degradation and the effects of drought.   Next year’s Nevsky International Congress may therefore be a good platform to discuss these issues. Sharing and enhancing knowledge on drought resilience, sustainable land management and restoration is key to improving land and livelihoods.   UNCCD stands ready to provide it’s support.   I wish you a successful and fruitful meeting and a productive discussion.  Spasíbo. Thank you very much for your attention!

On International Biodiversity Day, we stand at a pivotal moment. We are at a point where we have the power to strengthen life on Earth, or let it decline. The theme "From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity" is challenging us to turn our commitments into tangible actions. The natural world is a magnificent tapestry. A grand masterpiece painted with a palette of countless species, and ecosystems. Nature is the source of our existence. Nature, including Land, provides us with the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the medicine that heals. But this complex symphony of life stands on a precipice. Changes in how we use land are predicted to have the most devastating impact on biodiversity by 2100. Consider this: although land covers less than 30 per cent of the Earth's surface, it is home to a staggering 85 per cent of all species. These lands support a rich variety of ecosystems that provide essential goods and services that sustain life on our planet. Yet the threads of this tapestry are fraying. If we continue on our current path, the cheerful songs of birds or the buzzing of bees may become sounds of distant past. The peaceful sight of a lush grassland or a healthy wetland may be relegated to a souvenir. These trends are not only leading to the loss of biodiversity, but they are also exacerbating climate change. Today we are called to action. We must harness the power of synergy, a power where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Synergies, like the harmony of a finely tuned orchestra, exist where commitments intersect under binding multilateral agreements and voluntary commitments. Here, at the nexus of land governance, management, and restoration, we find a melody that can restore balance. The crises of land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change are interconnected, and their effects are felt in our societies, ecosystems, and economies. The path to harmony lies in conserving, managing, and restoring our ecosystems and land resources. That’s where we can strike the right notes for the healthier planet. The Rio Conventions alongside the Sustainable Development Goals, form a symphony of resilience and sustainability. Harnessing synergies requires an orchestra in harmony. We need to integrate these agreements into our national plans, harmonizing our actions for a better future. With the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework in late 2022, we have a roadmap for a harmonious future. In support of this Framework, the UNCCD released a Synergy Brief on this year's Biodiversity Day, 22 May. So far, concerted action has been insufficient to address the interlinked biodiversity loss and land degradation crises, the brief suggests. Preventing the degradation of ecosystems and rehabilitating or restoring degraded land and soil are cost-effective responses that can safeguard biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods, while reducing the growing environmental risks to our societies, economies, and the natural world. So, on this International Biodiversity Day 2023, let us rise to the challenge. Together, we can turn the silence of biodiversity loss into a symphony of life. A symphony that will echo through the ages. Thank you!

  Dear SPI Co-chairs, Members, Observers, and Early Career Fellows of the SPI, Dear Colleagues, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you who have ventured from near and far to join us at the UN Campus in Bonn, and to some that have joined online. It is not only the distances involved. It is your time. Your effort. Your commitment. I cannot begin to tell you how much that means to this Convention.  But I can assure you that every minute of your time and effort makes a difference. And the need could not be greater. Among other things, you are all working on an analysis of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report contributions on climate change adaptation and mitigation with respect to UNCCD priorities. From this you will know that the IPCC concluded that:  “…the pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are simply insufficient. This is why the choices made in the next few years will play a critical role in deciding our future and that of generations to come. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future. If land is part of the climate change solution – and the past work of the SPI and the IPCC make it very clear it must be – we therefore need to provide our Parties the policy options necessary to make it so. And indeed, these should be policy options that are firmly grounded in science. The urgency I am trying to convey does not stop with your IPCC AR6 analysis. Both of your scientific assessment objectives address critical bottlenecks. The first is guidance on pursuing Sustainable Land Use Systems. This will help our Parties optimize what they do where, with the aim of navigating the trade-offs among competing demands for land and achieving multiple benefits. The second is understanding aridity trends, projections and impacts. This will help Parties plan for a future where even more land and even more people may well be impacted by desertification and drought. Responding to the COP mandate for the SPI will require more urgency among all of you. With such tight timelines for delivering the work programme for the biennium 2022 to 2024, it may well require doing things differently. Doing things differently does not come easy for anyone, particularly after years of experience. Which is why I am so encouraged to see new and younger faces among the more senior scientists in the room! It’s going to be a two-way beneficial process – they will learn so much from the rest of you. And you, the experienced scientists will also benefit from new perspectives and fresh ideas. Bear in mind the IPCC focused on ensuring a liveable planet. Those of us closer to my age will not experience the worst of the projections. But all of us have children or other relatives who most certainly will. Which is why the perspectives of the younger generations must figure into our calculus and actions. It is also why I thought you might like to know the views of Ijad Madisch, one of Germany’s most innovative and influential young scientists on “the need to move fast and break things”. You may know him as the founder and CEO of ResearchGate, a tool many of you use to track scientific output and impact, or to network with other scientists. Two things you may not know: First, he is a Syrian refugee who has lived what far too many more will experience in the coming years. And, secondly, after a telephone request from then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he joined the 10-member Digital Council of the Cabinet of Germany. At 38 years of age. Part of the reason Chancellor Merkel chose him was an Op Ed he wrote for the Scientific American calling for a revolution in scientific transparency and accessibility he dubbed the “Science in Real Time; For a Move Fast, Break Things and Talk about It Mentality”. You will be here for the next three intense days. Debating, drafting and redrafting. With your sleeves rolled up, I urge you to move fast, break things and talk about it.  I urge you to make things happen in your work with a sense of urgency that will ultimately influence policy makers to take bold, necessary and evidence-based action. To get there on such tight timelines, you may wish to consider Ijad’s suggestion that you find a way to share your results, methods, questions, failures and everything in between as early as you can. Perhaps through some form of preprint that can lead to greater insights before things are finalized. As Ijad argues, whether or not it is right early on in the process is not the issue. Rather, failures are discoveries in disguise. Looking at everything that hasn’t worked will inevitably eventually lead to something that does. And maybe something far more relevant to policy makers since the feedback you may receive will become part of the results you obtain. In the domain of high tech start-ups, they say “Fail, and fail fast”. Failure is not a risk to be avoided. It is the basis for disruptive progress that could move your work from confirmational science to something that helps drive much needed change in the world. But this will only happen if you consider this work as a vital part of the solution, working with the same sense of urgency that the IPCC has requested of all of us. With this, I thank you again for stepping up to help us all bridge science and policy. And I wish you a disruptive but productive week! Thank you

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to this non-statutory meeting of the Great Green Wall. And thank you for joining.  Friends,  The Great Green Wall is arguably one of the most inspiring Land Restoration Program in the world. By its ambition, its size, its institutional set up with a dedicated  Heads of State Summit, Ministerial Conference and Agencies (national and regional). It is politically endorsed by the continental body and is therefore institutionally hooked to the African Union. The political support it has makes it unique and inspiring. Even more inspiring when one thinks that in the Sahara and the Sahel, we have one of the harshest ecological conditions, coupled with a very challenging socio-political and security situation. This makes it even more compelling. A new departure was given in 2021, at the One Planet Summit in Paris, with USD 19 Billion pledged by donors and technical support offered by Partners. This meeting will be an opportunity for us to get some updates as to what has worked; and what has not; what needs to be fixed? Both Governments, Donor Agencies and Partners? It is refreshing to know that much progress has already been made, while we still have a long way to go to achieve our ambitions. We will hear more in a short while from different speakers. It is equally encouraging to see, despite all the constructive criticism, that the Great GreenWall is inspiring action in other parts of Africa, and elsewhere in the world. The Southern Africa region (SADC) is busy preparing a similar program The Middle East Green Initiative (which also covers parts of Africa) has already received its first funding of USD 2.5 B from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia An Eastern Africa corridor may be developed soon Other similar initiatives under the umbrella of the African Union’s NEPAD are also ongoing such as the AFR100, which we salute It seems the movement of large-scale land restoration is unstoppable, as these provide multiple benefits and respond to various Sustainable Development Goals. Before I go any further, let me recognize few leaders that are in the room and give them the floor for their opening remarks and their blessings: To officially open the meeting, please welcome the Nigerian rotating Presidency of the Great GreenWall. We have the honor of welcoming Minister Mohammed H. Abdullahi, Chair of the Council of Ministers of the Great GreenWall. We are also honored to have with us Her Excellency Ms. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy, and Agriculture of the AU Commission Ms. Inger Andersen J’aimerai maintenant partager avec vous quelques avis et recommandations générales qui découlent de nos observations et de nos interactions avec tous les acteurs au cours de deux dernières années. Ces commentaires n’altèrent en rien l’authenticité et la pertinence du programme de la Grande Muraille Verte, bien au contraire. 1.   Financement : sur les USD 19 milliards annoncés il y a deux ans lors du One Planet Summit à Paris, 80% des fonds sont déjà programmés, répartis en 150 projets dans le pipeline. 4 milliards restent encore à programmer. Nous notons cependant un déphasage entre les attentes des acteurs nationaux de la Grande Muraille Verte et cette première liste de projets. En effet, la majorité de ces projets étaient déjà planifiés avant le One Planet Summit; par ailleurs, certains de ces projets ne sont pas situés dans les zones d’intervention prioritaires de la Grande Muraille Verte. Ce déphasage peut être corrigé s’il y a une meilleure coordination au niveau national par les ministères chargés de l’ordonnancement. C’est à cet effet que nous saluons la présence parmi nous de ministres de l’Economie. Nous saluons aussi la mise en place dans beaucoup de pays, de coalitions nationales, qui sont des structures intersectorielles de coordination. La coordination doit idéalement se faire depuis l’amont, c’est-à-dire la planification, et doit bien entendu se poursuivre au moment de la mise en œuvre. Par ailleurs, plusieurs agences nationales de la Grande Muraille Verte expriment leur volonté d’être mieux impliqués dans la mise en œuvre des projets portant le label de la Grande Muraille Verte afin de jouer leur rôle de coordination et de suivi, afin d’être en mesure de rendre compte à leurs autorités nationales. Il serait intéressant d’avoir des opinions sur ces questions et surtout de clarifier, dans chaque pays, les procédures de planification et d’exécution des projets. Les structures gouvernementales officielles, adéquatement recalibrés, doivent être aux commandes. 2.  Renforcement des institutions : Tout en saluant encore une fois la volonté politique à haut niveau, nous recommandons fortement que les institutions de mise en œuvre et de suivi de la Grande Muraille Verte soient revues et renforcés. Dans la plupart des pays, les structures nationales de la Grande Muraille Verte -tout comme l’Agence régionale- manquent de personnels suffisant en qualification et en nombre, pour pleinement jouer leur rôle de planification, de développement, de suivi-évaluation et de coordination d’un programme d’une telle ampleur et d’une telle complexité. Nous encourageons les gouvernements et l’Agence panafricaine à exécuter la décision, prise en 2021, du Conseil des Ministres de la Grande Muraille Verte. La décision commandite un audit institutionnel de la Grande Muraille Verte, pour adapter les anciennes structures (régionale et nationales) à la nouvelle configuration post-One Planet Summit. Nous encourageons également les partenaires techniques et financiers à accompagner ce processus de renforcement institutionnel, condition essentielle pour la réussite de cet ambitieux programme. 3.  Prochaines étapes : La préparation de la prochaine phase de la Grande Muraille Verte doit démarrer incessamment, pour assurer une continuité après 2025. Le budget total estimé de la Grande Muraille Verte à 2030 était de 33 milliards de dollars. Pour atteindre cet objectif, il serait judicieux de : (i) tirer des leçons de la phase actuelle (ii) procéder à la préparation de la prochaine phase et développer des projets bankables. Un tel exercice nécessite un effort conséquent dans chaque pays, mais aussi au niveau régional. Merci  

It is easy for some to think that water simply comes from the tap, but this limited perspective fails to acknowledge the vital ecosystems from which our water comes. When rivers run dry or become polluted, when groundwater is over-exploited, and when ecosystems are degraded, it is only then that we begin to understand the true value of water.   As we mark World Water Day 2023, we are reminded of the indispensable role water plays in the lives of all living things on our planet. The urgent need for collective action to address the global water and sanitation crisis is reflected in this year's theme, Accelerating Change.   Despite an ambitious commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, billions of people still lack access to safe water and sanitation. This situation is only going to get worse as we are looking to a hotter, drier future. A future where global demand for freshwater will outstrip supply by 40% by the end of this decade. A future where droughts—driven by climate change but also land degradation—will strike more often and hit even harder.  These problems do not discriminate. They affect countries and regions across all continents, from China to Chad, from Spain to Chile, from Australia to California here in the United States.  Healthy land is critical as we face a future of increasing weather extremes and human pressure. Through sustainable land management we can restore ecosystems, boost drought resilience and safeguard water resources for future generations.   The UN Water Conference that starts today is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set an ambitious Water Action Agenda. One that can foster a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous future by recognizing the interconnectedness of water, land, climate and nature.  On World Water Day 2023, we reaffirm our steadfast commitment to accelerate change and address the water and sanitation crisis that impacts every aspect of our lives. We call on governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals around the world to join forces, share knowledge, and accelerate change to ensure safe water and sanitation for all.  

Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me first join previous speakers to express, on behalf of the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Land degradation and Drought (UNCCD), our deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Government of the State of Qatar for hosting the fifth UN Conference on Least Developed countries. The world over, we are seeing common challenges. Widespread land degradation. Biodiversity in decline. Natural disasters and extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change. Everyone is starting to feel the sting, but there is no doubt that the 46 least-developed countries (LDCs) have been facing these challenges for far longer and at a far-greater intensity. Such events have a disproportionate impact on LDCs in terms of economic losses, deaths, disrupted livelihoods and damage to infrastructure. About a quarter of people in LDCs live on severely degraded lands. Over 34 per cent of crop and livestock production loss in LDCs is traced to drought. This cost to agriculture? USD 37 billion between 2008 and 2018.  There are many ways that LDCs, with the support of the international community, can act. Today, I will focus on the critical role of the land: specifically, land restoration, drought resilience and agriculture that build on sustainable land management. Land restoration, sustainable agriculture and nature-based solutions are a smart investment, for many reasons. They create jobs quickly: on average, between 7 and 40 jobs per US$1 million invested. Planting trees or restoring floodplains, for example, are labour-intensive tasks that are well suited to public employment programs.  Such employment options are important for LDCs, in which the youth population is expected to rise to 300 million by 2050, almost double 2010 figures. Land restoration, sustainable agriculture and nature-based solutions can reach other segments of the labour market. For instance, thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises are active in forest and land restoration efforts. They could contribute to job creation and economic growth, if supported. Encouragingly, we are seeing a growing movement for healthy land. Farmers and herders using sustainable land management practices are minimizing degradation, increasing drought resilience, and nursing degraded land back to health. There are many examples. More than five million hectares have been restored in Niger’s Zinder province, boosting food security for more than 2.5 million people.  Malawi is dedicating 1.5 per cent of its domestic budget to its Youth Forest Restoration Program, employing thousands of young people to revitalize 50,000 hectares of land. In Ethiopia, large-scale land restoration of degraded watersheds over five years saw gross primary production in treated locations grew by 13.5 per cent on average in areas affected by severe droughts. A major limiting factor to wider action is domestic budgetary resources. So, we need bilateral and multilateral donors to step in. There are many ways to do this. For example, countries and donor institutions can explore opportunities linking debt forgiveness to investments in land restoration and other nature-based solutions. Backing healthy land in LDCs is a win-win solution. Employment creation would reduce poverty: building markets for products from developed countries and reducing forced migration. Increasing food production through sustainable land management in LDCs would enhance stability in the global food market. Sustainable land-use practices can also capture carbon, helping to stabilize the climate. Mr. President, distinguished delegates, Yes, LDCs are facing challenges. But LDCs, with the appropriate international support, can use their land, their biodiversity and their natural resources to overcome these challenges. To become thriving nature-positive economies. And to ensure that their people are healthy, happy and prosperous. Should LDCs prioritize their investments in restoring their degraded lands, in enhancing their resilience to droughts, when they meet at LDC6 in a decade, poverty and hunger will have substantially decreased, decent land-based jobs and exportation of agriculture produce will have thrived. This can accelerate the pace of transitioning from the LDCs to middle income group of countries. Thank you.

1 March 2023, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire It is a pleasure to be back in the wonderful city of Abidjan, at the kind invitation of our President. I have always enjoyed visiting Abidjan, but this visit has a special significance, as it is the first since our memorable COP15. So there is now in my calendar a pre-CoP15 and a post-CoP15. Much progress has been made since we last met in Bonn (in October). I would say that our beating of the “drought and land restoration” drums seem to be bearing fruit. This is good news as we certainly need to do much more, at scale. Indeed, despite our past efforts, more land is being degraded, more rivers drying up, more wetlands and more forests destroyed. Simply put, the additional demand on natural resources imposed by our lifestyle is not commensurate with the capacity of our planet to regenerate itself. Our relative prosperity (if ever the extraordinary inequality in the world allows us to use the word prosperity) our prosperity, I said, is nothing but an ecological illusion. Land, water, ecosystems and natural environments are all showing signs of weakness, if not collapse. Never - since the industrial revolution - has the world been hit by such strong and violent gusts of drought (often followed by floods). Never have we destroyed as many forests, degraded as much fertile land or extracted as much water for our agricultural, industrial or basic human needs. On the positive side, we have never had access to so much science and knowledge about how to reduce the pressure on resources; how to live better in harmony with nature; how to ration water use for irrigation; how to regenerate soils and promote more respectful practices. It is in this way that the decisions adopted by our COPs serve as political reference; as a gauge of the willingness of the Parties to contribute to solutions; of the political will of the Parties to collaborate to mitigate the effects of land degradation and drought.  It is also in this regard that we appreciate the decisions of the Group of 20 richest countries in the world to engage in land restoration, in collaboration with other interested Nations. We see this as an expression of political will. The first meeting of the Steering Committee of the G20 Land Restoration Initiative held in Saudi Arabia, is a clear signal of proactive cooperation in this area.  At the recent COP of the Climate Change Convention in Egypt, the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA) was created! Spurred on by the President of the Republic of Senegal and The Prime Minister of Spain, IDRA is a high-level global alliance, to promote international cooperation and collaboration to mitigate the effects of drought. The first meeting of the Alliance's Steering Committee is scheduled to take place in a few days in New York. The International Drought resilience Alliance, which brings together more than 30 countries, Development Banks and financial mechanisms, UN entities, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. IDRA signals world leaders’ commitment to making drought resilience a priority in national development and cooperation policy. It is a partnership to address the increased centrality of the land and drought agendas in the global multilateral agenda. It responds to your calls at COP15 that we need to shift from reactive to preventive – so it will help transition quickly from the current emergency response to build drought resilience.  Very much in line with this, and as decided by our COP15, the Inter-Governmental Working Group on Drought had its first meeting also in November of last year; a second meeting is scheduled for 13 and 14 March in Yerevan – with many thanks to Armenia for hosting this important meeting.  But several other important UNCCD processes have kick started since we last met. The Science Policy Interface held its first meeting this past December. The Midterm evaluation of the UNCCD Strategic Framework is underway. Its own Intergovernmental working group met from 13-15 February to agree on the set-up for this comprehensive review of the progress made since 2018. Another positive development to note is the National Reporting. A total of 115 UNCCD Parties (the vast majority) have already submitted their national reports. The team is busy compiling the data in time for the next session of the Committee of Review of Implementation. The next CRIC session, scheduled to take place in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in October, will consider the results of these reports.  Now turning to the Global Mechanism, COP 15 requested that the Global Mechanism develop a methodology and conduct a needs assessment to determine the financial requirements for the implementation of the Convention and develop a time-bound strategy to increase fund mobilization based on this needs assessment. We are pleased to report that the methodology will be tested and show-cased at CRIC with results made available at COP 16. Progress was also made on the LDN TSP 2.0 – your plan to improve LDN targets (to ensure they are more quantitative, specific, policy-coherent, linked to the integrated land use planning and gender responsiveness).  Now let me turn to external developments which are helping boost our agenda. As you know, COP15 the Convention on Biological Diversity took place in December in Montreal, where Parties adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to galvanize halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Of particular relevance to UNCCD is the Goal which makes explicit reference to land restoration. Notably the ambition to achieve at least 30% of restoration of degraded areas by 2030. This is a good complement to the various land restoration projects across the world, including the Great Green Wall of the Sahel, the Middle East Green Initiative, the Dry Corridor of Latin America, the AFR100 in Africa to name just a few.  Which brings me to The G20 Global Land Restoration Initiative. The Coordination office is now fully staffed. The Steering Committee (made up of G20 representatives, UNEP and FAO) held its first meeting in November in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and discussed the Initiative Strategy as well as the terms of Reference for the Committee.  Now allow me to be a bit more forward looking. I recently returned from a trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who will graciously host UNCD COP 16. You will have received a more detailed briefing in writing on the status of the organization of COP16, so I just wanted to stress how engaged our future host country is in receiving us in 2024. I am sure our Bureau member from Saudi Arabia will elaborate more on this. On my part, I came back from Riyadh convinced that we will have a great COP 16.  I look forward to your deliberations and guidance on the different items of the draft agenda in front of you. Thank you.   

I grew up thinking that wetlands can only be used for livelihoods. I caught fish, practiced recession agriculture and collected firewood and herbs from floodplains. Wetlands were also part of my playground. As a professional, I took part in a Ramsar COP in Canada, which exposed me to the idea of wetlands being drained and misused for human activities. The concept of wise use of wetlands was born as a compromise and a bridge between the need to make use of this essential resource for millions and the absolute necessity of protecting these vital ecosystems. Wetlands are sometimes called “nature's kidneys” because of how critical they are for the overall health of our planet. Wetlands in drylands have the double characteristic of being critically important for life and being extremely vulnerable. Indeed, drylands, experience prolonged periods of drought and water scarcity. As such, they are being critically threatened by human activities and environmental change. Celebrated this year under the theme “iIt's time for wetland restoration,” World Wetlands Day is particularly appealing to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. We must invest in wetland restoration and regeneration. This requires a concerted effort from governments, civil society, and the private sector. Invest in science and technology for innovation, infrastructure for effective management, and financial mechanisms to support wetland restoration. We must protect and manage wetlands in a way that considers the needs of local communities and the rights of Indigenous peoples. We must remember that wetlands are not just important for us, but they are part of our shared heritage. They are a source of beauty and wonder and they are a reminder of our interconnectedness with nature. They are the main source of livelihoods for millions around the world. We at UNCCD are proud to join in this celebration and recognize the unique and valuable ecosystem services provided by wetlands. We are committed to doing our part to conserve and protect wetlands, and we are calling on all of you to join us in this vital cause. On this World Wetlands Day, let us come together in a unified voice to revive and restore these essential habitats. Together, we can make a difference.

Since 2016, the Ankara Initiative has supported the UNCCD and its parties in building capacities and deepening their knowledge to successfully promote land restoration worldwide as an important solution to multiple challenges. 

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) welcomes the landmark agreement reached by countries this week to save the diversity of life on our planet.