2019: a year in review

UNCCD presents some of this year's milestones, which have become a reality thanks to the continued cooperation and unwavering support of the UNCCD family and stakeholders:

• 25 anniversary of UNCCD was celebrated this year
• 123 countries are now part of the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme
• 84 countries have established their voluntary LDN targets
• 67 countries had mapped ideas for transformative LDN projects and programmes
• 26 more countries joined the Drought Initiative this year, raising the total number of participating countries to 72, out of which 35 have completed their national drought plans
• Land degradation indicator 15.3.1 has achieved the highest status in the SDG indicator framework
• COP14 was the main UNCCD media event of 2019, with over 2 000 articles published in over 60 countries and the global audience of over 1.4 billion people reached
• Nearly 6 000 participants took part in UNCCD COP14 with 10 days of meetings, 11 high-level, 30 committee and over 170 stakeholder meetings, 44 exhibitions and 126 side events 
• The number of visitors to the COP14 page was twice as much as for any previous COP, with 20 000 views per week
• 1 400 attendees used the conference app during COP14 
• The Drought ToolBox has been launched, with Pillar I "Drought Monitoring" covering all countries under the Drought Initiative
• Drought vulnerability indicator became a part of UNCCD reporting process, to help countries build better disaster preparedness and response that best fits their needs
• 64 countries reported their World Day to Combat Desertification events, and 3 000 people attended the global observance event in Türkiye
• First UNCCD Capacity Building Training Fair in Guyana attracted more than 300 participants from more than 110 countries as well as over 30 NGOs
• 12 000 new opportunities have been shared through the UNCCD online Capacity Building Marketplace
• UNCCD published 22 new titles this year, including 4 regional Global Land Outlook reports and 3 UNCCD Science-Policy Interface reports
• More than 12 200 people watched Sadhguru and Ibrahim Thaw Twitter Live discussion on how land users, governments and the civil society can collaborate to promote sustainable land management
• Almost 20 000 people joined us on social media in 2019, four times more than the previous year