Parliamentarians from Iceland visit UNCCD offices in New York

New York, USA – The delegates from the parliament of Iceland visited the UNCCD New York Liaison office on 24 October 2018 to discuss the work of the convention and the role of land restoration in achieving Iceland’s recent decision to go carbon neutral by 2040.  

Speaking to the delegates, the Chief of UNCCD office in New York Mr. Melchiade Bukuru presented the major highlights in the evolution of the convention, including the adoption of the global target 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) into the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Iceland, as the co-chair of the Group of Friends of UNCCD, has been instrumental in reaching this milestone. In his briefing, Mr. Bukuru also emphasized that UN General Assembly has recently recognized LDN as an accelerator for the achievement of other SDGs, such as eradication of poverty, gender empowerment, food security, elimination of hunger and improvement in health. The briefing also included an overview of the LDN Fund – the first public-private partnership established to support the achievement of LDN.

The follow-up discussions included Iceland's experience in combating land degradation, the essential role that enabling legislation can play in achieving LDN, the multiple benefits of reversing land degradation for the conservation of biodiversity and the advancement of the Paris Agreement, success stories in land restoration from  Niger and China  and the linkages between land degradation and forced migration.

The UNCCD and Iceland have a successful history of cooperation on the issues of desertification, land degradation and drought. Recently, the convention was invited to give a presentation on LDN as a framework for optimizing eco-restoration in the era of climate change at SERE Europe 2018 conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Read more:

• Achieving land degradation neutrality
• Iceland launches new climate strategy

In the photo (left to right): Mr. Melchiade Bukuru, Ms. Líneik Anna Sævarsdóttir, Mr. Logi Már Einarsson, Mr. Brynjar Níelsson, Ms. Bjarkey Gunnarsdóttir, Ms. Nandhini Iyer Krishna.