Three conventions, one planet: making the case for nature and people at COP24

Katowice, Poland – UNCCD has joined other Rio conventions in the margins of the ongoing Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP24) to foster the alignment of the three conventions that tackle similar problems, have similar goals and operate in the same ecosystems.

Addressing the audience, the UNCCD lead scientist Dr. Barron Joseph Orr emphasized that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) cannot succeed if taken individually, because they all make demands on the same land resources, with inevitable tradeoffs. Instead of managing these tradeoffs in the global way, they need to be managed where the decisions are made – on the land. For that, countries require a framework that would allow them to optimize land-use decisions, so that they know that they do the best they can for all SDGs. To date, 120 country parties of UNCCD have joined the land degradation neutrality process (LDN). The scientific conceptual framework for LDN developed by the UNCCD is open to considering land-use decisions across sectors as well as across all three Rio conventions. 

Dr. Orr has also introduced the Project Preparation Facility jointly envisioned by all three conventions, so that their goals of fighting land degradation, protecting biodiversity and addressing climate change are linked automatically and supported where decisions are made and projects are designed.

Find out more:

• Video stream of the event
• Synergies between Rio conventions
• UN Heads call for assistance to address linked climate change, biodiversity and desertification threats
• Scientific conceptual framework for LDN
• Achieving LDN
• Land and SDGs