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Private sector involvement in sustainable land management vital to ensuring future of productive lands around the world Changwon, Republic of Korea, 19 October 2011 – Nearly 100 business leaders have declared their support to combat land degradation and restore productive lands during the tenth session of the Conference of the Partiesto the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Over the next 25 years land degradation could reduce global food production by as much as 12 per cent leading to a 30 per cent increase in world food prices. More than 12 million hectares of productive land are lost due to desertification every year. While productive land becomes scarcer, providing food for the 9 billion people predicted to live on Earth in 2050 will require a 70 per cent increase in global food production. With the need growing for a diminishing natural resource, the private sector must be included to ensure protection of productive lands and restoration of degraded lands. "Sustainability is the opportunity for the 21st century,"UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja said at the opening of the forum. "Businesses should be encouraged to adopt a precautionary approach to land management and to move towards 'zero net land degradation.'" The forum gathered representatives from related companies and organisations, including Yuhan-Kimberly, Cargill Korea, Ellion Resources Group and KPMG, to examine the challenges associated with corporate activities on land and soil and to showcase best practices and lessons learned from businesses. Designed as a private-sector-led initiative and voluntary action platform, participants noted that current environmental challenges cannot be solved without dynamic private sector involvement. Participants emphasised the critical role of the business community can play in addressing desertification, land degradation and drought. To catalyse long-term business engagement in land stewardship and to make the forum a lasting body, participants adopted the "Gyeongnam Declaration." The declaration stressed the need to reach a land degradation neutral world. It also contained a set of commitments agreed by the forum's business leaders. "In the declaration all of our thoughts are reflected, and I believe this declaration embodies our spirit," Kook-Hyun Moon, President of the New Paradigm Institute, said. "Soil and the body is not two but one. Soil is the soul of the land and with the soil the land will be useless in the same way that without the soul the body will be useless". The Gyeongnam Declaration is based in five main pillars: raising awareness within the private sector on the importance of land and the problems of desertification, land degradation and drought; promoting an effective public-private corporation to combat desertification; working together with governments to integrate the advanced technologies and creativity of business community and civil society in decision-making; Involving the universities and academia in the development of schemes that promote innovative business ventures aiming at sustainable land management;and encouraging the governments to develop new policies and incentives related to sustainable land management. The forum, which took place from 17-18 October, was organized by Korea Forest Service of the Republic of Korea, the New Paradigm Institute and UNCCD. About the UNCCD Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Established in 1994, UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment, development and the promotion of healthy soils. The Convention's 194 signatory Parties work to alleviate poverty in the drylands, maintain and restore the land's productivity, and mitigate the effects of drought. For more information, please visit http://www.unccd.int/cop/cop10/menu.php Or contact Mr. Marcos Montoiro, tel: +49 228 8152826, email: mmontoiro@unccd.int Mr. Kook-Hyun Moon, tel: +822 2646 2001, email: moonkhorea@yahoo.co.kr

Changwon City, Republic of Korea, 18 October 2011 – They are marginal and marginalized. There are one billion of them and they struggle to subsist in the world's drylands. They are the poor the world forgot. Initially unveiled for consultation last year, the UNCCD/UNDP report, "The Forgotten Billion: MDG Achievement in the Drylands," was formally launched today at the UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP 10) where leaders, scientists, civil society organizations and others are striving to reach agreements to combat desertification, land degradation and drought. Drylands cover tracts of land encompassing North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. They include the rangelands, temperate grasslands and savanna woodland but all have aridity in common. Nearly a billion of the two billion inhabitants of the world's drylands also share something else in common, poverty. The joint assessment report says that "in certain regions, human well-being, particularly female adult literacy and child survival, decline in parallel with the aridity gradient," which is related to water scarcity. It stresses development challenges faced by people in the drylands and states that, "It will be impossible to halve the world's poverty and hunger by 2015 unless life is improved for the poor people of the drylands." Supporting the "Forgotten Billion" will require concerted political will and a coordinated commitment of all development partners. Impressive successes can be attained with the right mix of leadership, policy and financial investments. The time has come for governments, donors and private sector partners to step up together to support lasting MDG achievement in the drylands and beyond. In response to this challenge, UNDP has developed a Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Framework, an innovative approach designed to help countries identify and resolve barriers to eradicating extreme poverty, and achieving sustainable development. Similarly, the UNCCD in 2007 agreed on a 10-year strategic plan and framework for the implementation of the Convention whose foremost strategic object is to improve the living conditions of the populations affected by desertification, land degradation and drought. The UNCCD COP taking place in Changwon is developing two supporting policy frameworks, one guiding action on food security, climate change and the other on gender. COP10 ends on Friday. If you need more information please contact our media and press officer whose details are below. Ms Wagaki Mwangi UNCCD Secretariat Email: wmwangi@unccd.int Internet: www.unccd.int Ms. Anne Juepner UNDP-DDC Email: Anne.Juepner@undp.org Internet: www.undp.org About the UNCCD Developed as a result of the Rio Summit, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a unique instrument that has brought attention to land degradation to some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and people in the world. Fifteen years after coming into force, the UNCCD benefits from the largest membership of the three Rio Conventions and is increasingly recognized as an instrument which can make an important contribution to the achievement of sustainable development and poverty reduction. About UNDP UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 177 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. The UNDP Drylands Development Centre is a unique global thematic centre that provides technical expertise, practical policy advice and programme support for poverty reduction and development in the drylands of the world. The Centre's work bridges between global policy issues and on-the-ground activities, and helps governments to establish and institutionalize the link between grassroots development activities and pro-poor policy reform. The main areas of focus are mainstreaming of drylands issues into national development frameworks; land governance; marking markets work for the poor; decentralized governance of natural resources; and drought risk management.

UNCCD first major UN conference to be eco-friendly through a partnership with the Gyeongnam Provincial Government and SK Telecom Changwon, Republic of Korea, 17 October 2011 – In an effort to bring state of the art service provision to parties and reduce overall environmental impact, conference participants are using tablet personal computers (PCs) during the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). “Using the latest advances in technology, the UNCCD is constantly seeking ways to improve its conference management process and contribute to enhanced environmental standards”. UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja said. “Encouraging sustainability in all areas also helps our work on combating desertification, land degradation and drought.” The UNCCD partnered with the Gyeongnam Provincial Government and SK Telecom to provide 1000 Android-based Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tablet PCs to conference participants for accessing official documents and the daily journal along with a variety of other material, directly from the tablet PC, using an Android based application. The tablets further offer internet access, photos and videos programmes together with Android-based web applications. “We have reduced the time it would take normally for participants to access key conference documents,” said Mr. Tarun Wadhawan, the Information Technology officer who first developed the idea. “Participants no longer need to carry and maintain the nearly 100 official documents produced at previous conferences and the Conference’s Internet café is underutilized,” he pointed out. The present first phase focuses on an eco-friendly approach that maximizes the sustainable use of paper while offering to participants an enhanced in-session access to documentation services, through state of the art electronic tools. Based on the participants’ feedback and post session statistics, further phases will be gradually introduced over the forthcoming sessions of the UNCCD governing bodies. The tablet application was presented to Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik of the Republic of Korea and UN General Assembly President in the afternoon, following the opening of the COP’s Ministerial segment. Each of the 194 Party delegations is allowed up to four tablet PCs. Representatives of international organisations and civil society organisations receive one Tablet PC each on a first come, first served basis. A loan station, using an interface application with the UNCCD registration system, was set up at the conference for participants to collect their tablet PCs with a dedicated help desk. The UN plans to follow COP10's example at future UN conferences, including at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, often referred to as Rio +20, to be held in Rio de Janeiro next year. The vision is to minimize the ecological footprint of UN conferences to the greatest extent possible. “This is only the beginning,” Mr. Gnacadja said. “As we head towards the Rio +20 Conference, our vision of becoming land degradation neutral entails an in depth look at the impact of all products on the land all the way from the supply chain to the consumer.” About the UNCCD Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Established in 1994, UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment, development and the promotion of healthy soils. The Convention's 194 signatory Parties work to alleviate poverty in the drylands, maintain and restore the land's productivity, and mitigate the effects of drought.

Changwon City, Republic of Korea, 11 October 2011 – At the opening of the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) taking place in Changwon City, Republic of Korea, Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, said a key question for the COP is how to strengthen the scientific basis of the Convention: "There is a high expectation, especially from the scientific community that the UNCCD could indeed become a global authority on scientific and technical knowledge pertaining to desertification, land degradation and drought." Whilst the mandate of the Convention is the world's drylands, he noted that "recent scientific findings regarding land degradation occurring beyond drylands' ecosystems have helped to further sensitize policy makers, actors from the civil society and the business community." "I would like to underline that this COP takes place at a very critical moment in the life of the Convention. Important international events are taking place, which are helping to reveal to policy makers and the public at large the potential of the UNCCD and its important role in achieving major development goals." Long a blind spot for the international community, "We now see increasing attention being given to desertification and land degradation-related issues." The incoming COP President, Minister of the Korean Forest Service, Lee Don-koo, said an important step towards this goal would be the unveiling of the "Changwon Initiative" by the Government of the Republic of Korea during the second week. "I do believe that this Initiative will serve as a meaningful context to encourage support to the UNCCD scientific process through target-setting, to enhance mobilization of additional resources through consolidation of effective partnership, and to launch "Land for Life" Award aimed at raising global awareness of the vital importance of sustainable land management." The COP runs from 10 October to 21 October 2011, with the first week dedicated to Parties working to strengthen the scientific basis of the Convention, to achieving major progress on delivering the 2nd phase of the UNCCD 10 year Strategy and rapidly bringing National Action Programmes in line with the Strategy. In the second week, a high-level segment for Ministers and other senior representatives will take place on 17-18 October through a series of round table meetings on critical policy questions. If you need more information please contact our media and press officer whose details are below: Ms Wagaki Mwangi Public Information and Media Officer UNCCD Secretariat Hermann-Ehlers Str.10 53113 Bonn, Germany Email: wmwangi@unccd.int About the UNCCD Developed as a result of the Rio Summit, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a unique instrument that has brought attention to land degradation to some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and people in the world. Fifteen years after coming into force, the UNCCD benefits from the largest membership of the three Rio Conventions and is increasingly recognized as an instrument which can make an important contribution to the achievement of sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Changwon City, Republic of Korea, 11 October 2011 – The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, has named Dennis Garrity, outgoing Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre, and South African gospel singer, Deborah Fraser as UNCCD Drylands Ambassadors. This follows the earlier designation of Spanish football star Carlos Marchena in the role. The new Drylands Ambassadors will take a lead in raising international awareness of land degradation, its causes and possible solutions. "Politicians and other leaders are often accused of being all talk and no action. Drylands Ambassadors are just the opposite. Their role is entirely action-orientated. Like our earlier Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Champions such as the President of Future Forest, Kwon Byong-hyon of the Republic of Korea, they are ordinary people who achieve extraordinary things," said Mr. Gnacadja. Dennis Garrity was Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2001 until last month. Mr. Gnacadja said that Dr. Garrity's extensive career and global experience made him an ideal champion of drylands. "His work on developing agroforestry alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture is widely recognized, as are his efforts to develop institutional innovations related to farmer-led organizations in sustainable agriculture and natural resources management." Accepting the nomination Dr. Garrity said, "I will, in particular, hope to contribute to the Secretariat's efforts to highlight the role of agroforestry, evergreen agriculture, and farmer-managed natural regeneration as critical opportunities for making vast progress on the ground in the regeneration of healthy farms and ecosystems. I will also emphasize the role of Landcare as a grassroots institutional approach for comprehensively addressing the rehabilitation of the drylands." Deborah Fraser, or Debs as she is popularly known in music circles, is regarded by many as a South African gospel superstar, a title she resists. "People make me a superstar and treat me that way. But I am not a superstar. I just regard myself as an ordinary God-fearing person". Her debut album, Abanye Bayombona, was dismissed by some in the music industry. It went on to become a multi-platinum seller in a year. "Today's enemy is poverty and ignorance, and it has to be fought with all the might at our disposal," she said shortly after her appointment. "There are a lot of people who go hungry and yet there is land they could be utilizing profitably. It is part of my obligation to learn about the land and how it can be better utilized." Ms. Fraser, who is also a farmer, said she was rapidly becoming conversant with the advantages of using land profitably. "Given that every decade the world loses an area of productive land the size of her native country South Africa (1.2 million km2) through desertification, land degradation and drought, I am delighted that the tremendous musical talent of Deborah Fraser can be harnessed in spreading global awareness," said Mr. Gnacadja. "The enthusiasm, knowledge and experience of Dr Garrity makes him the ideal advocate among policy-makers on the need to prioritize sustainable land management and increase investment opportunities," he added. The two Drylands Ambassadors received their nomination as the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP 10) got underway in Changwon, Republic of Korea. For more information about Drylands ambassadors, contact: Ms Yukie Hori, tel: +49 228 8152829, email: yhori@unccd.int For interviews with the awardees, contact: Ms Wagaki Mwangi, tel: +49 228 8152820, email: wmwangi@unccd.int

New York, USA, 22 September 2011 – A historic United Nations General Assembly meeting on desertification and drought, the first times heads of state and government have met to discuss the issue, concluded in New York yesterday. Closing the high-level meeting attended by over 100 heads of state and government, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, President of the current session of the General Assembly said "unless desertification, land degradation and drought are addressed urgently wherever they occur, the three pillars of sustainable development would be corroded." In his summary, Al-Nasser said many leaders supported the establishment of an advisory panel to strengthen the scientific basis of the work. They also stressed making the UN Convention to Combat Desertification a global policy and monitoring framework to address the issues of soil and land degradation, building a land degradation neutral world and improving funding activities to recover degraded land. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the meeting, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said, "recent studies show that land degradation is occurring in humid, tropical areas at a faster rate than ever before. It is a phenomenon that now affects every region of the world. Let us resolve today to adopt a target of no more land degradation by the end of this decade. Let us make sustainable land-use a cornerstone of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development." More than 100 Heads of State and Government and other high-ranking officials, attended the meeting three weeks before the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at its tenth session (COP 10), to be held in Changwon, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 21 October 2011. The UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja said "to sustain life on Earth we must build a land degradation neutral world. If we do not take bold actions to protect, restore and manage land and soils sustainably, we will miss climate change, biodiversity, forests and MDG targets. We will not alleviate rural poverty and hunger, ensure long-term food security, build resilience to drought and water stress. This will lead to consequences including more political conflicts over scarce resources and continued forced migrations." "Our most significant non-renewable geo resource is fertile land and soil. Nevertheless each year, an estimated 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost. Arable land loss is estimated at 30 to 35 times the historical rate. In the drylands, due to drought and desertification 12 million ha are transformed in new man-made deserts each year. The world has continued building towards 'a soil peak' which will have far-worse consequences than the current 'oil peak'," he said. Land degradation is a global phenomenon, with 78% of the degrading land taking place in the non-drylands. A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations shows states that 900 million hectares of degraded land still offer opportunities for restoration, which is an opportunity for investment. During the opening Plenary, the UNCCD COP President, on behalf of the G77 and China and the incoming UNCCD COP10 President, Republic of Korea, as well as the representatives of the African States, the European Union and the United States of America echoed urgent calls for greater international awareness of the issue and concerted action to address it. At the beginning of the event, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, French photographer and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador previewed his new film 'Desertification'. It shows the impact the world's people have on the planet. At the launch of an earlier film he remarked, "It's too late to be pessimistic." At the press conference, Hifikenye Pohambo, President of Namibia, said "land degradation is a global problem, thus it must be addressed through joint efforts and cooperation." About the UNCCD Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development issues to the land agenda. The Convention focuses on all the world's drylands, home to over 2 billion people, 50% of the world's livestock and accounting for 44% of all cultivated ecosystems. The Convention's 194 Parties are dedicated to combating land degradation and mitigating the effects of drought in the drylands by improving the living conditions of the affected populations and ecosystems. Contact UNCCD Secretariat: Wagaki Mwangi, +49 228 8152820, mobile +49 173 2687593, email: wmwangi@unccd.int Yukie Hori, +49 228 8152829, mobile +49 173 2687590, email: yhori@unccd.int