Bonn, Germany – Reviving damaged lands and the livelihoods of people affected by desertification, land degradation and drought can be possible by 2030, according to participants who attended the 17th Committee to Review the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC17), which ended yesterday in…
Georgetown, Guyana – Momentum to repair degraded lands and to manage droughts more effectively has picked up, according to reports released for review by an inter-governmental meeting that opened today in Georgetown, Guyana. An assessment of land degradation in 127 countries revealed that close to…
In a positive environmental turn, a record 120 countries are in the process of setting voluntary land degradation neutrality (LDN) targets that could reduce the loss of productive land dramatically by 2030. At least 80 countries have already set targets, whose implementation could reverse land…
Katowice, Poland – The Rio Conventions Pavilion, in a series of sessions co-hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) at the recent COP24 Climate Change Conference, provided a space for constructive dialogue among representatives of governments, international organizations and civil society on…
New Delhi, India – During a national workshop co-hosted by UNCCD and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of India (MoEFCC) on 4–5 December 2018, policy makers, researchers and representatives of civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations (CSOs) and the private…
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…
World Soil Day is commemorated every 5 December to remind us that soil is important for both the natural system and human well-being. Our laxity in taking care of the soil partly comes from the assumption that land is abundant. It is also because most of us are no longer directly reliant on the land…
Brussels, Belgium – The third edition of the World Atlas of Desertification (WAD3), developed in partnership by UNCCD, the European Commission and its Joint Research Center, was presented at the European Commission headquarters on 27 November 2018. Juan Carlos Mendoza, the Managing Director of the…
Ebène, Mauritius – Recognizing the urgent need to address pressing environmental challenges, the representatives of the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles gathered for a workshop on 21-22 November 2018 to develop a joint game plan to increase the resilience to natural disasters and…
A technical workshop on the Caribbean sub-regional LDN transformative project "Implementing Gender-Responsive and Climate Smart Land Management in the Caribbean" is being held in St. Lucia, West Indies, from 26 to 28 September. The workshop is co-organized by the UNCCD/GM , UN-Women , IUCN , and FAO…
Da Nang, Viet Nam – The sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) gathered on 27 June, 2018 to identify key environmental challenges, formulate effective solutions, evaluate the effectiveness of existing cooperation mechanisms and propose inter-regional and interdisciplinary projects…
The global economy will lose a whopping USD23 trillion by 2050 through land degradation, a review by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) warns. To take urgent action now and halt these alarming trends would cost USD4.6 trillion – only a fraction of the predicted losses.…
4 May 2018 – Kyiv, Ukraine – The Coordination Council to Combat Land Degradation and Desertification met to discuss the implementation of national action plan (NAP) to combat land degradation and desertification in Ukraine, as well as the results of the land degradation neutrality (LDN) target…
19 April 2018, London – The Deputy Executive Secretary Pradeep Monga represented UNCCD at the Climate Change event during the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Speaking about priorities for land-related climate action, Mr. Monga stressed that achieving common well-being takes on a new…
18 April 2018 – Santiago, Chile – A side event on land degradation neutrality, organized by the UNCCD regional coordination unit, took place in the margins of the Second meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on the Sustainable Development. The program of the…
18 April 2018 – Bonn, Germany – Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza has been appointed as Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. The appointment was announced by the UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ms. Monique Barbut, who expressed her confidence in the new Managing Director who took up his duties…
Video "Ma terre, héritage pour mes enfants" ("My land, a heritage for my children") has been produced by the Ministry of the Environment, Ecology and Forests, Madagascar, and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. Madagascar, known as the Green Island, committed to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality…
Delivering Land, Climate and Biodiversity Benefits at Scale UNCCD COP 13 provided the forum to explore opportunities for LDN transformative bold action. These are the highlights from the multiple discussions: Ministerial Round Table on "LDN: from targets to action, what will it take?" and launch of…
11 September 2017 – Ordos, China – Up to 2 billion hectares of land are degraded. On average, 12 million hectares are lost every year and 169 countries are affected by land degradation, desertification and drought. In an unprecedented global campaign to save productive land, 112 countries, as of…
UNCCD Executive Secretary Monique Barbut visited Lebanon to witness the adoption of national LDN voluntary targets and discuss with the President Michel Aoun and members of the government the importance of setting LDN targets, implementing transformative projects and involving both the private and…
