UNCCD Desertification and Drought Day 2024: “United for Land: Our Legacy. Our Future”
This year’s Desertification and Drought Day, observed by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on 17 June, will focus on the future of land stewardship. Every second, an equivalent of four football fields of healthy land becomes degraded – adding up to a total of 100 million hectares every year.
Sand and dust storm frequency increasing in many world regions, UN warns
Sand and dust storms are an underappreciated problem now “dramatically” more frequent in some places worldwide, with at least 25% of the phenomenon attributed to human activities, according to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Desertification and Drought Day 2023 sets an ambitious women's land rights agenda
Under the theme “Her Land. Her Rights,” the focus of this year’s Desertification and Drought Day, marked worldwide on 17 June, is on women’s land rights as a key element of achieving the connected global goals of gender equality and land degradation neutrality by 2030. While land is the most critical economic resource for most rural poor, women around the world are less likely to own or control land than men, which exposes them to poverty, hunger, gender-based violence and displacement.
UNCCD joins forces with NDMC
Drought is one of nature's costliest disasters – across the globe, more frequent and prolonged droughts are up nearly by a third since 2000. No country or region is immune to their impacts, which cost the global economy billions of dollars each year and range from the loss of life, livelihoods and biodiversity to water and food insecurity, disruption in the energy, transportation and tourism sectors, as well as forced migration, displacement and conflicts over scarce resources.
UNCCD workshop on Land degradation in Central and Eastern Europe
Land degradation, one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems affects 16.5 percent of the land in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), according to the latest UNCCD baseline assessment; equivalent to one out of every eight acres or hectares of the land in the region.
Let's Talk Land - UNCCD launches new Webinar series
December 1st 2022, UNCCD will kick of its new webinar series „Let’s talk land – Land conservation conversation“. The first event will be under the motto „The proposed EU Restoration Law: A Game Changer in the Landscape?”.
Making Cities Resilient program continues to be successful
Under the ´Making Cities Resilient 2030´ program by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Brazilian city of Campinas is transforming its urban landscape. In recent years, the city has been hit several times by storms and even flooding in 2003. In 2013, the city government finally established a resilience committee in collaboration with UNDRR. Now, by increasing local resilience, the city has managed to reduce neighborhoods located in the risk area of natural disasters by 64%.
UNCCD starts cooperation with DeserTech
At this year's UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, participants are addressing a wide range of aspects of the climate crisis. The Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is also on site to promote the fight against desertification. The main UNCCD project is the Great Green Wall, a band of trees that will stretch from the west coast of Africa across the Sahel to Ethiopia in the east of the continent. A total of eleven African countries are participating in the initiative.
Regional dialogue addresses impacts of drought in Northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe
In recent years, water scarcity and drought have been seriously affecting the Northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe, with major impacts on the economy and welfare of people. To address the growing concern over the negative impacts of water scarcity, national focal points, country representatives and scientists gathered for an online Drought Dialogue on 13 July 2022.
Statement by Ibrahim Thiaw on his designation as UNFCCC Acting Executive Secretary
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has designated Ibrahim Thiaw to be the Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), effective 17 July 2022, and until a new Executive Secretary is appointed.
Please read his statement below:
I am confident that with the support of UNFCCC management and staff, the continuity will be uninterrupted during this transitional period to deliver on the ambitious agenda ahead of UNFCCC COP27.