The Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt is pleased to announce the Second Arab Land Conference to be organized under the patronage of the Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities. The Conference will be organized by the Housing and Building National Research Centre represented by…

Cairo, Egypt – A regional workshop on the reporting requirements under the new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework took place on 6–9 May, 2018, bringing together delegates from sixteen Arab States and representatives of international organizations to discuss the technical aspects of reporting. The…

The role of regions under the UNCCD Five world regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Northern Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe - have the important job of deciding how to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Convention Text…

Together against drought – Juntos contra la sequia August 14 – 16, 2017 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia In the recent years, many countries of the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region have been affected by prolonged droughts. Peru, Venezuela, Brazil and the Caribbean nations have…

By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions. In the meanwhile, we continuously waste precious natural resources like land and water. A number of statistics indicate that we are wasting our natural capital at…

During a mission of UNCCD in the Agadez region in Niger in January 2017, the team discovered the “Projet d’Appui au Développement Agricole de l’Irhazer, du Tamesna et de l’Aïr” (project to support agricultural development of Irhazer, Tamesna and Aïr), supported by AREVA during 5 years, until 2020…

Statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw All of our planet’s inhabitants – humanity, and all wildlife species – require water to survive. We learn very young that life cannot exist without water. Yet over 2 billion people still lack access to safe water today. This year’s World Water Day…

On the afternoon of 11 January 2017, the ceremony that celebrated the opening of the UNCCD Northern Mediterranean Regional Coordination Office took place on the Forestry Campus in Istanbul, Turkey. The campus, located north of the capital, was established in 1951 and serves the Regional Forestry…

The UNCCD COP 14 Local and Regional Governments Day, co-organized by the UNCCD Secretariat, ICLEI South Asia and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Government of India, took place on 7 September 2019. The event focused on the theme “Land degradation and cities: The essential role…

UNCCD and CAREC organized an online stakeholder consultation to exchange recommendations on the project “Regional approaches for combating sand and dust storms (SDS) and drought in Central Asia” and discuss expected regional strategic documents with the representatives of UNEP, UNDP, UNDRR, FAO, GIZ…

Countries in Central Asia are highly vulnerable to drought and sand and dust storms (SDS), particularly outside high-elevation areas where the climate is mostly semi-arid to arid. Recognizing the increasing risk of drought and SDS, UNCCD Parties adopted decisions on addressing the negative impact of…

Santa Cruz de la Sierra – 23 August 2017 – The conference on drought that took place in Bolivia from 14 to 16 August 2017 called for joint action against drought. Based on the deliberations among the delegates, the conference concluded with a declaration focusing on integrated drought management…

Bolzano/Bozen, Italy – Researchers, practitioners, representatives of governmental structures, NGOs, UN agencies and the private sector institutions converged this week in the autonomous province of South Tyrol in the Alps of northern Italy for the Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS)…

Water scarcity is already widespread and remains on the rise: it is found in nearly every region in the world. Around 36% of the world’s population is currently living in water-scarce regions. This publication shows that avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation have positive long-term gains…

The UNCCD, IUCN, WWF and ICRAF held a regional dialogue on 2 November 2021 for Asia-Pacific UNCCD country Parties on “Advancing global actions for native grassland and rangeland restoration.”. This is the second in a regional dialogue series that began with the first one in July for Northern…

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 14 August 2017 – Under the theme “Together against drought" (“Juntos contra la sequia”),” around 60 delegates from across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as leading international experts are coming together to identify the regional drought challenges…

Rabat, Morocco – 7 December 2017 –The official ceremony attended by the representatives of government ministries, African ambassadors, delegates of UN agencies and bilateral organizations marked the inauguration of the UNCCD Regional Coordination Unit (RCU) for Africa in Rabat, Morocco. In her…

30-31 January 2018 – Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran – The High-level regional conference on information management for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience took place on 30-31 January 2018 in Tehran, with a strong focus on regional cooperation for combating sand and dust storms (SDS) in…

The ongoing dramatic shift from rural towards urban life has considerably affected global land resources and food security. Every year, 19.5 million hectares of agricultural land are converted to accommodate expanding urban centres and industrial developments. With the most rapid rates of urban…

The UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw joined a video chat with the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mr. Muhtar Babayev and UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Ghulam Isaczai to discuss the support provided by the UN agencies to the republic during the prolonged drought and…

As part of the Ankara Initiative which was adopted during the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) held in Ankara in 2015, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs of Turkey will organize the “International Workshop on Middle East (Regional) Dust Sources and Their Impacts” in…

The academic session titled “Conservation, restoration and sustainable use of dryland ecosystem” was organized during the IUFRO Regional Congress of Asia and Oceania on 26 October at China National Convention Centre, Beijing. The session was jointly sponsored and organized by Institute for…

The UNCCD secretariat met the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 29 September to advance the partnership on Land-Solar Plus model from technological assistance to regional pilot projects, following the recent event “Land-Solar Plus: Combining Solar-powered Land Degradation Neutrality and Food, Water…