Our planet’s drylands don’t have the lush abundance of a rainforest, but they’re quietly teeming with species that have evolved to handle their extremes, and providing homes, food, and livelihoods for billions of people, too. Yet these ecosystems are also particularly vulnerable to disruption and desertification—and such changes can be permanent.
The UN passed its Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 1994; to this day, it’s the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
Thirty years on, the UNCCD will gather in December of 2024 to reflect on the progress made so far—and the challenges that lie ahead – under the three focus areas of land restoration; women’s land rights; and land at the heart of the SDGs. As a global centre of excellence for soil and land restoration, integrated soil information, and soil organic carbon accounting, CIFOR-ICRAF will have a powerful presence at UNCCD COP16.
Join us in Riyadh or online to be part of this critical global conversation.
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