UNCCD
PRESS RELEASE
Spanish | French I Russian I Chinese I German
Germany
to host 2024
Desertification and Drought Day in
Bonn
Bonn/Dubai,
9 December
2023 – Germany will host the next
Desertification and Drought Day on 17 June 2024,
which will also mark the 30th
anniversary of the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD), one of the three
Rio Conventions alongside climate and
biodiversity.
The announcement was
made today on the margins of UNFCCC COP28 underway
in Dubai, UAE by Mr. Jochen Flasbarth, State
Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Mr.
Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary, and Ms.
Katja Dörner, Lord Mayor of Bonn and member of the
Local Government for Sustainability (ICLEI) Global
Executive Committee on Climate Action and Low
Emission Development Portfolio.
Land
is the foundation of human wellbeing and plays a
key role in regulating the planet’s climate. Yet
up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is
degraded, affecting nearly half of the world's
population. Since 2000, the number and duration of
droughts has increased by 29 per cent,
representing a severe risk to ecosystems and
peoples’ livelihoods.
The 2024
Desertification and Drought Day will focus on the
transformative power of healthy land for
addressing today’s most pressing and
interconnected challenges, including climate
change, biodiversity loss, food and water
security—a blueprint for providing future
generations with a healthy planet. The Day will
amplify a renewed global commitment to sustainable
land management and drought resilience in the
run-up to UNCCD COP16, scheduled for 2-13 December
2024 in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw,
UNCCD Executive Secretary, said:
“Desertification and Drought Day 2024 will
mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification. In 1994, the
world community sent a clear signal by ratifying
the only legally binding treaty promoting good
land stewardship. Restoring degraded land and soil
provides the most fertile ground to take immediate
and concerted action for our planet's health. Now,
it is time to reaffirm this global commitment by
unleashing land’s potential—for present and future
generations.”
The Federal
Republic of Germany, through the Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), will
host the global observance on 17 June 2024. The
event will engage prominent international and
German personalities and the public at large to
raise awareness about desertification, land
degradation and drought.
Mr.
Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic Development,
said: “No matter whether we are
talking about climate change, biodiversity loss,
pandemics, or food crises – soil quality plays a
central role for meeting these global challenges.
Soils retain water and allow trees and plants to
grow. We will only be able to feed humankind and
deal with the climate crisis and its impacts if we
have healthy soils. In 2024, when the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification celebrates
its 30th anniversary, the German government will
be hosting Desertification and Drought Day thus
sending a signal for strong international efforts
against the loss of fertile
soils.”
The City of Bonn, which
has hosted the UNCCD Secretariat since 1999, will
organize a series of events around 2024
Desertification and Drought Day. The City will
play its part in highlighting the role of local
governments in land restoration efforts, by
displaying examples of sustainable land use
practices linked to urban
policies.
“As Mayor of Bonn, home
to the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification, I am thrilled that Germany is
hosting the Desertification and Drought Day 2024.
Here in Germany’s United Nations City is the place
where the debates on climate, nature and land come
together – and from where cross-cutting actions
for implementing the 2030 Agenda are
advanced.
I full heartedly welcome the
Desertification and Drought Day here in Bonn!
Together with the Federal Government of Germany
and under the leadership of the Federal Minister
for Economic Cooperation and Development, Ms.
Svenja Schulze, I will be delighted to host a
meaningful event engaging political leaders, the
land community, cultural stakeholders and a
broader public alike”, Katja Dörner,
Lady Mayor of Bonn, said via video
statement.
Officially
declared by the United Nations General Assembly in
1994 (A/RES/49/115),
Desertification and Drought Day, marked annually
on 17 June, is a unique occasion to highlight
human-led solutions to prevent desertification and
reverse intensifying droughts by investing in
sustainable land use practices.
2024
will mark the 30th anniversary since
the adoption of UNCCD, one of the three Rio
Conventions. 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. With its 197 Parties, UNCCD is the sole
legally binding international agreement linking
environment and development to sustainable land
management. The Convention seeks to support
countries to address desertification, land
degradation, and drought. A remarkable journey
from milestone initiatives such as Africa’s Great
Green Wall, the largest living structure on the
planet, to the establishment of Land Degradation
Neutrality targets – a pledge by 130 countries to
end land degradation by 2030.
Germany
has been a strong supporter of the convention
throughout its history. During the past 30 years,
Germany has contributed politically and
financially as one of the most active partners
acknowledging the importance of healthy land and
soil - both as a cause of and a solution to some
of the most critical challenges for humanity these
days.
###
For
more information, please
contact:
UNCCD: Xenya
Scanlon, +49 152 54540492, xsca...@unccd.int
or Yannis Umlauf, +55 21 979820903, yum...@unccd.int
with copy to pr...@unccd.int
and/or un...@portland-communications.com
Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
(BMZ): Press Office, +49 30 18 535 – 2158, pre...@bmz.bund.de,
www.bmz.de
City
of Bonn: Department of Press, Protocol and Public
Relations, +49 228 77-3000, pres...@bonn.de,
www.bonn.de
About
UNCCD
The United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the global
vision and voice for land. We unite governments,
scientists, policymakers, private sector and
communities around a shared vision and global
action to restore and manage the world’s land for
the sustainability of humanity and the planet.
Much more than an international treaty signed by
197 parties, UNCCD is a multilateral commitment to
mitigating today’s impacts of land degradation and
advancing tomorrow’s land stewardship in order to
provide food, water, shelter and economic
opportunity to all people in an equitable and
inclusive
manner.
