Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Shri Prakash Javadekar and Executive Secretary, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Mr.IbrahimThiaw on 2nd September 2019 jointly inaugurated the 12- day 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.
India has been elected the President of the COP14 and will take over the COP Presidency from China for the next two years till 2021. India is privileged to be among the select few countries to have hosted the COP of all three Rio conventions on climate change, biodiversity and land.
Through hosting COP 14, India will highlight its leadership in navigating the land management agenda at the global level. It will also provide a stage to mainstream sustainable land management in the country’s national development policies.
About UNCCD:
- The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
- The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
- It was established in 1994.
- The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). It aims to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations.
- The purpose of UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is to build a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels … to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development