Mainstreaming sustainable land management at international level

Context

All local farmers – whether in Kyrgyzstan, Benin or Germany – have one thing in common: the loss of fertile soil. More than a third of the world’s land area is already degraded as a result of agricultural overuse as well as land clearing, contamination and sealing. This threatens the livelihoods of 3.2 billion people.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) aims to protect and restore land ecosystems and prevent the loss of fertile soil. Its main objective is to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN), which means that the state and quality of healthy and fertile land remain stable or increase.

Objective

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is better able to support the implementation of the UNCCD.

Approach

The programme supports BMZ in its role as a signatory state to the UNCCD across three priority areas:

1. Promoting the UNCCD:

• It advises BMZ on implementing Germany's contributions to the UNCCD and on political and strategic issues, as well as technical, institutional and financial matters.
• In doing so, it establishes links to other topics such as agriculture and forestry, biodiversity, land tenure rights and gender equality.

2. Strengthening global initiatives:

• The programme promotes land degradation neutrality within global processes and initiatives.
• It hosts the secretariat for the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) initiative, and promotes the global knowledge network World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), in addition to other global partnerships.

3. Expanding innovations:

• The programme develops innovative approaches aimed at changing forms of land use and establishing socio-economic incentives, gender equality and holistic land resource planning.
• It also creates synergies with other United Nations’ conventions, partnerships and initiatives.

Last update: October 2023