UNCCD Celebrates its 25th Anniversary in Bonn

Yesterday evening, the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Old Town Hall of Bonn. Founded in 1994 and having made Bonn its headquarters 20 years ago, UNCCD together with the city of Bonn and other partner organizations celebrated this double anniversary.

Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of UNCCD and Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of Bonn did not only look back to the successful work and cooperation throughout the last two decades but also honored the UNCCD COP 14, which recently took place in Delhi, India.

“The degradation of land and soil threatens people and nature around the world. Progressive climate change and the loss of biodiversity are cause and effect. For the past 25 years, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has been successful in restoring fragile balances and preserving land as fertile soil and habitat", highlighted Sridharan in his opening speech.

Executive-Secretary Thiaw drew attention to the wide-ranging changes in societies and politics referring to the recently published scientific findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). UNCCD is increasingly perceived as an important advocate and pioneer of sustainable land management, benefitting people, nature and the economy.

The world community has long recognized that desertification and land degradation, affecting at least 170 countries worldwide, pose an immanent economic, social and environmental problem.

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