UN • 2024-12-10

Six bold environmental leaders named 2024 Champions of the Earth

Brazil’s first-ever Minister of Indigenous Peoples and an initiative promoting sustainable agriculture in Egypt are among the six recipients of the 2024 Champions of the Earth award, announced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday. 

UN • 2024-12-08

Holding the front line against desertification

Some one billion people globally under the age of 25 live in regions where they depend on the land and natural resources for jobs and livelihoods, according to the UN, but their future is increasingly under threat due to desertification and land degradation.

UN • 2024-12-06

‘No life without land’ says campaigning athlete at UN desertification meeting

There can be “no life without healthy land as we cannot survive,” according to an Olympic athlete who has been attending a global meeting being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, focused on halting desertification and land loss and promoting the restoration and sustainable use of land.

UN • 2024-12-05

Private sector urged to act as world faces $23 trillion loss from land degradation

The private sector has been urged to make the sustainable management of land a key part of corporate and financial strategy going forward, as the world risks losing half of global GDP - estimated at $23 trillion - due to degradation.

UN • 2024-12-04

Meet the ‘Land Heroes’ who are fighting desertification

From planting a billion trees in Zimbabwe, in southern Africa, to exporting products from the moringa tree in Mali and developing a climate action-focused board game called “Rescuing Penguins," in Costa Rica, a group of young people has been recognized by the UN for making a positive impact in the fight to counter desertification, land degradation and drought.

UN • 2024-12-03

The ‘slow onset, silent killer:’ Droughts explained

Droughts across the world are intensifying and have become a “slow onset, silent killer” to which no country is immune, according to the UN’s most senior official working on desertification, drought and land restoration issues.

UN • 2024-12-02

Three billion people globally impacted by land degradation

Three billion people around the world are suffering the impact of poor and degraded land which will “increase levels of migration, stability and insecurity among many communities,” according to the newly-elected President of a UN-backed conference on desertification, drought and land restoration which is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

UN • 2024-12-02

Live updates: UN tackles desertification, drought and land regeneration

People around the world are facing devastating consequences as the land that supports livelihoods, helps to regulate climate and protect biodiversity becomes increasingly degraded due to climate change and mismanagement. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification is meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss how to regenerate the land and secure all of our futures. UN News app users can follow here.

UN • 2024-12-07

First Person: Tears of joy as Argentinian city children encounter nature for first time

An environmental lawyer has told UN News how children and teenagers from some of the most vulnerable neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, have been moved to tears after encountering nature for the first time.

The Guardian • 2024-12-09

Drylands now make up 40% of land on Earth, excluding Antarctica, study says

An area nearly a third larger than India turned permanently arid in past three decades, research shows