United for land, united for LDN: GEO-LDN shows solidarity with UNCCD in celebration of the Convention´s 30th anniversary
With the future of our land at stake as seen through desertification, land degradation and drought, the Desertification and Drought Day 2024 (WDDD) carries a significant mission: to spotlight the future of land stewardship. Centring around the theme: United for Land: Our Legacy, Our Future, WDDD 2024 was hosted in Bonn, Germany with the support of the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). WDDD features a Global Observance Event in Bundeskunsthalle on June 17, 2024, which marked the 30th anniversary of UNCCD. There is also a series of online and in-person events in the months prior and following.
GEO-LDN took an active part in supporting the in-person events. Members of the GEO-LDN Secretariat provided on-site logistical support at the Global Observance Event as well as served as ambassadors at the mobile booth during the public outreach events at the Biodiversity Day on May 26 and the Museumsmeilenfest at Museum Koenig on June 23. The mobile booth consisted of a quiz on land degradation and its impact on the global food system as well as an interactive soil experiment. Both formats attracted wide public interest across all generations.
In addition to the support for the WDDD organisation team, GEO-LDN also makes our unique contribution to WDDD and the mission it carries through our work in capacity development and stakeholder engagement. We have officially launched the e-learning course on “Using land-cover information to monitor SDG goal 15”, jointly developed with colleagues from UNCCD and FAO, to provide the essential knowledge about land-cover and land use for professionals working in SDG 15 monitoring and reporting as well as in sustainable natural resources management. Additionally, we launched the working group 4 decision support to offer evidence-based and target-specific support for our intersectoral country teams. You can also look forward to the official launch event of our helpdesk that has already commenced its services.
We have also kick-started our #HowtoLDN campaign to showcase the progress of our intersectoral country teams on their roadmap to LDN. Discover the amazing work of country teams on our website or social media platforms (LinkedIn, X).