Nature‑based Solutions in the World’s Drylands: Why IUCN’s Leadership Matters on Desertification & Drought Day 2025

A global day, a global challenge

On 17 June 2025, the United Nations’ Desertification & Drought Day will be marked worldwide, with the formal observance hosted by Colombia during the Global Land Forum in Bogotá. The venue changes each year, but the stakes remain the same: reversing land degradation that undercuts food, water security and peace in every dryland region.

IUCN has been a steadfast partner and collaborator in combatting desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) globally. IUCN implements a range of projects focused on drought, desertification, land degradation, and dryland and grassland restoration, advancing sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration globally ecosystems that are often overlooked. Through these projects, IUCN places Nature-based Solutions (NbS) at the centre of projects, supports countries in achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), accelerates action for the restoration of rangelands, grasslands and agricultural lands to benefit climate and biodiversity, and enhances the resilience of vulnerable people and ecosystems to the impacts of drought, all while promoting inclusive stakeholder engagement in land restoration and providing technical backstopping to nations party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

In 2020, to ensure Nature‑based Solutions deliver real and lasting benefits for people and planet, IUCN published the Global Standard for NbS—a rigorously peer‑reviewed framework of eight criteria and 28 indicators that governments, investors and communities now use to design and verify projects. Complementing the Standard, IUCN’s 2024 report titled “Restoring Ecosystems to Reduce Drought Risk” translates science into actionable guidance for embedding ecosystem restoration in national drought plans. Standards and knowledge products like these can support stakeholders and decision-makers across scales in implementing actions which are effective, equitable, and adaptable to local contexts.

The economic case for restoration

Restoration offers innumerable biodiversity and climate benefits, improving the status of ecosystems and species while combatting climate change and rebuilding ecosystem integrity. However, there is also a compelling economic case for restoration to mitigate DLDD.

• Worldwide, droughts cause over 15% of disaster-related damages and losses, costs which are disproportionately borne by the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities. 
• From 1998 to 2017 alone, more than US $124 billion in economic losses were attributable to drought. 
• Up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting over 3.2 billion people and exacerbating poverty, malnutrition, water insecurity, and conflict over natural resources. 
• US $878 billion is lost annually to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD).
• Restoring the one‑billion‑hectare area already pledged under global agreements could create US $1.8 trillion in yearly returns—an internal rate of return of 7‑to‑30 times every dollar invested.
• Closing the restoration‑finance gap will require about US $2.6 trillion by 2030, only a fraction of the cost of inaction.

Beyond the direct economic benefits, there is a strong socioeconomic argument for halting and reversing DLDD through restoration.

• Drought does not affect all people equally. Due to structural inequalities, women and girls are disproportionately harmed by drought and land degradation, leading to more frequent instances of gender-based violence (GBV), increasing the likelihood of girls being subjected to childhood marriage, and especially in rural contexts, heightening the risk of girls losing access to education.
• Women produce up to 80% of food in developing countries, yet less than 20% of landowners are women.  Only 12% of national environmental ministries are helmed by women. To effectively address the DLDD crisis, women must have greater access and rights to land and natural resources, as well as stronger decision-making power across governance scales. 
• During periods of drought, children are particularly vulnerable, being the most likely group to suffer from extreme malnutrition and death. 
• Drought increases the risk of displacement and migration  and feeds violent conflict—a problem which is expected to worsen as climate change intensifies. 

In short, investing in restoration, sustainable land management, and drought risk mitigation is not only good for nature: it is good for people, economies, and society, too.

Scaling up: Dryland NbS in action

Dryland Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme (DSL‑IP)

Backed by US $104 million in GEF‑7 grants and more than US $800 million in co‑finance, FAO, IUCN, and partners are steering the Dryland Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme (DSL‑IP) across 11 countries in three dryland clusters: Southern Africa’s Miombo‑Mopane woodlands, East & West African savannas, and the Central Asian steppes. By 2030, the programme aims to:

• Bring 12 million hectares under sustainable land management.
• Restore 0.9 million hectares of degraded land.
• Improve management of 1.6 million hectares of protected areas.
• Avoid or sequester 34.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent while improving livelihoods for nearly one million people.

By fostering resilience of production systems in drylands, promoting landscape restoration and rehabilitation, and improving livelihoods through a comprehensive landscape approach, this ambitious programme is tackling common management challenges experienced in drylands and ultimately contributing to stronger transboundary cooperation, increased community resilience to climate change, and improved biodiversity in the programme countries.

Strengthening Civil Society Role in Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality

Essential to achieving Land Degradation Neutrality and associated environmental targets is ensuring that people—from local communities to government agencies, and all stakeholders in-between—are equipped with the tools, knowledge, and resources necessary to halt and reverse land degradation in line with national commitments. Through this initiative focused on Strengthening Civil Society Role in Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality, USD 2 million in GEF funding and an additional USD 2.1 million in co-financing is being employed to guarantee that CSOs having the capacities to accelerate progress towards LDN and that, in turn, their existing knowledge is being used to put impactful LDN measures at the policy level and on the ground.

By increasing the capacities and recognition of CSOs and their contributions to adherence to LDN principles in policies, programs, and investments, this project is taking a multipronged approach. By increasing the recognition of CSOs at the political level, as well as increasing opportunities to be involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating LDN transformative projects, the project will mobilize a global community of dedicated experts, practitioners, and stakeholders in support of LDN. The project will additionally seek to build CSO capacities and provide technical support to CSOs so that they may more effectively leverage funds dedicated to LDN, ultimately increasing return-on-investment for donors and tangible improvements for beneficiaries.

This collaboration is yet another demonstration of the power of cooperation. When organizations like IUCN, the GEF, and other global and local partners come together to achieve a shared goal, the positive outcomes are far-reaching and multifaceted.

Restoring Ecosystems to Reduce Drought Risk and Increase Resilience

IUCN’s restoration work focuses on combatting drought as well as land degradation. Through the Austrian Development Cooperation-funded project Restoring Ecosystems to Reduce Drought Risk and Increase Resilience, IUCN advanced effective drought management frameworks in Burkina Faso, Georgia, and Kenya, while simultaneously advocating for stronger policy frameworks at the national and international levels. In total, the project:

• Mobilized over EUR 1.1 million to enable ecosystem restoration in local communities, capture ongoing challenges caused by drought in the project countries, and strengthen national drought strategies and risk management frameworks.
• Reached more than 170,900 beneficiaries across 3 countries, over one-third of whom were women.
• Put more than 100 hectares under restoration, with ambitions by community members to increase that figure by more than 20-fold in the future.
• Promoted knowledge exchange and lessons sharing while attempting to break silos between natural resource management agencies. For example, in Georgia, a capacity-building workshop was organized which brought together over 45 participants from civil society, grassroots organizations, and national government agencies.
• Included stakeholder participation from Indigenous peoples in Kenya and internally displaced persons in Burkina Faso, promoting a sense of community ownership over restoration activities and improving community understanding of the benefits of nature-based solutions (NbS).

These successes were highlighted at UNCCD COP16, where IUCN, the Austrian Development Cooperation, and partners reaffirmed a collective commitment to combatting drought, addressing global land degradation, and supporting local communities in building resilience to climate change and natural disasters.

Safeguarding Overlooked Ecosystems: Protecting, Managing, and Restoring Grasslands and Savannahs in Latin America

Additionally, IUCN is advancing protection, restoration and sustainable management of grassland and savannah ecosystems across three countries in Latin America, where the effects of degradation call for urgent action. Leveraging its policy influence, scientific expertise, and stakeholder networks, IUCN supports mobilization of key stakeholders to elevate grassland and savannahs in national and international environmental and development agendas. Through this project, multisectoral engagement and knowledge-sharing efforts are particularly focused on the ecologically, culturally, and economically irreplaceable grassland ecosystems of Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay.

Through the establishment of a Latin American Regional Hub, IUCN will further facilitate regional collaboration, amplify the voice of grasslands and savannahs in global fora, and enhance investment and recognition of these underrepresented ecosystems. The sustainable management models exemplified through these efforts are not only elevating grasslands and savannahs in the regional and global policy conversations, but are promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities and providing replicable examples and good practices for other communities to learn from.

The bottom line: Desertification and drought must be confronted

Desertification & Drought Day shines a light on the costs of degraded land; IUCN and its partners provide the solutions. With the Global Standard for NbS as our compass and a diverse range of projects supplying scale, IUCN and partners are proving that large‑scale restoration pays ecological and economic dividends. On 17 June—and every day after—restoring land is a smart investment in food security, climate stability, biodiversity recovery, and peace.