The UNCCD has been ratified by 196 states plus the European Union. In 2015, parties to the convention adopted Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) as a primary goal of the UNCCD. This is aligned with SDG Target 15.3.
As a partner to the Convention since 2011, IUCN supports progress towards policies and programmes that deliver LDN through the application of Nature-based Solutions as the preferred option for LDN achievement, as it provides a holistic and balanced response and generates multiple benefits for people and nature, addresses SDGs and contributes to poverty reduction. IUCN encourages Parties to consider other interventions to help achieve LDN, including greater commitment to rangeland and grassland restoration, drought management, and the involvement of all stakeholders and groups.
IUCN has actively influenced the evolution of the Convention, including the development, adoption, and implementation of LDN. IUCN is an institutional observer of the Science-Policy Interface, as was recently an observer on the intergovernmental working group for the midterm evaluation of the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework.
Guided by its Resolutions and Recommendations and consistent with its Programme, IUCN engages with the UNCCD by providing inputs on a variety of topics and priorities including restoration, grasslands and rangelands, governance and rights, gender mainstreaming, NbS, sustainable agriculture, water management, and drought. The UNCCD recognises NbS as one important approach to achieving the Convention’s aims as well as the SGDs, as NbS can offer co-benefits including poverty reduction, food security, women's empowerment, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable management of natural resources, while also contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation by transforming degraded lands into carbon sinks.
The partnership between the IUCN Secretariat and the UNCCD Secretariat is structured by a Work Plan and Memorandum of Understanding. The Joint Work-Plan 2026–2029 guides the partnership, with the overarching goal to support advancing integrated, inclusive, and resilient land solutions for a land degradation neutral future.
