WOCAT

The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the UNCCD will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2-13 December 2024. The UNCCD is the world’s foremost platform for governments, businesses and civil society to come together and to discuss present-day challenges and chart a sustainable future for land. This year's COP will coincide with the Convention's 30th anniversary. WOCAT and partners will be present and will be announcing their contributions to sessions and side events soon. Stay tuned!

Sharing a common vision over rangelands, FAO and several key partner such as CIFOR-ICRAF, WOCAT, IUCN, SLU, ARC, and IYRP, proudly announce the launch of the 2nd Drylands Summer School. The Summer School is funded by the UNCCD's G20 GLI and will take place at the CIFOR-ICRAF Campus in Nairobi, Kenya, from 12-15 September 2024. It targets experts, planners and policy makers who have expertise or operational responsibilities in management of drylands production systems. The focus of this second edition is on monitoring drylands and agrosilvopastoral systems towards climate change and sustainability. The deadline for receiving application forms is 5 July, 2024.

The WOCAT Newsletter January - June 2024 is out! As we reflect on the first half of this year, we are excited to share the latest news, updates, and publications from WOCAT and its partners. This issue highlights our digital expansion to LinkedIn and showcases a variety of upcoming events, workshops, and innovative projects designed to foster knowledge exchange and capacity building.

WOCAT, the UNCCD Secretariat and WeCaN are launching a call for expression of interest to collect country-specific gender-disaggregated data on Sustainable Land Management practices. We invite stakeholders worldwide to apply the gender-responsive SLM tool in their local contexts from September to November 2024. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to global gender equality efforts in Sustainable Land Management.

In the framework of the World Bank Progreen Sahel Landscape Restoration programme, the project “Gestion durable des Paysages Communaux pour la REDD+” in Burkina Faso, WOCAT organized and conducted a workshop on SLM practices and agrosilvopastoral systems for the region. Around 40 participants from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali engaged in identifying problems and constraints to sustainable land resources management and finding solutions.

WOCAT and FAO have published a knowledge brief on South-South Cooperation (SSC) for SLM and ecosystem restoration. It is based on a survey of three regions in the global South: Latin America and the Caribbean, Central Asia and Near East and North Africa. The availability of a rich pool of knowledge is highlighted, and the enthusiasm to share and to learn is emphasized. The survey, which is available in several languages, is currently repeated globally to support the design and define the priorities of the WOCAT Regional Clusters.