Combating desertification - enhancing resilient ecosystems

Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification (GC-RED)

Learn about UNDP GC-RED in Nairobi

Featured
posts

Publication
GC-RED Programme (2015-2022) Final Report

This document is the final report of the GC-RED Programme for the period of 2015-2022.

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News
Nigeria Gets Buzzing About a New Pollinator Strategy

As food insecurity caused by climate change and land degradation looms over Nigeria, most of the population still depends on agriculture for subsistence and employment.

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Blog
Preserving Indigenous Wisdom: Local Best Practices for Pollinator Conservation and Landscape Restoration

Songoroi village, adjacent to the Eburu forest, is a cosmopolitan village hosting different ethnic communities and a hub for diverse cultures, languages and local and indigenous knowledge practices.

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Events
Mainstreaming Gender in the Poverty-Environment and Climate Change Nexus

The UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (PEA) organized a knowledge sharing webinar on Mainstreaming Gender in Poverty-Environment and Climate Change Objectives on 18 October 2022 at 10:00-11:30 EAT/9:00-10:30 CEST. The webinar brought together the PEA-supported country teams and their partners and other stakeholders working on gender mainstreaming in environment and natural resource management sectors, to share lessons and approaches on gender mainstreaming.

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What we do

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience.

Land degradation, desertification and drought are significant and growing barriers to sustainable development as the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation impact human health, productivity and resilience for billions of people. The Nairobi-based Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification (GC-RED) focuses on strengthening the linkages between environmental sustainability and human development and resilience, and particularly contributes to improving the sustainable management of natural capital (biodiversity, land and ecosystem services) in support of expanded employment and livelihoods opportunities. It also contributes to UNDP’s resilience agenda based on the long track record of the Centre in drylands/drought resilience. 

Publication

Final Report for the UNDP Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification (GC-RED) Programme (2015-2022)

UNDP GC-RED has been - through ts various incarnations - at the forefront of promoting sustainable development in drylands and other fragile ecosystems. The Centre’s work is delivered through three interconnected projects, namely: the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net); UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals (PEA); and the GC-RED Programme which covers the activities related to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and dryland resilience building. This document is the final report of the GC-RED Programme for the period 2015-2022.

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Key statistics

12

million

hectares of productive land are lost for land degradation each year globally

490

billion

US dollars are lost annually as a result of desertification and land degradation

40

percent

of the world’s degraded lands are found in areas with the highest incidence of poverty

3.2

billion

are affected by land degradation, especially rural communities, smallholder farmers, and the very poor.

50-700

million

people could be displaced by land degradation and climate change by 2050.

30

US dollars

in economic benefits could be created per every US dollar invested in the restoration.