#COPSoil 2024 Events

• When: 3 December, 11:30 - 13:00

• Where: G20 Global Land Initiative Restoration Pavilion

• Lead Organizers: ICRAF & CA4SH

The event will focus on soil health as a key area for action across climate, desertification, and biodiversity agendas. It will underscore soil health's critical role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, combating desertification, and supporting biodiversity and ecosystems. Discussions will highlight how improving soil health can strengthen food systems, improve food security, enhance biodiversity, and promote overall environmental sustainability. Additionally, the event will provide key insights to inform national plans on desertification, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and biodiversity strategies. 

Effective implementation of soil health solutions requires a paradigm shift in how we approach implementation, how we engage and how we generate (and communicate) the evidence to influence policy and practice. This event will call for the use of evidence-based practices in soil health management and showcase innovations in soil health monitoring and management, such as CIFOR-ICRAF's Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF). The LDSF fills critical gaps in terms of consistent and reliable information on land degradation status and trends over time. 

The event encourages a cross-sectoral approach to delivering soil health solutions and collaboration among governments, scientists, industry leaders, NGOs, and local communities. The goal is to integrate diverse perspectives and expertise into comprehensive strategies addressing soil health, climate action, desertification, and biodiversity conservation in a holistic manner. The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health will be presented as an example of successful collaboration. The Coalition advocates for multi-stakeholder partners to facilitate the adoption and scaling of a global mechanism and processes.

The event aims to influence policy-making by providing insights such as establishing robust mechanisms for monitoring soil health, assessing degradation, and tracking restoration progress. Also, to implement and incorporate gender-transformative, equitable and socially inclusive approaches into land restoration implementation, activities and policies. Additionally, it will highlight the importance of investing in soil restoration programs, particularly in areas affected by desertification and land degradation. 

• When: 3 December, 15:00-16:30

• Where: Food and Agriculture Pavilion

• Lead Organizers: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

• When: 4 December, 9:00 - 10:30

• Where: MET-02, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Lead Organizers: ICRAF & CA4SH

Healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable and regenerative food systems and provide several vital ecosystem services. Sequestering carbon in soils, for example, can have multiple benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, food and nutrition security, biodiversity, and water resilience. However one third of the Earth’s surface is degraded, negatively affecting 3.2 billion people annually. Therefore, targeted investments in soil health are urgently needed. This includes investments in robust methods for monitoring soil health to prioritize and track land management efforts over time.

This session will showcase advancements in soil health monitoring from robust field survey designs, to innovations in laboratory methods including soil spectroscopy, as well as advancements in remote sensing to track the impact of land restoration interventions. The session will highlight the critical importance for these monitoring methodologies to fill key knowledge gaps on the impact of land management and landscape restoration practices on soil health. Furthermore, this session will highlight the inclusion of citizen science, to bring stakeholders and communities into the monitoring process, which can lead to the scaling of healthy soil practice. Finally, this session will discuss opportunities to bring evidence to bear for decision-making.

The event will contribute to the objectives of COP16 by showcasing successful examples of land restoration initiatives and their impact on soil health. Innovative approaches and technologies for soil health and land restoration monitoring will be presented to equip stakeholders with the tools and knowledge needed to drive the implementation of the UNCCD’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets. The inclusion of citizen science and community engagement in monitoring efforts aligns with the UNCCD’s emphasis on participatory approaches, which can enhance the sustainability and scalability of restoration and soil health initiatives. The event aims to inspire action and collaboration among stakeholders to accelerate the restoration of degraded land by 2030, in line with the objective to build effective partnerships at global and national level.

• When: 4 December 2024, 11: 00 – 12:30

• Where: Side event MET-07

• Lead Organizers: ICRAF, EU

Healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable and regenerative food systems and provide several vital ecosystem services. Sequestering carbon in soils, for example, can have multiple benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, food and nutrition security, biodiversity, and water resilience. However one third of the Earth’s surface is degraded, negatively affecting 3.2 billion people annually. Therefore, targeted investments in soil health are urgently needed. This includes investments in robust methods for monitoring soil health to prioritize and track land management efforts over time. 

This session will showcase advancements in soil health monitoring from robust field survey designs, to innovations in laboratory methods including soil spectroscopy, as well as advancements in remote sensing to track the impact of land restoration interventions. The session will highlight the critical importance for these monitoring methodologies to fill key knowledge gaps on the impact of land management and landscape restoration practices on soil health. Furthermore, this session will highlight the inclusion of citizen science, to bring stakeholders and communities into the monitoring process, which can lead to the scaling of healthy soil practice. Finally, this session will discuss opportunities to bring evidence to bear for decision-making. 

The event will contribute to the objectives of COP16 by showcasing successful examples of land restoration initiatives and their impact on soil health. Innovative approaches and technologies for soil health and land restoration monitoring will be presented to equip stakeholders with the tools and knowledge needed to drive the implementation of the UNCCD’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets. The inclusion of citizen science and community engagement in monitoring efforts aligns with the UNCCD’s emphasis on participatory approaches, which can enhance the sustainability and scalability of restoration and soil health initiatives. The event aims to inspire action and collaboration among stakeholders to accelerate the restoration of degraded land by 2030, in line with the objective to build effective partnerships at global and national level. 

Objectives:

• Showcase advancements in soil health monitoring to equip stakeholders with effective tools and knowledge needed to effectively prioritize, implement, and track land management efforts over time. 

• Highlight participatory and scalable approaches in soil health monitoring to drive the widespread adoption of healthy soil practices. 

• Call for the integration of robust scientific evidence on soil health into decision-making processes, policy frameworks, and declarations, emphasizing its critical role in achieving global goals. 

Speakers

• Moderator: Dr. Leigh Winowiecki, Soil and Land Health Theme Lead, CIFOR-ICRAF and Co-lead of CA4SH (confirmed) 

• Tatenda Lemann, Executive Team, WOCAT(confirmed) 

• Charles Tah, Project Delivery Lead, Farm Radio International (confirmed) 

• Tor-Gunnar Vagen, Principal Scientist, CIFOR-ICRAF (confirmed) 

• Bochola Sara Arero, Co-Founder & Communications Manager, African Youth Pastoralist Initiative (confirmed) 

• Stephen Muchiri, CEO, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) 

• Bonnie Jupp, Program Manager, RegenWA 

• Save Soil 

• Stephanie Katsir, Advisor Knowledge Management & Knowledge Continuity, GIZ (confirmed)

• When: 4 December 2024, 14:00-16:00

• Where: MET-24, Area D

• Lead Organizers: EU, IFAD

• When: 4 December 2024, 15:30 - 17:00

• Where: Green Zone Pavilion 1

• Lead Organizers: ICRAF, AFoCO/LPA, AFR100

The world stands at a critical juncture in its relationship with land. As the global population grows and the impacts of climate change intensify, the pressure on land resources escalates. Land degradation, desertification and drought threaten livelihoods, biodiversity and the very fabric of our ecosystems. Against this backdrop, the 16th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UNCCD convenes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2 to 13 December 2024, marking a pivotal moment for global action on land restoration.

Under the theme, “Our Land. Our Future”, COP16 will gather world leaders, policymakers, scientists and civil-society actors to address the urgent challenges facing our land. This landmark event, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the UNCCD, will be the largest UN land conference to date and the first held in the Middle East and North Africa region; an area acutely vulnerable to the impacts of land degradation and drought.

COP16 will prioritize four key areas: accelerating land restoration; boosting drought resilience; recognizing land as a solution for climate change and biodiversity loss; and promoting inclusive and responsible land governance. These interconnected themes underscore the urgent need for a holistic approach to land management that recognizes the intricate links between land health, climate change, biodiversity and human well-being.

Within this context, AFR 100 and LPA are hosting a side event with the theme: “Land restoration for and by all: Bringing together Africa’s AFR100 and Landscape Partnership Asia (LPA) to achieve the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and Global Forest Goals by 2030”. AFR100 and LPA are regional initiatives dedicated to landscape restoration, galvanizing international support and commitments by aligning participants’ interests with global initiatives, such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the G20 Global Initiative on Land, and the UNCCD itself.

AFR100, a country-led effort across the African continent, has garnered commitments to restore over 100 million hectares of degraded land. LPA, a multi-stakeholder platform established by AFoCO, CIFOR-ICRAF and the Global EverGreening Alliance and launched in 2022, focuses on performance-based investments to restore Asian drylands and drought-prone areas, with an initial target of 10 million hectares. By bringing together these two powerful initiatives, the side event will showcase the potential for South–South cooperation and knowledge sharing to accelerate land-restoration efforts.

The side event will serve as a platform for high-level dialogue and knowledge exchange, featuring distinguished speakers from both Africa and Asia. Discussions will center around three key themes.

Asian and African experience of landscape ecosystem restoration: Sharing best practices, lessons learned and innovative approaches to land restoration in diverse ecological and socio-economic contexts.

Challenges and opportunities in managing landscapes in Asia and Africa: Identifying key barriers to successful land restoration and exploring opportunities for overcoming them through collaborative action and policy innovation.

South–South and North–South cooperation: Strengthening partnerships and resource mobilization for capacity building, policy support and joint advocacy to advance land restoration at national, regional and global levels.

Outcomes

The outcomes of the side event are expected to contribute significantly to shaping practical actions that reinforce the global momentum towards achieving land restoration and sustainable development goals.

By emphasizing the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships, strategic targeting of actions and resources, and the mobilization of global funding support, this event will play a crucial role in advancing the COP’s agenda on land.

The side event will bring together a diverse and influential audience, including senior government officials from the 16 LPA country partners in Asia alongside senior African government officials, technical partners, and other supporters of both LPA and AFR100. This gathering will be instrumental in driving forward the COP’s goals and ensuring that sustainable land management remains a global priority.

• When: 5 December, 9:00-10:30

• Where: Food & Agriculture Pavilion Blue Zone, Zone C

• Lead organizations: ILRI

• When: 5 December, 11:00 - 12:30

• Where: Food & Agriculture Pavilion, Blue Zone, Zone C

• Lead Organizers: CA4SH & ICRAF

• Partners: CIMMYT, VACS, Action on Food Hub

Healthy soil is the very foundation of our food systems and food and nutrition security, and provides several vital ecosystem services, including nutritious food, water regulation, habitat for biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. However, over one-third of the Earth’s surface is degraded, limiting the soil’s ability to provide these critical services. In particular, vulnerable rangeland ecosystems face significant challenges which have been exacerbated by climate change  and thus require urgent  action. Reversing these trends will require scaling of holistic landscape restoration strategies that prioritize soil health and incorporate diverse perspectives, including scientific research and Indigenous Knowledge, leverage data and evidence, and ensure ensure the participation of youth and local communities. This will be enabled through increased access to knowledge and information, implementation of advanced monitoring systems, increased financial investments in soil health and filling key knowledge gaps around the impact of land management on soil health. 

This session will highlight scientific advances, applications, and lessons learned for inclusivity and collaboration across soil health research and development, fundamental to land restoration. Specifically, we will highlight advancements in soil and land health monitoring and demonstrate how this evidence can inform investments and programs across the globe. This includes the GEF-IUCN-ILRI led STELARR project, the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) initiative, citizen science data collection, and global monitoring frameworks including the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF).  The STELARR project, for example, aims to unlock private sector finance for rangeland improvement and restoration  through sustainable livestock value chains. We will explore how soil health underpins all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serves as a critical level for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). We will highlight how soil health can play a critical role in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges, including poverty, hunger, climate change, biodiversity loss, drought and land degradation. 

We will showcase successful case studies that integrate diverse sources of knowledge to inform policy decisions and improve soil health, alongside public-private partnerships that foster diversified agricultural systems and sustainable land use and learn from initiatives such as the VACS which seeks to foster resilient agri-food systems by building healthy soils among other objectives. We will also demonstrate how systematically monitoring indicators of rangeland health using tools and frameworks such as the LDSF underpins not only their restoration but their sustainability. The LDSF is a comprehensive method designed to provide a biophysical baseline of  ecosystem health at the landscape level (https://ldsf.thegrit.earth/). Citizen science will be emphasized as a key tool in advancing landscape restoration efforts. By engaging communities in data collection and monitoring, we can harness local knowledge to develop equitable and context-specific land management strategies. 

The event will call for a paradigm shift toward holistic practices that prioritize soil health, biodiversity, and sustainable productivity, needed to achieve successful landscape restoration. This will require sustained, collective and collaborative action, inclusive decision making and collaborative innovation building on cutting edge science and local knowledge. Participants will engage in robust discussions, share valuable insights, and foster partnerships, paving the way for resilient ecosystems that sustain livelihoods and contribute to global efforts against land degradation and to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality and the SDGs. 

• When: 5 December, 11:00 - 12:30

• Where: Side Event MET-03

• Lead Organizers: CIFOR-ICRAF, NCVC

• When: 5 December 2024, 13:00 – 14:30

• Where: Side event MET-04

• Partners: ICRAF, GEF

• When: Thursday 5th December, 15:00-16:30h

• Where: Food & Agriculture Pavilion

• Lead Organizers: FAO

• Partners: Alliance Bioversity-CIAT, ICARDA, ILRI

This side event addresses FAO’s call for a thorough understanding of carbon sequestration potential in drylands managed as silvopastoral systems. It reports on the progress of a joint initiative between FAO’s COFO Working Group (WG) and the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT. This collaborative effort aims to gather scientific evidence and analyse best practices from local experts and practitioners worldwide.

The initiative will:

1. Estimate current carbon stocks and other climate-related factors in drylands with SPSs.

2. Model future carbon sequestration potential of SPSs in these areas.

3. Compile a catalogue of mitigation actions that enhance the decarbonization potential of drylands and SPSs.

4. Display a narrative addressing the climatic role of traditional and modern silvopastoral systems.

This assessment will be backed by a thorough literature review, case studies, and forward-looking scenario analyses, providing a solid foundation for understanding and action plans.

The side event will present the first results of this assessment, promoting an evidence-based approach to enhancing the carbon sequestration potential of drylands through strategically implemented silvopastoral systems. The planned presentations, speakers, and dialogue will reinforce sustainable management and restoration of drylands, aligning with global efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate change, thus increasing resilience and supporting the livelihoods dependent on these areas.

Objectives of the event include:

1. Establishing the scientific rationale for enhancing the role of dryland silvopastoral systems in carbon sequestration and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Reporting on the progress made by the joint initiative between the COFO WG on Drylands and the Bioversity-CIAT Alliance in exploring the potential of dryland silvopastoral systems for global decarbonization.

3. Presenting successful practices from various countries and regions to illustrate the mitigation and adaptation potential of silvopastoralism.

4. Addressing some core issues regarding the use of Silvopastoral Systems in a decarbonization complex, such as assessing, monitoring and governance.

Through these efforts, the event aims to deepen our understanding of how well-managed silvopastoral systems can contribute to climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods in dryland ecosystems.

• When: 5 December, 15:30-17:00

• Where: MET-04

• Lead Organizations: GIZ, WOCAT

Land has been identified as a large lever for transformation and achievement of targets of the Rio-Conventions, improving ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity increase, and food security.

The speakers will engage in the emerging debate around the relationship between sustainable land management and the scaling of agroecological practices based on the concrete practical example made by the global programme and its partners. Evidence and lessons learnt from the implementation of a global programme have shown that soil-focused SLM technologies and approaches can contribute to agroecological transformation processes in Africa and India, while removing greenhouse gases at low costs. Participants will gain insights into lessons learnt from partners in Benin and India – scaling agroecological practices for sustainable land management can work in both ways: top-down by integrating agroecology into institutional frameworks und bottom-up through community-led initiatives at grass-root level.

The standardized documentation and dissemination of good practices is crucial to allow for adoption and scaling in similar regional contexts. The global programme has done a tremendous effort to document 87 good practices on the global SLM database of WOCAT and has developed tools such as the Land Degradation Neutrality Decision Support System in Kenya to support scaling efforts of good practices at national level.

The programme has delivered studies and evidence on the economic viability and impacts of agroecological practices across multiple regional contexts, e.g. the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) was applied in Benin, Madagascar, Kenya and Ethiopia and proofed that agroecological practices result in environmental benefits esp. on biodiversity and soil health. The analysis also highlights that secure access to land is a key precondition for farmers to take decisions to invest in agroecological practices to achieve long-term sustainability. In addition, TAPE results for the study locations in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Madagascar show that fostering farmers’ agroecological transitions appears to be an effective strategy for increasing households’ net incomes and for significantly increasing the overall productivity of farming systems.

The following highlights will be featured:

• Lessons learnt from the integration of agroecological practices in the institutional framework in Benin.

• Insights from the grassroot-level: Adoption of agroecological practices for sustainable land management – from farms to scale: a perspective from India.

• Documentation and dissemination of good practices in the global SLM data base of WOCAT.

• Results of the application of the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) in Africa to measure the performance of good practices of a global programme on soil protection and rehabilitation.

• When: 5 December, 17:00-18:30

• Where: Food and Agriculture Pavilion

• Lead Organizations: CGIAR, ILC

• When: 5 December, 17:30 - 19:00

• Where: MET23, COP16 Blue zone, Area D

• Lead Organizer: IUCN

• Partners: IUCN, CA4SH, ICRAF, WWF International, 4 per 1000

Soil health is the foundation of sustainable food systems, ecosystem resilience, food security, as well as climate mitigation and adaptation. Yet, over one-third of the Earth’s surface is degraded, affecting 3.2 billion people globally. Though smallholders farmers play a critical role in maintaining healthy soil, they often lack access to necessary knowledge and resources. There are also few policies that incentivize farmers to invest in practices to improve soil health. 

This event will explore the socio-economic, policy, and practical aspects of conserving and enhancing soil health for food security and resilience. It will bring together soil policy advocates, researchers, investors, businesses, government, and farming communities to discuss strategies for integrating soil health into national and international policies, financing mechanisms, and on-the-ground practices. 

It will highlight the financial challenges faced by smallholder farmers and discuss innovative financing mechanisms to support the transition to regenerative practices. It will underscore the need for robust monitoring systems to inform evidence-based policy frameworks, address knowledge gaps, and track progress in soil conservation. 

It will address the critical need for multi-stakeholder action to enhance soil health, emphasizing the importance of integrated approaches that span across climate, land degradation, and biodiversity agendas. The discussion will focus on creating an equitable, transparent and multi-stakeholder enabling environment that supports sustainable land management and benefits smallholder farmers.

The event will serve as a platform to share ongoing work, such as IUCN’s Land Health Monitoring Framework and the Red List of Soil Species, as well as CIFOR-ICRAF’s research on soil health in the tropics. It will also feature the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health’s Call to Action, which aims to galvanize global commitment to embrace, adapt and endorse the critical role of soil health for a healthy planet and to accelerate multi-stakeholder efforts that will ultimately contribute to achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) goals and the integration of soil health in climate (Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs) and biodiversity agendas (National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

• When: 6 December 2024, 9:00 - 10:30

• Where: Side event (MET-08)

• Lead Organizations: TNC, WWF

• When: 6 December, 9:00 - 10:30

• Where: MET-05, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Lead Organizers: CA4SH, ICRAF, WWF International, 4 per 1000

• Partners: BSSS, YPARD, WBCSD

Land degradation continues to impact 3.2 billion people negatively. Healthy soil is an integral part of the solution, as it is the foundation of sustainable and regenerative food systems and provides vital ecosystem services. However, there are few policies that incentivize farmers and pastoralists to invest in practices to maintain and improve soil health. There is considerable international momentum around soil health, such as the Australian National Soil Strategy, the European Soil Strategy for 2030, the United Kingdom Soil Health Inquiry, and the Nairobi Declaration from the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit. However, translating these decisions into enabling policy mechanisms is not a linear path as countries still face major challenges in implementation. Moreover, multi-stakeholder action is needed to build an equitable and transparent enabling environment at multiple levels for supporting, financing, scaling, and monitoring healthy soil ecosystems. 

The event will highlight on-the-ground implementation and opportunities for evidence-based policy framework to contribute to food systems transformation and land restoration, from the soil up. It will bring together stakeholders from research, policy, development, farmer organizations, policymakers and governments to discuss opportunities to engage and integrate soil health into policy and strategies at national, regional and international level - and ultimately contribute to Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) goals. 

The panel will reflect upon the main challenges and entry points in bringing soil health to the table in policy, the current knowledge gaps and critical mechanisms that are needed to enable soil health to be better integrated into policy, and explore how global agreements such as the LDN goals can be translated into national level implementation. 

The Call to Action for Soil Health will be presented to galvanize support from member states and advance the commitments of the Soil Health Resolution. The Resolution, developed by CA4SH and 4 per 1000, provides a framework for member states and the COP Presidencies to embrace, adapt, and endorse the critical role of soil health for land restoration, food security, livelihoods, climate action, biodiversity, and to combat drought. The Call to Action aims to contribute to the COP16 and implementation of the UNCCD by raising global ambition and accelerating multi-stakeholder action to build healthy soil ecosystems and achieve LDN goals. 

• When: 6 December 2024, 11:00-12:30

• Where: Side event MET-01

• Lead Partners: ICRAF, AGRA

• When: 13:00-15:00

• Where: WOCAT-UNCCD Pavilion

• Organizers: Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and WOCAT

• When: 13:00-14:00

• Where: MET-05

• Lead Organizers: TMG

• When: 15:45-17:00

• Where: UNEP Pavilion, Blue Zone

• Organizers: UNEP, FAO

• When: 18:00-20:00

• Where: Governance, Blue Zone

• Organizers: GEOLDN, GIZ

• When: 9:00-10:30

• Where: MET-12

• Organizers: RAIN & IUAF & CIFOR-ICRAF

Description: Dry grasslands, which cover about 20% of the Earth’s land surface and are home to more than a billion people, are among the ecosystems most vulnerable to land degradation and desertification. They have few fans, no major efforts to save them, and are most prone to transformation to croplands or afforestation. The year 2026 will be the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, which makes COP16 the perfect opportunity to explore the immense potential for biodiversity and carbon sequestration of dry grasslands, the main drivers for their degradation, and their opportunities for restoration.

Dry grasslands are lands of paradoxes.  In those environments, adding trees can reduce the total carbon stock of the landscape, rather than improve it (through a reduction in soil carbon stocks). Raising the stocking rate of livestock can raise the amount of wildlife, rather than be in competition with it. And skilful management is multiple times more effective than capital investment at restoring dry grasslands to full productivity.

In this session, we will review the state of dry grasslands today, discuss some of the most effective ways to restore them and the evolving understanding of dry grassland processes by project funders. One finding, for example,is that youth engagement is essential to put pressure on policymakers to adopt optimised policy frameworks, and to provide the support communities and farmers need to change their management methods.

We will also discuss the ways in which policy, markets and finance influence dry grasslands. Policy can help at multiple scales, including in the design of projects and climate and environmental funding pools and. Innovative marketing can create new markets for dryland products. And a promising source of restoration finance flows from carbon offsets. 

But for carbon markets to work, they need agreed methodologies, and those tailored to dry grassland-specific conditions are limited or absent. That’s in part because of the difficulty of accurately measuring soil organic carbon and soil biomass at scale. But as we will see, that is an area where innovation is progressing rapidly,  with new tools and protocols offering unparalleled degrees of precision from remote sensing imagery.

This side event brings together scientists, youth activists, policymakers from north and south, and innovative dryland businesses to evolve a common understanding of how we can work together to take care of these vast, precious but unforgivably neglected ecosystems.

Objectives:

• Understand the unique challenges facing dry grasslands, their interplay with national policies, and how public participation, notably by youth, can support the effort for their preservation.

• Gain a basic understanding of the limits of set stocking and the advantages of adaptive grazing for the management  of dry grasslands.

• Understand the economic potential of dry grasslands, be it from the exploitation of unusual NTFPs, the monetisation of the recent progress in the rising accuracy of remote sensing derived data points about soil characteristics,  or the improvement in agronomic practices in high population density areas.

•  Insight into National and international policy processes influencing dryland restoration.

Speakers: 

• Johnson Ndokosho, Director of Forestry, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism of Namibia TBC

• Veruschka Dumeni, Head of  communications, outreach and engagement, RAIN (confirmed)

• Patrick Worms, President, IUAF and Science Policy Adviser, CIFOR-ICRAF (confirmed)

• Zvikomborero Tangawamira, Senior Programme Manager, Herding for Health, Peace Parks/Conservation International (Confirmed)

• Tor-Gunnar Vågen, Senior Scientist and head of the GeoScience lab, CIFOR-ICRAF (Confirmed)

• Josef Garvi, CEO, Sahara Sahel Foods, Niger (Confirmed)

• Nasreen Al-Amin, Surge Africa, Nigeria, (Confirmed)

• Corentin Genin, Focal Point GEF and UNCC, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation (Confirmed) 

• Bernard Crabbé, Head of Environment and Mainstreaming, DG INTPA, European Commission (Confirmed)

• When: 7 December, 9:00 - 10:30

• Where: MET-04, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Lead Organizers: YPARD & CA4SH

• Partners: ICRAF, UNCCD Youth Caucus, YOUNGO Food & Agriculture WG, WOCAT, Action on Food Hub, International Land Coalition

Women, youth, and marginalized communities often play a central role in managing and conserving land resources, and our meaningful involvement can significantly enhance the effectiveness of land restoration efforts. However, women and youth, especially young women, are often disadvantaged when it comes to ownership and access to land, undermining our indispensable contributions to food security and their communities. Actively addressing gender and age disparities in land tenure systems ensures that the diverse needs and perspectives of all community members are considered, leading to more sustainable and equitable environmental outcomes. 

In this event, speakers will uncover some of the key barriers for women and youth to access and manage land in their communities, and discuss strategies to overcome these challenges. 

To highlight the importance of inclusive and sustainable land management, speakers will showcase climate-smart, resilient agricultural models that are gender-responsive. These models can offer significant adaptation and mitigation benefits, accelerate progress towards Land Degradation Neutrality, improve living conditions for vulnerable populations, and bolster community resilience against the impacts of drought. 

With a special focus on land tenure, participants will gain insights into the opportunities and challenges of mainstreaming gender and youth in restoration programs, and the critical role that women, youth and marginalized communities play in restoring degraded land. 

By fostering a people-centered approach to land management, this event aims to mobilize global action, strengthen women’s land rights, promote youth engagement, and build partnerships that can drive the implementation of the UNCCD and contribute to the outcomes of COP16. 

• When: 11:00-12:30

• Where: MET-07, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Organizers: IUAF & CIFOR-ICRAF

Soils underpins food production, water filtration, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and the resilience of agro- and ecosystems. Yet almost everywhere on the planet, soil is (mis)managed by human beings seeking to meet nutrition, livelihoods, incomes and status goals. People weave considerations of urgency, expected returns and costs, community and family regard, access to markets and many others together to choose between management options ranging from the profoundly degenerative to the encouragingly regenerative.

Thanks to scientific insights and traditional knowledge, we know how to manage landscapes for higher productivity, more biodiversity, more soil carbon and better resilience, typically by mixing selected tree species into crop or grazing lands in a process known as agroforestry. And examples abound of communities that have successfully tackled land degradation and are enjoying better lives as a result. But they rarely include more than a small percentage of the land or of the population. 

Scaling them up and out is greatly facilitated once there is a broad social consensus in favour of regenerative practices. This is made possible by effective movements in favour of land and soil regeneration, undergirded by behavioural science. Encouraging the organic growth of such movements amongst smallholder farmers, who manage 24% of global agricultural land and produce over 30% of the world’s food, promises to deliver land restoration at multiple scales.

This side event will focus on the findings of behavioural science to drive adaptive behaviours that are self-reinforcing, review successful campaigns encouraging social change in African dryland contexts, and discuss how to encourage regenerative, collaborative and resilient behaviour between smallholders, communities, community groups and larger organisations. It will use the lenses of behavioural, evolutionary and complexity science to review examples of successful and unsuccessful movement buildings in African smallholder contexts.

Through keynotes, a fireside chat with speakers, and a Q&A session, participants will gain insights into the opportunities and challenges of using behavioural science to build effective movements for change across vast landscapes. The event will convene pioneers in landscape restoration, specialists in behavioural science, and proven practitioners of movement building.

Objectives:

• Integrate behavioural science in the design and implementation of land restoration efforts at various scales;

• Showcase examples of successful large scale land restoration in Africa, highlighting the crucial role of behavioural modification;

• Understand the interplay between various stakeholder groups in efforts to change behaviour at multiple scales;

• Understand the variance in drivers for behaviour change between key stakeholder groups, notably smallholders and officials, and women and men;

• Highlight how scalable land regeneration approaches and behaviours interplay to encourage the widespread adoption of effective landscape restoration practices.

Speakers:

• Volli Carucci, Head of Resilience and Climate Action Unit, WFP Regional Bureau for Western Africa , WFP (confirmed) 

• Paul Luu, Executive Secretary, International 4 per 1000 initiative  (confirmed)

• Martina Fleckenstein, Global Policy Director Food, WWF International (confirmed) 

• Joseph Merz, CEO, The Merz Institute (video recording) 

• Baba Ba, rangeland geographer, ILRI 

• Leigh Winowiecki, Soil and Land Health Global Research Lead, CIFOR-ICRAF (Confirmed)

• When: 11:00-12:00

• Where: IUCN Pavilion

• Organizers: IUCN

• When: 16:00-18:00

• Where: TBA

• Lead Organizations: UNCCD Youth Caucus, UNEP, UNCCD

Building on the recently launched UNCCD Youth Engagement Strategy and recognizing the critical role of young people in addressing the challenges of land degradation and desertification, the Global Youth Caucus on Land and Desertification (UNCCD Youth Caucus) together with the UNCCD secretariat, the host country of COP16, UNEP, UN Women, UNDP, AGFUND, ICESCO, IOM, ILO, Aeon collective, GIZ, LANDESA and Misk Foundation are organising a three-day forum aiming to empower young leaders, facilitate knowledge exchange, and catalyze action towards restoring and protecting our lands for future generations and will serve as a platform for youth to exchange ideas, build skills, and mobilize action towards a sustainable future for our lands. 

By empowering young leaders and fostering collaboration, we can make significant strides in addressing land degradation and desertification, contributing to global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the UNCCD as young people are stewards of the future, youth are key actors in driving positive change and fostering sustainable land management practices. 

Objectives:

1. Empower youth to become advocates for sustainable land management while amplifying youth voices and perspectives to increase the visibility of youth, building upon YES, the outcomes of the Youth Voices towards UNCCD COP16, and the Youth Caucus Call to Action. 

2. Encourage the different stakeholders to implement the YES and the activities identified to ensure the meaningful engagement of the youth

3. Foster collaboration and networking among young leaders working on land-related issues 

4. Provide a platform for knowledge exchange and capacity building on effective land restoration and conservation strategies fostering education and capacity building, especially for youth, on DLDD.

5. Generate innovative solutions and actionable recommendations to address land degradation and desertification.

6. Provide recommendations to the Parties to ensure the stronger, effective and meaningful participation of youth in meetings and process of the convention.

7.  Promote solutions and provide opportunities to young people particularly in the creation and establishment of green, decent and land-based jobs for youth. 

Main outcome of the Youth Forum:

• Joint Youth Statement to be presented to and adopted by the parties during COP16

The youth conference will be closed on the occasion of People’s Day on 7th December with the organization of a 2 hours high level event with the participation of the COP President, the Minister of Human Resources and Social of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, high rank government officials and youth representatives to present the outcomes of the conference and commitments for ensuring the meaningful engagement of the youth

• When: 18:00-19:30

• Where: MET-02

• Organizers: Stand for her Land, CIFOR-ICRAF, GIZ

• When: 6 December, 18:00 - 19:30

• Where: MET-01, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Lead Organizers: CA4SH, ICRAF, Peace Parks International, Conservation International, G20 Global Land Initiative

• Partners: AUDA-NEPAD, WWF International, Rabobank, IRLI, IUCN

Grasslands, savannahs and shrublands comprise over half of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, two-thirds (62 percent) of which are found across Africa. These ecosystems are integral to the livelihoods of an estimated 50 million pastoralists and directly support at least 200 million people. However, approximately 700 million hectares of these ecosystems are degraded, threatening water catchment, carbon sequestration, and community livelihoods. 

This side event will explore the critical role of sustainable livestock management in restoring rangelands, improving soil health, and mitigating climate change. It will highlight how properly managed livestock can serve as a mechanism to reverse rangeland degradation, enhance soil organic carbon (SOC), and promote ecosystem resilience. 

Key topics will include the profiling of grasslands and savannahs as well as soil carbon as integral to these solutions. The event will showcase successful conservation strategies that advance the wellbeing of communal livestock farmers, rebuild ecosystems resilience and sequester carbon. Evidence from community-led initiatives will demonstrate the economic, social, and environmental benefits of integrating livestock into land restoration efforts. These initiatives not only improve biodiversity and soil health but also provide economic value to farmers and pastoralists through improved livestock sales, leading to better livelihoods and food security.

A focal point will be the Herding for Health (H4H) model, a climate smart grazing approach for managing and restoring grasslands, savannahs and shrublands across Africa. The event will explore opportunities for scaling this model to achieve broader impacts. 

The event will focus on how these approaches can contribute to the broader UNCCD goals, including restoration of 1.5 billion hectares of degraded ecosystems by 2050. Emphasis will be placed on mobilizing investment in climate-smart, resilient agricultural models that offer both adaptation and mitigation benefits. The need for supportive policies and multi-stakeholder partnerships to scale these solutions will also be addressed. 

Participants will gain insights from a keynote presentation, a fireside chat with speakers, and a Q&A session, exploring the opportunities and challenges of using livestock as a mechanism for rangeland restoration. The event will conclude with a call to action for increased investment and collaboration in sustainable livestock management to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, improve soil health, and contribute to global development goals. 

• When: 16:00-17:30

• Where: TBA

• Organizers: WFP & CIFOR-ICRAF

• When: 9:00 - 10:00

• Where: Restoration Pavilion (G20 Global Land Initiative)

• Organizers: GLF, CIFOR-ICRAF, EU

• When: 9:45 - 10:45

• Where: Science-Policy Interface (SPI) Science Day

• Lead Organizations: UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI)

• When: 10 December, 13:00 - 14:30

• Where: MET-08, COP16 Blue Zone, Area A

• Lead Organizer: BSSS

This interactive session, chaired by pre-eminent scientist Prof Jack Hannam, will explore effective soil use and management to promote resilience and adaptation in the context of expanding land degradation, rising global temperatures, extreme weather events and large biodiversity loss. Addressing the challenges of soil degradation requires a varied toolbox that includes solutions from robust policy frameworks, private and public investment and effective governance mechanisms. Policy instruments are needed to support and prioritise soil conservation, restoration, and sustainable management and resilience.

This discussion session brings together policy advocates, researchers and practitioners, to delve into the multifaceted dimensions of soil policy, governance and the need for collaboration. Underpinned by science, we will discover innovative strategies, best practices, and emerging trends that highlight how various policy instruments can be used to safeguard soil health and promote sustainable land management practices.

Panel:

• Prof. Jack Hannam, BSSS President (Chair)

• Jean-Luc Chotte, IRD

• Dr Olga Andreeva, UNCCD

• Lulseged Tamene Desta, Alliance of Bioversity International

• When: 13:00-14:30

• Where: MET-02

• Organizer: TreeAid, CIFOR-ICRAF

• When: 10:00 - 11:00

• Where: Restoration Pavilion (G20 Global Land Initiative)

• Lead Organizations: WWF

This event will focus on the urgent global goal of restoring 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030, with an emphasis on grasslands, savannahs and rangelands, which are essential for food security, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. These ecosystems are increasingly under threat due to land conversion, degradation, and misguided afforestation efforts. The event will explore the intersection of finance, science, and partnerships to overcome key challenges in rangeland restoration, drawing on case studies and experiences from Kenya, Brazil, and other regions.

Drawing on a diverse range of experts, the event will examine how public and private sector financing can be better leveraged, how scientific monitoring plays a critical role in successful restoration, and how local communities can be empowered to sustainably manage their rangelands. By discussing lessons from ongoing projects, and lived experiences from pastoralist communities, the event aims to explore institutional and financial barriers that must be addressed to scale up restoration efforts.

Event Objectives:

• Explore how to enhance devolved finance for rangeland restoration.

• Identify how scientific monitoring can improve the effectiveness of restoration projects.

• Discuss the role of local communities in sustainable rangeland management and the synergies between livestock production and biodiversity conservation.

• Share lessons learned from restoration projects in Southern Kenya, USA, and beyond.

• When: 11 December, 13:00 - 14:30

• Where: MET-06

• Lead Organizers: ICRAF, CA4SH, WWF International, 4 per 1000, BSSS

• Partners: One Acre Fund, Rabobank, WBCSD

Soil is the foundation of our ecosystems, underpinning food production, water filtration, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and overall ecosystem resilience. Yet, financing for soil conservation and restoration has been fragmented and insufficient. This gap leaves farmers - especially smallholder farmers, who manage 24% of global agricultural land and produce over 30% of the world’s food - facing significant barriers to accessing financial support. The transition to regenerative practices, while essential for improving soil health, often leads to a short-term yield decrease before long-term benefits are realized. Without adequate support, many farmers struggle to bridge this gap. 

This side event will focus on mobilizing resources and innovative financing mechanisms to support soil health and land restoration at multiple scales - from farm-level initiatives to national and international strategies. We will explore how healthy soil can act as a critical ally in climate mitigation and adaptation, combating drought, conserving biodiversity, food security, and achieving the goals of Land Degradation Neutrality. The discussion will align with COP16’s agenda, particularly in terms of enhancing the resilience of ecosystems and communities to drought and desertification, with a strong emphasis on soil health and land restoration as a key strategy to achieve this resilience.  

Key areas of discussion will include emerging finance mechanisms such as carbon markets, repurposing subsidies, legislation, and blended finance approaches. The event will explore practical strategies for scaling soil health initiatives, emphasizing the importance of creating a supportive policy environment to attract and mobilize investments. The focus will be on actionable financial solutions that can be implemented at scale, directly benefiting farmers and ecosystems. 

The event will present concrete solutions that have been implemented on the ground, for example in the African context. The event will convene investors, policymakers, and practioners to explore concrete strategies that support farmers in their transition to sustainable land management and regenerative systems, thereby contributing to the overarching goals of the COP16.

• When: 13:00 - 14:30

• Where: TBA

• Organizers: Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT