To learn more, stay tuned for our live coverage from the UNCCD COP16 on ThinkLandscape.
We’ve all heard of climate change and biodiversity loss. But what about the environmental crisis we forgot – one that could soon cost us half the world’s GDP?
That’s right: land degradation. Up to 40 percent of the Earth’s land is already degraded, affecting some 3.2 billion people.
From 2–13 December, world leaders will convene in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the 16th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16).
Will this be the year we take decisive action to halt and reverse land degradation – and heal our relationship with the land before it swallows us up?
In this third and final episode of our ‘What the COP?!’ series, we’ll cover some of the challenges and opportunities around desertification, land degradation and restoration.
Join us on Tuesday, 19 November at 11:00 UTC for a compelling discussion featuring Nancy Barisoa, gender and land co-facilitator at the UNCCD Youth Caucus; Beatriz Azevedo, counselor at the State of Ceará Environmental Council; and Billie Dumaliang, co-founder and advocacy director at the Masungi Georeserve Foundation. Azevedo and Dumaliang are both UNCCD Land Heroes.
‘What the COP?!’ is a series hosted by the Youth in Landscapes Initiative that aims to spotlight the most pressing and often overlooked issues in international climate negotiations, with a focus on perspectives and insights from young people in the Global South.
Nancy Barisoa Andriamiarimbola is a young leader from Madagascar. She serves as the gender and land co-facilitator at the UNCCD Youth Caucus and mentors young women on climate justice through the Women Environmental Programme. She is also the Youth in Landscapes Initiative Intern for Africa at the Global Landscapes Forum.
Beatriz Azevedo is a lawyer from northeastern Brazil. She currently serves as a counselor at the State of Ceará Environmental Council and is actively involved in consultancy projects focusing on climate finance and nature-based solutions. Beatriz co-founded the Verdeluz Institute, an NGO dedicated to environmental protection, and led the first Brazilian youth delegation to attend the UNFCCC and UNCCD COPs through Engajamundo.
Billie Dumaliang is the co-founder and advocacy director at the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, an organization dedicated to conserving a karst ecosystem near Metro Manila in the Philippines.
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