United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa
Type	Multilateral environmental agreement
Context	Environmentalism, Desertification
Drafted	17 June 1994 (1994-06-17)
Signed	14 October 1994 – 13 October 1995
Location	Bonn, Germany New York, United States
Effective	26 December 1996 (1996-12-26)
Condition	Ratification by 50 States
Parties	197 All 193 UN Member States  Cook Islands  European Union  Niue  Palestine
Depositary	Secretary-General of the United Nations
Languages	Arabic Chinese English French Russian Spanish
Full text
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification at Wikisource

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements.

The Convention, the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference's Agenda 21, was adopted in Paris, France, on 17 June 1994 and entered into force in December 1996. It is the only internationally legally binding framework set up to address the problem of desertification. The Convention is based on the principles of participation, partnership and decentralization—the backbone of good governance and sustainable development. It has 197 parties, making it near universal in reach.

To help publicise the Convention, 2006 was declared "International Year of Deserts and Desertification" but debates have ensued regarding how effective the International Year was in practice.^[1]

Ibrahim Thiaw was appointed as Under Secretary General of the United Nations and UNCCD Executive Secretary on 31 January 2019.^[2]