Asia Pacific Regional Workshop of United National Convention to Combat Desertification-UNCCD was held in New Delhi this week.

• UNCCD was adopted in 1994 and entered into force 1996.
• It is only legally binding international agreement to address the problem of desertification and other land issues.
• It promotes good land stewardship and its end goal is to protect land from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide food, water and energy.
• The Convention addresses desertification and land issues specifically arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as drylands.

India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal Ministry for this Convention, as well as other two Rio Conventions -United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change (UNFCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity, have their genesis in Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio De Janerio, Brazil.