The theme chosen for this year's Desertification and Drought Day — “United for Land: Our Legacy. Our Future.”

The United Nations seeks to draw attention to the sound management of land resources, which are the most valuable source of stability and prosperity for billions of people around the world.

Desrtification and Drought Day was established at the 49th session of the UN General Assembly and has been celebrated annually on June 17 since 1995. The date of the day was chosen to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention to Combat Desertification.

Arid ecosystems, covering more than a third of the Earth's land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and irrational use of land resources. Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi—arid and dry subhumid areas as a result of human activities and the effects of climate change. The problem of desertification affects the poorest segments of the world's population. All the daily decisions we make about what to buy, eat, drink, wear and how to travel have an impact on land resources.

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification will be held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, from December 2 to December 13, 2024.
 
The event on the occasion of the Desertification an will be organized by the Government of Germany. To register for the event, you must send an email to invitation@ddday2024.de .

Message from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the link.

Message from the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Ibrahim Tiau, at the link.

The program of the event is available at the link.