The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a multilateral environmental agreement, which is a type of international convention and the only legally binding framework focused on land degradation and drought. It was adopted in Paris on June 17, 1994, and entered into force on December 26, 1996, after receiving 50 ratifications. The Convention originated from a direct recommendation of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, which recognized the urgent need to address desertification, particularly in Africa. The problem it addresses is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, which leads to significant social and economic consequences like poverty, food insecurity, and mass migrations.
The UNCCD works by obligating its 197 parties to develop National Action Programmes (NAPs) that incorporate long-term strategies for combating desertification and mitigating drought effects. Its core mechanism is built on the principles of participation, partnership, and decentralization, encouraging a bottom-up approach that involves local communities and stakeholders. A key provision is the establishment of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST) under Article 24 to identify research priorities and strengthen cooperation among researchers.
The UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions, connecting directly to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with Article 8 encouraging coordination among them to maximize benefits and avoid duplication. A major recent change occurred in 2017 at the Conference of the Parties (COP 13), which adopted the UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework. This framework replaced the previous strategy and established Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), which is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal Target 15.3, as a central goal for the Convention.