United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification CoP-14

The fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties will take place from 2 to 13 September 2019 at the India Expo Center and Mart, in New Delhi, India.

The global Conference is expected to review the progress made, especially during the last two years, to control and reverse further loss of productive land from desertification, land degradation and drought. These are considered growing threats to peace and security in both developed and developing countries due to the widespread loss of livelihoods for communities and even entire regions.

The data and information submitted over the last two years by 135 of the 196 countries that are party to the Convention is the most extensive yet reported by governments on the national status of land degradation and the drivers behind it. These country reports combined with several major scientific assessments will be especially helpful in guiding the Conference to the most sustainable and cost-effective solutions in the global efforts to avoid and halt further loss of productive land and incentivize the recovery of degrading areas in order to improve the living conditions of the most affected and vulnerable populations.

Some of the new and relevant issues that are on the radar of the governments include the interaction between climate and land, optimizing the mix of food, energy and environment demands on land, the rural-urban link, the negative feedback of land degradation on poverty and human health, the tremendous opportunity sustainable value chains may provide, the role of the faith communities and the rapidly growing global movement on land restoration both of which are essential to achieving land degradation neutrality, which is a pivotal Agenda 2030 target.

Over 5,000 representatives from over 196 countries drawn from national, regional and local governments, science and research communities, the private sector, international and non-governmental organizations and all forms media will address these issues during the two-week event.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India is hosting the Conference and announced the new COP dates following further consultations with the secretariat of the Convention to ensure the greatest success of the Conference.
COP14 will take place exactly two years since the last Conference held on 6-16 September 2017 in Ordos in the People’s Republic of China.