Panama: Twenty-one countries across Asia, Latin America, and Europe are advancing their efforts to prepare reports for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), focusing on monitoring land degradation and pursuing land degradation neutrality (LDN). These efforts are receiving technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
According to EMM, FAO is assisting countries in strengthening their institutional and technical capacities to assess land degradation and progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 15.3.1. This ensures the submission of consistent, high-quality information via the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS). As part of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Techniques (WOCAT) Consortium, FAO, along with the WOCAT Executive team, has developed and tested an innovative approach for LDN reporting during the fourth UNCCD reporting period from 2019 to 2022.
National reporting is a pivotal element of the UNCCD, allowing parties to track trends, analyze degradation drivers, and adopt evidence-based decisions that enhance livelihoods, restore landscapes, safeguard biodiversity, and build resilience. FAO’s commitment to strengthening technical capacities and supporting inclusive, participative reporting processes is central to this initiative. By working with national teams, FAO experts are developing analytical tools for data comparison and contributing to national LDN decision-support systems.
The initiative showcases the progress made by countries like Paraguay, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. For instance, Paraguay’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development highlighted the country’s commitment to a participatory reporting process. Similarly, the Dominican Republic’s inception meeting focused on utilizing high-resolution data for enhanced reporting. In Peru, a technical workshop aimed to strengthen national capacities for reporting on SDG 15.3.1.
Bhutan has also launched its 2026 UNCCD National Reporting process, marking a significant step in strengthening its national capacity for sustainable land management. The National Soil Services Centre, supported by FAO, organized a technical workshop to develop Bhutan’s national land degradation map and refine its LDN Decision Support System.
In addition to these countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Mongolia, and Panama have initiated their reporting processes, while others like Brazil, China, and Nigeria are working on institutional arrangements to begin technical activities for reporting.