Skip to main content
TranslateTranslate

User account menu

  • My Account User menu
Hosted on IWRM
Action
Hub
IWRM Action Hub
  • Overview
  • Communities
  • Drought Toolbox
  • Cases
    • Case Studies
    • Case Study Competition
    • Photo Exhibition
UNCCD Communities

Global Community

Request to join

Primary tabs

  • About
  • Stream(active tab)
  • Blog
  • Materials
  • Events
  • Discussions
  • Opportunities
  • Members

Membership Notice

You are not a member of this community, which means you can view parts of it (according to community policy or permissions set per content). You cannot interact with it (like, post comments or add new content), unless you become its member. To do so, you need to request to join or be invited, after logging in.

Chairs and co-chairs

Sara Riade
Consultant
,
UNCCD
Juliet Grace Luwedde
UNCCD Youth Caucus Global Focal Point
,
UNCCD Youth Caucus
Ilyas Masih
Associate Professor of Water Resources Planning
,
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Ali Darvishi Boloorani
Professor
,
Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran
Manzoor Qadir
Research Professor
,
UNU
  • Dieudonne ILBOUDO

    Dieudonne ILBOUDO posted in Global Community

    1 week ago Visibility Public

    ๐‘พ๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’, ๐‘ฒ๐’†๐’š ๐‘จ๐’๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ญ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐‘จ๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’”๐’• ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’”๐’†๐’“๐’•๐’Š๐’‡๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’Š๐’ ๐‘จ๐’‡๐’“๐’Š๐’„๐’‚

    Desertification affects a large part of Africa and threatens food security, water resources, and the livelihoods of millions of people. Yet, at the heart of this struggle, one essential actor stands out : women.

    ๐‘ฎ๐’–๐’‚๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’‚๐’๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’๐’‚๐’๐’…
    In Africa, women produce up to 70% of local food. They cultivate, fetch water, preserve seeds, and know the soil better than anyone. This close relationship with nature places them on the front lines against the effects of drought and land degradation.

    ๐‘ช๐’๐’๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’† ๐’”๐’๐’๐’–๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’”
    Across the continent, women-led initiatives are transforming the fight against desertification:
    โ€ข tree planting and agroforestry,
    โ€ข farming techniques that retain water and restore soils,
    โ€ข transforming invasive plants into organic compost, biochar, and biogas,
    โ€ข turning local plants into income sources (honey, moringa, soap).
    These actions revive the land and ensure the food security of communities.

    ๐‘ถ๐’ƒ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’„๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’†
    Despite their central role, women rarely own the land they cultivate (less than 20% in sub-Saharan Africa). They also have less access to finance and training.

    ๐‘พ๐’‰๐’š ๐’Š๐’๐’—๐’†๐’”๐’• ๐’Š๐’ ๐’˜๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’?
    Studies show that giving women the same land rights and resources as men could reduce global hunger by 12 to 17% (FAO and Action Against Hunger). This demonstrates how crucial their involvement is for a sustainable future.

    In conclusion, women are pillars of resilience in the fight against desertification. By granting them more resources, rights, and recognition, we not only strengthen the battle against land degradation but also promote social justice and safeguard the future of generations to come.

    Total amount of likes
    2 likes
    Dislike 0
  • โ€ชLaith โ€ฌโ€ Ali Naji posted in Global Community

    2 weeks ago Visibility Public

    How Smart Tech Is Helping Catch Precious Water Thatโ€™s Flowing Away

    Imagine a huge pipe network under your city, carrying water to peopleโ€™s homes. Now picture one-third of that water (enough to fill thousands of swimming pools) just vanishing into leaks, theft, or bad bills every year. Fixing leaks with traditional methods can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Itโ€™s costly, slow, and often misses hidden issues. Even worse, analyzing data by hand is error-prone and overly complex for many teams to manage (UNDP).

    ๐Ÿ“– You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
    ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

    Hereโ€™s where smart, data-powered tools come in (think of them as super-sleuth gadgets for water systems). Two technologies team up to make this happen:

    1. Internet of Things (IoT), which is like putting tiny, connected sensors (smart meters) across the water pipes, watching how much flows and how fast, around the clock.
    2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is like teaching a computer to spot unusual patternsโ€”such as pressure dropping in the middle of the night or flow spiking in one spot.

    Together, these tools turn data into clues. They help water teams find trouble spots quickly and accurately (without sending field crews everywhere).

    UNDPโ€™s Accelerator Lab worked with the startup FlowLess to test this smart system, so it was much cheaper than expensive foreign alternatives and adapted to different local water networks and needs, and the team remained open to feedback and improvements.
    ๐Ÿ“– You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
    ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF
    Read more:
    ๐Ÿ‘‰https://lnkd.in/e3h_E-gh
    ๐Ÿ‘‰https://lnkd.in/eYcKxv4P).

    Total amount of likes
    2 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Doctora en Ciencias Gerenciales. Doctora en Ecologรญa del Desarrollo Humano  Investigador postdoctoral.l

    Saida Rivero created a new resource in Global Community.

    1 month ago
    Resource

    Drought hotspots around the world 2023-2025

  • Sara Riade posted in Global Community

    1 month ago Visibility Public

    ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ Join Us for the UNCCD CLP Learning Exchange on Combating Sand and Dust Storms ๐ŸŒ
    ๐Ÿ—“๏ธ Date: July 15, 2025
    ๐Ÿ•™ Time: 10:00โ€“11:00 (CET)
    ๐Ÿ“ Virtual Event (Zoom)
    ๐Ÿ”— Register here: https://lnkd.in/djpW_xKC

    To mark the International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms, the UNCCD Global Communities for Learning and Practice (UNCCD-CLP) is organizing a special Learning Exchange webinar focused on the serious environmental, health, and socioeconomic challenges posed by Sand and Dust Storms (SDS) โ€” and what we can do to address them.
    ๐Ÿ” What to Expect:
    Presentations by two distinguished international experts
    Insights on SDS source mapping, impact assessment, and mitigation strategies
    An interactive Q&A session to foster dialogue and knowledge-sharing

    ๐ŸŽค Featured Speakers:

    Prof. Ali Darvishi Boloorani, University of Tehran & UNCCD-CLP Co-Chair โ€“ Dust Source Mapping & Mitigation Strategies

    Prof. Peter Tozer, Massey University โ€“ Impact Assessment: Environmental, Health, and Economic Perspectives

    โœ… Expected Outcomes:
    Enhanced understanding of SDS and its connection to drought and land degradation
    Strengthened collaboration among experts, practitioners, and policymakers
    Actionable recommendations for SDS-related policy and program development

    This session is ideal for professionals and practitioners working in:
    ๐Ÿœ๏ธ Sand and Dust Storms
    ๐ŸŒพ Drought resilience
    ๐Ÿ›ฐ๏ธ Early warning systems
    ๐ŸŒ Sustainable land management

    ๐Ÿ“ฉ Register now via the link above and feel free to reach out for more details. We look forward to your participation!

    Total amount of likes
    6 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Ilyas Masih posted in Global Community

    1 month ago Visibility Public

    Dear All,

    I am pleased to share my paper published in NHESS Journal (An evaluation of the alignment of drought policy and planning guidelines with the contemporary disaster risk reduction agenda, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2155โ€“2178, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2155-2025, 2025)! You can freely download the paper at the journal website: https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/2155/2025/

    This study evaluates 12 sets of drought policy and planning guidelines for their alignment with the four priority areas of the SENDAI framework. The guidelines do not align very well with the contemporary disaster risk reduction agenda. The study highlights strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and provides useful insights to develop the next generation of drought guidelines that are better aligned with contemporary scienceโ€“policyโ€“practice agendas.

    Hopefully this work will contribute to supporting the accelerated transition towards improved drought risk reduction and management and building the resilience of societies and ecosystems to droughts under changing climate and increasing anthropogenic pressures.

    I am happy to discuss this work if you have any questions or would like to collaborate.

    Kind regards,
    Ilyas Masih

    Total amount of likes
    3 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Dieudonne ILBOUDO

    Dieudonne ILBOUDO posted in Global Community

    2 months ago Visibility Public

    Combating Desertification in Africa : Zainerโ€™s Contribution to SDG 15 (Life on Land)

    Zainer is a low-cost machine for climate resilient agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions.

    The Zainer is a vertical soil drill, mounted on a two wheeled cart and powered by a small 5hp petrol engine. Excavated soil is deposited on the down-stream side of the Zaรฏ pit to make sure that run-off water from the field is directed into the pit for local infiltration. The design of the Zainer has been optimized for fuel efficiency and drilling speed to minimize the operational costs for the farmer.
    Operating the Zainer can be comfortably done by both female and male farmers. Depending on the soil conditions, farmers are able to produce up to 17 Zaรฏ plantholes per minute and 1 ha of land can be prepared within 5 days (compared to 300 hours of labor for manual Zaรฏ). The drill bit can easily be replaced and be adapted to different soil conditions and desired plant hole dimensions.
    Due to climate change, rainfall patterns in Africa have become less predictable. As a result, African farmers are experiencing production losses for their main rainfed crops. This climate instability, combined with increasing land degradation linked to desertification, poses a serious risk to food security and family incomes, particularly for smallholder farmers.
    Indigenous conservation and regenerative agriculture practices can largely mitigate these risks and help combat desertification, but farmers consider these traditional practices too labor-intensive and economically unviable.
    Affordable mechanization of climate-smart agricultural practices can overcome these drawbacks. An organization called Practica has therefore initiated the development of a simple tool to quickly and inexpensively produce small basins or pits for local rainwater retention. This tool is called "Zaรฏner," in reference to the traditional West African practice of creating small planting holes, called Zaรฏ.
    This innovative tool aims to strengthen the resilience of soils and farmers in the face of desertification and climate change.


    Total amount of likes
    5 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Dieudonne ILBOUDO

    Dieudonne ILBOUDO posted in Global Community

    2 months ago Visibility Public

    The man who stopped the desert : Yacouba Sawadogo

    โ€œFor turning barren land into forest and demonstrating how farmers can regenerate their soil with innovative use of indigenous and local knowledge.โ€

    Yacouba Sawadogo (1946-2023) was known as โ€œthe man who stopped the desertโ€. Starting around 1980 during a phase of severe drought, he successfully created an almost 40-hectare forest on formerly barren and abandoned land. Today, it has more than 60 species of trees and bushes and is arguably one of the most diverse forests planted and managed by a farmer in the Sahel.

    Sawadogoโ€™s remarkable success builds on experimenting with traditional planting pits for soil, water and biomass retention, called โ€œzaรฏโ€ in the local language. He continued innovating the technique over the years, increasing crop yields and successfully planting trees. Despite facing resistance from locals in the beginning โ€“ Sawadogo was called a โ€œmadmanโ€ and saw his forest set on fire โ€“ he never considered giving up. Over time, people came to admire his work.

    Always eager to share his knowledge, Sawadogo trained thousands of visitors from the region and beyond, and empowered farmers to regenerate their land. As a result, tens of thousands of hectares of degraded land have been restored to productivity in Burkina Faso and Niger. Those who adopt Sawadogoโ€™s techniques often become food secure, as zaรฏ help to conserve rainwater and improve soil fertility. Trees planted together with the crops serve to enrich the soil, produce fodder for livestock and create business opportunities like beekeeping. This helps farmers adapt to climate change, reduce rural poverty and prevent local resource and water-related conflicts.


    Total amount of likes
    2 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Headshot of researcher in a snowy forested area

    Tessa Maurer created a new resource in Global Community.

    2 months ago
    Resource

    Webinar 2 | Unveiling the World Drought Atlas: Risks, Pathways, and Regional Perspectives

  • Headshot of researcher in a snowy forested area

    Tessa Maurer created a new resource in Global Community.

    2 months ago
    Resource

    Webinar 2 | Unveiling the World Drought Atlas: Risks, Pathways, and Regional Perspectives

  • Ilyas Masih posted in Global Community

    2 months ago Visibility Public

    Dear CLP members,
    It is a great pleasure and honour for me to be part of this diverse global community as a co-chair. I am looking forward to working with you to contribute towards our shared goals of addressing droughts, reversing desertification and building resilience against disasters across the globe.
    In this message, let me briefly introduce myself. I am working as an Associate Professor of Water Resources planning at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft the Netherlands. My educational background is multi-disciplinary, with a PhD degree in hydrology and water resource, MPhil in Water Resources Management and BSc in Agricultural Engineering. I have about 25 years of professional experience on a wide range of hydrology, water management and disaster risk issues across several countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. I am deeply committed to contribute to address global water, land and drought related challenges. I am passionate to bridge the science-policy-practice gaps, and enjoy working with transdisciplinary actors from these arenas. I am actively participating in various drought and water management related networks including IAHS network on Drought in the Anthropocene and UN-Water SDG6 Capacity Development Initiative.

    At DiTA network, I am coordinating a webinar series on bridging the science-policy-practice gap. Taking this opportunity, I warmly invite you to the upcoming webinar planned on 26th June (see flyer).

    Looking forward to working with you to drive the positive change!
    Yours sincerely,
    Ilyas Masih

    Total amount of likes
    2 likes
    Dislike 0
  • Pagination

    • Load More
Contact us: clp@unccd.int
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of use
Hosted on IWRM
Action
Hub