Global Community

I'm sharing an event to take place on December 4 & 5 --
Event Name: CIEDM Actions on Soil Biodiversity @ Arcadia Ecohome
Event Description: As a CIEDM conservation scientist and a member of the FAO Global Soil Partnership’s International Network on Soil Biodiversity (NETSOB) and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Health Scholar, Dr. Edward Huang will lead a 2-day local grassroots event to support and take part in the global celebrations of both the 2025 Wildlife Conservation Day and World Soil Day, respectively, on December 4 and 5. The CIEDM actions include event registrations with both wildlifeday.org and FAO, an engagement of leave-the-leaves cleanup of the Arcadia Ecohome's micro-forest which is a Certified Wildlife Habitat and a Certified Pollinator Habitat, a gardening work to add up the forest floor’s sponge layer with organic matters so as to enrich the soil and its ecoservice capacities including enhancement as water, heat and carbon sinks, a bioblitz walk in the forest to observe and record our discoveries of critters, insects, worms, fungus & other creatures, and a social media campaign to raise public awareness of the WCD and WSD significances and messages.

As a new member of this community, I'm delighted to briefly introduce myself: I'm an academic and practitioner in the field of urban and environmental planning, with an interest in nature/resources/water conservation. I've lived and worked for 40+ years in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, a part of the arid US Southwest region, and on daily basis encountered/crossed challenges and news about drought, heatwaves, wildfires, flash floods and other climate issues in this region and beyond. I'm glad to be here to share and learn with all of you in this community.

Exploring Challenges and Opportunities for Africa’s Landscapes – A Pathway to Mitigating Drought Impact
CLP Africa Webinar – November 12, 2025

We extend our sincere thanks to all those who participated in the CLP Africa webinar held on November 12, 2025, which focused on the challenges and opportunities for African landscapes in the face of increasing droughts.

This exchange provided an opportunity to share scientific analyses, field experiences, and innovative approaches to strengthening climate resilience across the continent.
Watch the webinar again
You can now watch the full recording of the session on our YouTube channel:

Download the presentations
All documents and presentation materials used during the webinar are available for download in the dedicated Drive folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1idsT0w8xR3-1oN3SA0i7WIrtE-IMksd…

Thank you again for your participation and commitment to a more resilient future for Africa. Let's remain mobilized for the protection and restoration of our landscapes.

Dear CLP Members, Dear All,
You are warmly invited to this webinar organized by IAHS - International Association of Hydrological Sciences working group on Drought in the Anthropocene Network (DitA).

📢 This is the third DiTA webinar of 2025 focusing on the theme “Bridging Science-Policy-Practice Gaps in Support of Drought Risk Management and Resilience Building”. The discussion will be inspired by three invited presentations:

💡 Drought impacts and community adaptation: Perspectives on the 2020–2023 drought in East Africa, by Rhoda Odongo, PhD researcher at VUAmsterdam-IVM

💡Breaking down systemic complexity: conceptual models to inform the understanding and management of drought risks, by Davide Cotti, Senior Research Associate at United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

💡Measuring Dryland Biodiversity in (West) Asia -- A critical revisit of the metrics, by Suyu Liu, Co-Chair of UNCCD Community of Learning and Practice -- Asia

🔔 The focus of this webinar aligns with recent activities within the DiTA working group, including the Drought Resilience +10 Conference, discussions at the Unccd Convention (COP16), Integrated drought Management Programme, and many other international, regional and local initiatives related to drought risk reduction and management. This webinar aims to make a tangible contribution to advance these discussions and help understanding and bridging the science-policy-practice gaps.

📍 Kindly note that this is a public event and no prior registration is required. Feel free to communicate this to relevant people.

𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏, 𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂

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.

𝑮𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅
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.

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔
Across the continent, women-led initiatives are transforming the fight against desertification:
• tree planting and agroforestry,
• farming techniques that retain water and restore soils,
• transforming invasive plants into organic compost, biochar, and biogas,
• turning local plants into income sources (honey, moringa, soap).
These actions revive the land and ensure the food security of communities.

𝑶𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆
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.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏?
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.

How Smart Tech Is Helping Catch Precious Water That’s Flowing Away

Imagine a huge pipe network under your city, carrying water to people’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. It’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).

📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

Here’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 patterns—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).

UNDP’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.
📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF
Read more:
👉https://lnkd.in/e3h_E-gh
👉https://lnkd.in/eYcKxv4P).