United Nations University - EHS

🌱 Healthy land supports healthy ecosystems and healthy communities.

As puts the future of our land in the global spotlight, restoring degraded land is a key part of building a more resilient future.

Land restoration can bring benefits far beyond the land itself:

🌱 Improving soil fertility
💧 Increasing water retention
🌿 Supporting biodiversity
🚫 Preventing further land degradation
🤝 Supporting people and livelihoods

But successful restoration is about more than planting trees.

👉 Discover 5 key elements of and what it takes to revive degraded land: https://unu.edu/ehs/series/land-restoration-5-key-elements-reviving-our-earth

🌱 As puts land at the centre of global discussions, understanding how we track land degradation is more important than ever.

We rely on land for food, livelihoods, well-being and protection from hazards. But tracking land degradation is not always simple.

To achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, countries need reliable data, technical expertise, financing, strong institutions and local knowledge. For many vulnerable countries, these remain major challenges.

Monitoring land degradation means more than looking at maps. It means connecting satellite data, community knowledge, policy processes and local realities.

Because protecting and restoring land starts with understanding what is changing, where and for whom. 🌍

👉 Read 5 challenges in monitoring and reporting progress on Land Degradation Neutrality here: https://unu.edu/ehs/article/5-challenges-monitoring-and-reporting-progress-land-degradation-neutrality?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=EHS

Climate, biodiversity, land degradation and disaster risk are often treated as separate challenges. In reality, they are deeply connected.

So why do we still plan for them in silos?

In this new Perspectives article, UNU-EHS expert Lisa Hartmann explores why connecting environmental agendas isn’t about creating new frameworks, but making the ones we already have work better together.

As gets underway, it’s a timely reminder that the crises we face are interconnected. Our actions should be too.

🔗 Read the article to learn more:

https://unu.edu/ehs/article/climate-biodiversity-land-and-disasters-are-connected-our-actions-should-be-too

Zoom out and you’ll find the people behind urban climate action.

📸🌱

From restoring mangroves to growing food in the heart of the city, transforming our urban spaces starts with people taking action where they live.

For , we’re looking back at some of the images from our Transformative Urban Coalitions photo competitions that captured just that: people helping make their cities greener, more resilient and better places to live.

Sometimes, you just need the bigger picture. 🌍

🐝 What do coffee, apples, cherries and avocados have in common?

They are just some of the foods that benefit from the work of pollinators.

Bees and other pollinators play an important role in our food systems and ecosystems, supporting plant reproduction and biodiversity. 🌱🌸

For , put your eyes to the test with this puzzle from FAO. 👀🔎

How many foods can you find?

Via FAO

🌍 You have probably heard of the Climate COP. But what about the COP for land?

From 17 to 28 August, countries are meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for , the latest Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

This is where countries come together to tackle some very practical challenges: land degradation, desertification and drought.

And the stakes are high. Nearly 40 per cent of the world’s land is already degraded. We depend on that land for food, livelihoods, water, healthy ecosystems and protection from hazards.

COP17 is also the first of the three Rio Convention COPs taking place this year, followed by the biodiversity and climate COPs. What happens to our land is closely linked to both.

🤔 New to the UNCCD COP? We have you covered.

Here are 5 things to know about the COP, why it matters and how it connects to the other big environmental challenges we face.

👉 Read more: https://unu.edu/ehs/article/5-things-you-should-know-about-unccd-cop

🔍 Your turn!

The first word you see reveals the kind of city you’d help build.

👀 What’s yours?

⛔ No cheating.
⛔ No reading the comments first.
➡️ Swipe to see all the hidden words.

Then tell us: which one found you first? 👇

El Niño is expected to continue strengthening over the coming months. 🌎

According to the latest WMO Global Seasonal Climate Update, forecasts indicate that the current El Niño event is likely to intensify into a strong event.

A stronger El Niño can influence weather patterns worldwide, affecting rainfall, temperatures and the likelihood of climate extremes in different regions. Understanding these seasonal outlooks helps governments, communities and decision-makers prepare for potential impacts.

Via the World Meteorological Organization