United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

www.unccd.int
HQ: Bonn, Germany
Focal Point: Dmitri Lee

Email: [email protected] 

The entity may not report waste data for all its personnel. Please refer to the entity's personnel chart below for more information.
All entity personnel are included in the entity's greenhouse gas emission inventory.

MISSION

Adopted as a direct recommendation of the 1992 Rio Summit, UNCCD is the only international legally binding instrument to effectively tackle desertification and the effects of drought. As such it has brought attention to the immense challenges of land degradation and its impacts on some of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world. Today, the UNCCD enjoys almost universal membership with 193 Parties and is recognized as one of the Rio Generation conventions that make a lasting contribution to the achievement of global sustainable development and poverty reduction.

FIELD OFFICES 

6 liaison offices and the HQ in Bonn, Germany 

https://www.unccd.int/about-us/contacts 

EMS AND REDUCTION EFFORTS

  • Improve the environmental soundness of building management practices at our Headquarters by centralizing services for all co-located agencies with a service provider committed to the objectives of green management

  • Promote the use of public transport services and bicycles

  • Include offsetting costs in fund-raising strategy (special voluntary fund), relevant annexes of Host Country Agreements as well as in the travel plan

  • Green procurement

Each year, as part of the Greening the Blue Report on Environmental Governance, each participating UN entity’s progress on the development of an Environmental Management System (EMS) is evaluated according to the UN system’s EMS criteria (these criteria are available on the Methodology webpage). Upon this evaluation the entity is then rated Exceeds, Meets, Approaches, or No response. For the 2022 reporting year, UNCCD’s progress on the EMS is rated as: No response.

ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS AND STANDARDS IN POLICIES, PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

For the 2022 reporting year, UNCCD’s status of implementing environmental and social safeguards and standards in their policies, projects and programmes is: No response.

OFFSETTING

  • The UNCCD is already maintaining its climate neutrality.  It will continue to cut emissions so that as little as to be compensated through the offsetting scheme. 

  • The UNCCD has signed an agreement with UNFCCC for five years starting from 2019 to 2023 to offset the emissions and to be climate neutral through reducing the maximum extent possible the GHG emissions associated with the facility operations and travel of UNCCD.  

  • The UNCCD Secretariat has engaged in the system-wide UN reflection on the emission reduction strategy. As a result of this process and based on objective considerations, such as core mandate, size and administrative arrangements, the Secretariat has chosen to address the question through the specific topic of the environmental impact generated by the statutory governing bodies' meetings of the Convention.  

  • As process-wise this constitutes the main challenge in terms of greenhouse gas impact, the Secretariat is committed to enhance its meeting management and planning approach, including scheduling of back-to-back meetings, interviews and trainings that might reduce emissions.  

  • The Secretariat is firmly dedicated to further reduce carbon emissions through pioneering and diversified approaches based on systematic exploration, testing and assessment of innovative and green solutions, including virtual and paperless meetings as well as staff personal commitment.

NEXT STEPS

The UNCCD Secretariat has engaged in the system-wide UN reflection on the emission reduction strategy. As a result of this process and based on objective considerations, such as core mandate, size and administrative arrangements, the secretariat has chosen to address the question through the specific topic of the environmental impact generated by the statutory governing bodies' meetings of the Convention.

As process-wise this constitutes the main challenge in terms of greenhouse gas impact, the secretariat is committed to enhance its meeting management and planning approach, including scheduling of back-to-back meetings that might reduce emissions generated by delegates and UN staff travel by up to half.

The secretariat is firmly dedicated to further reduce carbon emissions through pioneering and diversified approaches based on systematic exploration, testing and assessment of innovative and green solutions, including virtual and paperless meetings as well as staff personal commitment.