Over the past two decades, the Global Environment Facility has provided $5.2 billion to 674 land degradation projects and programs in 144 countries - leveraging another $35.4 billion in co-financing.
The world urgently needs to restore damaged ecosystems, with nearly 40% of the planet’s land degraded, impacting 3.2 billion people. Reversing ecosystems degradation can help to improve livelihoods, combat climate change, and conserve biodiversity.
Droughts are an increasingly visible sign of climate change with severe consequences for people, freshwater, and water security. They could impact three-quarters of the global population by 2050, and lead to disasters, food insecurity, migration, conflicts, and unrest.
The GEF seeks to achieve healthy and resilient ecosystems by promoting sustainable land management (SLM) and supporting land degradation neutrality (LDN). Policy coherence on the national level is crucial to addressing land degradation and drought. As a financial mechanism for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the GEF will continue to support countries’ efforts to reduce land degradation, desertification, and mitigate the effects of drought.
This infosheet - with data from the longer GEF Report to UNCCD COP16 - outlines the Global Environment Facility's investments and strategies in globally addressing land degradation, desertification, and drought.