July 31, 2024
Online at 9am EDT
Faith-based organizations, communities, and leaders have not just shown engagement, but have played a pivotal role in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution in recent years. Their strong connections with local communities, moral influence, and management of large land areas make them indispensable allies in combating land degradation and promoting restoration.
To strengthen this collaborative action, the G20 Global Land Initiative is taking a multi-stakeholder approach towards supporting the work of faith actors. This includes integrating faith-based perspectives into existing programs, launching new faith-focused initiatives, and developing a long-term strategy for sustained engagement. These efforts aim to support faith actors in actively participating in land and ecosystem restoration within their communities, as well as towards advocating for supportive policies in international forums, contributing their unique insights to shape context-specific restoration strategies across diverse geographical areas. This is particularly timely given the upcoming 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention, to be held 2-13 December 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
If you have any questions about this briefing or the G20 Global Land Initiative's faith engagement work, please contact Mr Gopal Patel, Faith Engagement Policy Consultant (gpatel@unccd.int).
Launched in 2020 by G20 leaders, the G20 Global Land Initiative aims to reduce land degradation by 50% globally by 2040. The Initiative Coordination Office is hosted by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).