Under the impulsion of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP14 and COP15, FAO, UNCCD and their partners recognize great potential to advance the responsible governance, land rights, and tenure security agendas for scaling up a broad range of land restoration activities for the benefit of people and the planet.

UNCCD and FAO have launched a joint initiative about “Integrating tenure security into land restoration initiatives” for the period 2022-2024, with the results to be reported at UNCCD COP16 expected to be held in late 2024. While the work plan is for two years, it is seen as a stimulus and incubator for long-term commitments and processes that advance the following objectives, including to:

• Enhance awareness raising on the integration of governance of tenure to land restoration initiatives.
• Provide assistance to countries, upon request, to develop their governance of tenure strategies and action plans in the context of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and land restoration initiatives.
• Help develop capacities to formulate projects and programmes that attract sustained finance and additional resources.
• Support inclusive multi-stakeholder approaches at national and local levels to participation of all stakeholders, in particular those in situation of vulnerability and with specific attention given to women, youth and Indigenous People.
• Harness implementation synergies at the global, regional and national levels to develop lessons learnt exchanges, South-South cooperation, partnerships and collaboration.