This news is a wake-up call. Capetonians, the time to rise is now. We must take firm control of our land and secure our future. No more passivity—stand up, be counted, and take back what is ours. The responsibility lies with us.

#TakeBackTheLand #OurLandOurFuture #LandJustice #NowIsTheTime

🌍 Happy #WorldEnvironmentDay!

It’s time to act for #OurLandOurFuture —starting with solutions that restore and sustain our planet.

Trust Funds in our climate & environment portfolio help:

🌳 Grow forests
💧 Revive water sources
🌾 Restore soils
🔗 Learn more: lnkd.in/eAPgzU4t

#ClimateAction

At #COP16Riyadh, President Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Saudi Arabia, gaveled the largest-ever UNCCD COP to a close at 2:05 am on Saturday, 14 December 2024. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Committee of the Whole resumed at 1:30 am on Saturday morning. Parties were unable to adopt a substantive decision on negotiating a #drought framework or protocol, and decided to try to adopt a decision at COP17 in Mongolia. #OurLandOurFuture

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Plenary convened at 8:26 pm to briefly to elect officers, adopt decisions and adopt the Riyadh Political Declaration. The Plenary suspended at 8:40 pm to await the outcomes of consultations on #drought & adopt the budget #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Committee of the Whole began at 7:10 pm & adopted 15 decisions including on synergies, #migration, land tenure, sand and dust storms, #gender, and grasslands and rangelands. They suspended at 7:40 pm, awaiting final resolution on #drought & the budget. #OurLandOurFuture

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the waiting game continues as informal consultations on #drought are ongoing and some are worried there may not be agreement on either a protocol or framework. All other decisions are agreed and ready to be adopted. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Committee on Science and Technology held its closing plenary and adopted 8 decisions, including on the future work of the Convention's Science-Policy Interface. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land #UNCCDCOP16

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, tired delegates worked until 4:30 in the morning and then reconvened at 10:00 am Friday to finish the final 4 decisions on #gender, synergies, among others. The decision on #drought is being discussed as well #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

Positive photo day 1731: The venue for UNCCD
#COP16Riyadh is a bit spooky at night, as people and their shadows walk past one of the big photos of Saudi tourist attractions. Didn't finish work until nearly midnight. #OurLandOurFuture #travelphotography

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) held its closing plenary & adopted all 8 decisions under its mandate. Closing plenaries for the other committees will not convene til Friday as negotiations continue. #OurLandOurFuture

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, negotiations are going down to the wire as delegates try to finalize draft decisions on a number of issues including #drought, grasslands and rangelands, and participation of civil society in meetings of the COPs, to name a few. #OurLandOurFuture

Positive photo day 1729: Even though we are working hard, sometimes we get to explore the venue and see what else is going on. So here are some random photos from the exhibition area at the meeting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) #COP16Riyadh #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

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Healthy soils drive#SDG8 by boosting agriculture, creating jobs, supporting rural economies, fostering innovation, and ensuring resilience against climate shocks.

#COP16 #Soils #COP16Riyadh #OurLandOurFuture

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh Tuesday morning the venue appeared quiet but inside contact groups were busy working on a backlog of draft decisions that are supposed to be adopted by Friday on issues incl. #drought, land tenure, #migration, and aridity trends. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, Jeminah Micere Njuki, @unwomen.bsky.social, said "Synergies not silos create solutions." "So much more remains to be done and now is the time for gender responsive implementation of the #RioConventions." #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the second open civil society dialogue focused on the role of civil society, youth and Indigenous Peoples to successfully address desertification, land degradation and drought. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh: Inspiring stories from the open CSO dialogue: China Green Foundation described how the Million Forest project led to planting 2.6 million trees, using a simple crowd-funding approach by to celebrate the "birthday of their music idol" #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh open dialogue, keynote speaker
@ilo.org Deputy Director-General Celeste Drake highlighted a new report that found investing in nature-based solutions can create up to 32 million new jobs by 2030.
#OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At #COP16Riyadh, the 2nd Open Dialogue focused on civil society participation. Tarja Halonen, Former President of Finland and UNCCD Land Ambassador, highlighted importance of local, #Indigenous and traditional knowledges, and the need for horizontal knowledge exchange. #OurLandOurFuture

Positive photo day 1725: I came out of the conference room to stretch my legs and this is what I saw. The sun has now set on the first five days of UNCCD #COP16Riyadh #SaudiArabia #sunset #OurLandOurFuture

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, delegates discuss the implementation of the Convention's Gender Action Plan and how governments are supporting the important role of women in combating land degradation and desertification. #UNCCDCOP16 #OurLandOurFuture #HerLand #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, the Committee on #Science and #Technology concluded initial discussions on all its agenda items by discussing the future work programme of the Science-Policy Interface. #UNCCDCOP16 #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, Friday was Governance Day. Mayors and other subnational government officials met to discuss their role in accelerating sustainable land management to prevent additional land degradation #UNCCDCOP16 #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, negotiations on draft decisions are in full swing, as delegates completed a first reading of the decision on land tenure and are moving onto the draft decision on the land degradation as one of the drivers of #migration. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

Positive photo day 1724: Inside the conference rooms at
UNCCD #COP16Riyadh it's all about land, soil and people's livelihoods, especially women, youth and Indigenous Peoples. Outside it is all about Saudi Arabian coffee, culture, music and sunshine. #OurLandOurFuture #HerLand

At #COP16Riyadh, Siddesh Sakore, 2024 UNCCD Land Hero, said farmers are crushed between the heaven and the earth. Every force is against us. When you heal the soil in the region, and farm sustainably you restore hope and create a brighter future. #OurLandOurFuture #WorldSoilDay @fao.org

At #COP16Riyadh on Thursday, the Open Dialogue with Civil Society is underway. Since 1997, the UNCCD has been the only process that provides full sessions for civil society to tell their stories & engage directly with governments. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At #COP16Riyadh Neil Sims, CSIRO, presents on how the
UNCCD is measuring progress towards land degradation neutrality, understanding the causes of land degradation and overcoming the challenges of data collection for the #SDGs and the #GBF. #OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land

At UNCCD #COP16Riyadh, Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quesada, former President of Costa Rica, reminded ministers that we live in an era of complexity, and that narratives used to frame issues like #migration and #land degradation tend to simplify reality.
#OurLandOurFuture #UNited4Land