Saudi Arabia to host World Environment Day, UNCCD’s COP16 in 2024

13 / 09 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

Saudi Arabia will host the 2024 World Environment Day – marked annually on June 5 – as well as the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from December 2 to 13 December 2024.

As 2024 will mark the 30^th anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the theme of the 2024 World Environment Day will focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

The World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. Over the past five decades, the Day has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach. Tens of millions of people participate online and through in-person activities, events and actions around the world.

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 percent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population and threatening roughly half of global GDP ($44 trillion). The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 percent since 2000 – without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050.

Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.