WFP at COP16: restoring land to combat desertification and strengthen resilience of land, ecosystems and people
RIYADH - At the 16th UN Conference of the Parties (COP16), held from December 2 to 13, 2024, in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will spotlight solutions that enhance community resilience in the face of increasing land desertification that impacts food security and communities.
At COP16 WFP will:
- Support global land restoration goals by using decades of expertise in large-scale restoration to help the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD,) Saudi Arabia’s COP16 Presidency and the global community restore one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030.
- Promote scalable actions that restore degraded land, improve drought resilience and strengthen food security - highlighting their benefits for job creation, poverty reduction and climate action.
- Encourage partnerships between governments, UN agencies, financial institutions and partners to expand programmes that link land restoration with sustainable development goals.
Find Us at COP16: Blue Zone: Pavilion D - D05; Green Zone: Pavilion H4. - E3.
Who’s Representing WFP:
- Ms. Rania Dagash Kamara - Assistant Executive Director, Partnerships and Innovation
- Mr. Abdallah Alwardat - Director, Global Partner Countries
- Ms. Maria Antoinetta Johanna N Van Der Velden - Director, Regional Bureau for West Africa and the Sahel
- Mr. Stephen Lowrie Anderson - Director, UAE Office and Representative to GCC
- Mr. Volli Franco Pierluigi Carucci - Resilience Advisor, Regional Bureau in Dakar
- Mr. Adamou Issaka Ounteni - Livelihoods and Assets Resilience Academy (LARA) / Network of Sahel universities for resilience (REUNIR), Regional Bureau in Dakar
- Mr. Scott Pietro Ronchini - Livelihoods and Assets Resilience Academy (LARA) Coordinator
- Ms. Natalie Renee Topa - Land Rehabilitation Specialist.
- Ms. Kate Marie Sinclair - Guatemala Country Office, HoP.
For interviews, please contact:
- Zeina Habib, Communications Officer – zeina.habib@wfp.org | +971 52 4724971 (WhatsApp available)
- Evelyn Fey, Communications Officer – evelyn.fey@wfp.org
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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
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