World Environment Day has been celebrated since 1972 and represents the United Nations' main vehicle for encouraging global awareness and action for the environment.

The 2024 day, hosted by Saudi Arabia, focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience with the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.

According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40% of the planet's land is degraded, directly affecting half the world's population and threatening about half of global GDP ($44 trillion). The number and duration of droughts have increased by 29% since 2000: without urgent action, droughts could affect more than three-quarters of the world's population by 2050.

Land restoration is a key pillar of the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a call for the protection and revival of ecosystems around the world that is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, from 2 to 13 December 2024.

UNCDD country report 2022 Italy