World Environment Day is celebrated each year on 5 June to emphasize the importance of protecting the earth's natural resources.

Deserts and desertification are the focus this year, which is the United Nations International Year of Deserts and Desertification, underlining the importance of protecting the earth’s dryland regions.

The slogan for World Environment Day this year is “Don’t Desert Drylands!” More than one billion people in over 110 countries, covering one third of the earth’s surface, are threatened by drought and desertification. The majority of the world’s poor people live in rural areas and the poorest of them are often pushed onto the least fertile and most fragile lands. Through deforestation, overgrazing, overcultivation and poor irrigation they can inadvertently contribute to a spiral of destruction that links increased land degradation with increased poverty.

There are many ways to combat desertification but one of the most effective is to reduce poverty. IFAD has a unique and ongoing commitment to addressing poverty and land degradation in rural areas, where farmers, herders, fishers and artisans depend on the availability of natural resources for their livelihoods.

IFAD also recognizes that desertification and land degradation affect women most severely and that women can play a crucial role in reversing the phenomenon. This places IFAD in an even more unique position as gender concerns have come to be a pivotal element of the organization's poverty-alleviation strategy and agenda. In this regard, IFAD has published a paper on gender and desertification that was launched at the International Conference on Women and Desertification held in Beijing from 29 May to 1 June.

How IFAD protects the environment

IFAD works with impoverished communities in some of the harshest and most remote areas of the world, promoting sustainable water and land management practices that help to protect the environment. Every IFAD programme and project is subject to an environmental screening before approval. IFAD also provides its Members States with policy and technical assistance for national and regional programmes to combat environmental degradation.

A number of important partnerships with global institutions and initiatives have been established by IFAD in its ongoing work to combat land degradation:

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), is an independent financial organization established in 1991 to provide grants to developing countries for projects that have global environmental benefits and contribute to sustainable livelihoods. IFAD was selected as an executing agency of the GEF because of its expertise in addressing land degradation, its recognition of the links between poverty and the environment, and its crucial role in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Since 2003, IFAD has been able to access GEF funds for projects addressing sustainable land management. In 2005, IFAD signed an agreement with the GEF secretariat and the International Bank for Rural Development to formalize direct access and expand funding to any project addressing land degradation.

IFAD also hosts the Global Mechanism, which serves as a catalyst to mobilize resources to implement the UNCCD. A recent portfolio review has shown that between 1999 and 2005, 63 per cent of the financing approved under IFAD’s programmes and projects addressed UNCCD objectives.

The Global Mechanism is hosted by IFAD because of the organization’s focus on rural development, agriculture and sustainable land management. Each builds on the other’s strengths and expertise to promote sustainable land management practices around the world.

IFAD also hosts the secretariat of the International Land Coalition. Since its creation in 1995, the International Land Coalition has served as a forum for policy dialogue and a convener of joint programmes and activities among intergovernmental, governmental and civil society organizations to improve the access by rural poor people to land and other natural resources. It does this by building alliances between development partners, including NGOs. It contributes to the development of public policy on issues related to access to land by generating new and additional knowledge based on experiences at the grass-roots level, and it positions important land themes in its advocacy and on the agendas of international, regional and national events.