UNJournal Lee Sung Jun | The head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) announced three winners of the organization's World Restoration Flagships awards on Wednesday, highlighting land rehabilitation efforts at a time when an estimated 40 percent of the world's land is affected by degradation and drought, threatening the livelihoods of more than three billion people.

The announcement came during the UN desertification conference taking place in Mongolia from 17 to 28 August. The three award-winning programmes collectively aim to restore nearly five million hectares of land by 2030—an area comparable to roughly seven million football fields.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad said the programmes demonstrate that restoration efforts are effective, noting that investment in nature strengthens resilience, supports livelihoods, and delivers tangible benefits for communities. She said there is growing recognition that land degradation, drought and ecosystem loss are no longer solely environmental concerns, but fundamental challenges to food security, water security and economic stability. She reiterated the UN's commitment to a global target of restoring one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030.

Brazil: Restoring the Cerrado savannah

The Cerrado, which covers roughly a quarter of Brazil's land area, is considered the world's most biodiverse tropical savannah, but has lost more than half of its native vegetation due to large-scale land conversion and climate change, affecting Indigenous rights, food production and water availability.

The Restoring Brazil's Cerrado Savannah initiative brings together more than 180 partners working across nine Brazilian states to restore land through natural regeneration, direct seeding, and agroforestry using native species. The programme has so far placed more than 27,000 hectares under restoration using seeds from over 150 native plant species, with an overall target of restoring two million hectares by 2030.

Saudi Arabia: Restoring arid landscapes

Saudi Arabia has set a national target of restoring 40 million hectares of rangeland, forest, desert, urban and coastal ecosystems by 2100, alongside a goal of planting 10 billion trees by the same date. The country's National Greening Programme has already brought one million hectares of degraded land under restoration and planted 159 million trees, through activities including reforestation, natural regeneration, controlled grazing, reintroduction of native wildlife, rainwater harvesting, and the use of treated wastewater in water-scarce areas.

By 2030, the programme aims to restore 2.5 million hectares and plant 215 million trees, with projections of generating up to 187,000 jobs and improving urban air quality.

Sahel: Restoring land and food security

In the Sahel region, conflict, land degradation, drought and climate change continue to place significant pressure on ecosystems and communities. Since 2018, the World Food Programme-led Sahel Integrated Resilience Initiative has strengthened food security and livelihoods for more than four million people by rehabilitating over 335,000 hectares of land across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Monitoring data shows that 75 percent of the programme's resilience sites have seen improved soil and vegetation conditions, while the number of households requiring humanitarian assistance in these areas declined by approximately 11 percent during the lean season. By 2030, the initiative aims to restore 470,000 hectares, enhance biodiversity, and sequester up to 20 million tonnes of CO2.