United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

The international community has long recognized that desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of concern to many countries in all regions of the world. The permanent Secretariat of the UNCCD was established in 1997. The functions of the secretariat are to make arrangements for sessions of the Conference of the Parties and to provide them with services as required. The secretariat also provides assistance to affected developing country Parties, particularly those in Africa.