
What we do
The Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification (GC-RED) originated from the United Nations Sudano Sahelian Office, established in 1973. The Centre, based in Nairobi, has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable development in drylands and supporting the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. In 2014, the Centre’s mandate was expanded to embrace a broader agenda related to sustainable management of natural capital and resilience building in drylands and other fragile ecosystems. The GC-RED areas of work are related to the sustainable management of land, biodiversity and ecosystem services; building resilience capacities to drought and conflict; and mainstreaming poverty-environment objectives in national development frameworks.
Key statistics
12M
hectares are lost each year
50-700M
people projected to have migrated as a result
20%
Earth's vegetated surface degraded
40%
of world's degraded land located in high incidence of poverty