Making the issues of land and drought top-of-mind

Social • UNCCD

Background

Drought events have increased by 29% since 2000 and half of the population is affected by land degradation.

But there’s hope: Protecting and restoring land could be a way to address multiple SDGs, and drought, while inevitable, could be mitigated if countries and citizens started taking action and preparing early for them.

This hopeful message was an opportunity for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and it could share it throughout its different key milestones in 2022, which included the launch of the Global Land Outlook Second Edition, COP 15, Desertification and Drought Day, and other conferences. Our team helped UNCCD define the best ways to leverage these milestones to spark conversation around drought resilience and land restoration.

Raise awareness
about the impact of land degradation and drought on different dimensions of life and how these issues affect all SDGs.
Change mindsets
from reactive to proactive around land restoration and drought mitigation.
Reinforce UNCCD's positioning
as the global voice of land.

How can we raise awareness about drought resilience and land restoration throughout UNCCD’s milestones for 2022?

What was the big project question?

How did we work through the challenge?

After conducting interviews with subject matter experts and UNCCD staff, as well as reviewing desk research, we identified that the topics of land restoration and drought, while interconnected, were slightly different, and needed to be tackled through different engagement strategies. Otherwise, we risked having one campaign that encompassed too many messages for too many audiences.

Our team thus recommended targeted approaches, and split the project into different communication efforts, aligned with the agendas of the different UNCCD milestones: the Global Land Outlook content, the Droughtland Campaign, and the Desertification and Drought Day branding. Learn more about each project below.