On June 17, on the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, our Indian partner Gram Bharati Samiti (GBS) organized a national Désertif’actions workshop in Jaipur, Rajasthan. This national workshop was part of the preparations for the Désertif’actions 2026 initiative and focused on the theme of “Regional Water Resource Management.” Like the other preparatory workshops organized in many countries around the world, this meeting will contribute to the discussions at the Désertif’actions 2026 International Summit, to be held March 25-28, 2026, in Djerba, Tunisia.
The workshop brought together representatives of NGOs and community organizations, alongside farmers, young people, women, government officials, and political leaders. A total of 85 participants took part in the workshop discussions (73 were present in person and 12 participated online). Speakers addressed topics ranging from groundwater restoration, desertification, and water management to challenges related to soil degradation and solutions for the future. Participants gained valuable knowledge about water and desertification and called for such events to be organized more regularly.
Following the group work, during which participants developed recommendations and advocacy messages for the UNCCD, the following recommendations emerged:
- Organize regular national and regional workshops on desertification;
- Give water the same priority as land;
- Support CSOs in their activities related to water and soil degradation;
- Facilitate the translation of all UNCCD activities into Hindi;
- Consider mountain conservation as a priority.
In their closing message, local authority representatives invited civil society organizations to collaborate and increase the number of events of this type to work towards combating desertification and improving the resilience of territories to drought.
