The World Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) takes place from 3 to 11 September 2021 in Marseille, France.

On this occasion, the Members' Assembly adopted motions that, by becoming IUCN policies, can have a positive influence on the fight against desertification and land degradation. 3 of them are recommendations formulated by CARI and its partners in the framework of the Avaclim project.

Motion n°4: transforming global food systems through sustainable land management that is aligned to the UN SDGs

IUCN calls on governments, civil society and private investors to prioritize the transition in the food and agriculture sectors from contributors to biodiversity loss to an integral part of environmental restoration and sustainable management. To align with the UN SDGs, these actors must mobilize adequate resources to support sustainable practices at the farm, landscape, and supply chain levels.

Motion n°8: developing agroecological practices as nature-based solutions

IUCN recommends that farmers, industry, and other local and value chain actors engage in actions to transition to agroecological practices, where appropriate, as solutions to economic, environmental, and social challenges in terms of farms and landscapes, food insecurity, malnutrition and biodiversity loss.

Motion n°85: Combatting soil degradation and artificialisation

IUCN calls on States to provide economic incentives to preserve natural and agricultural areas of high ecological value by promoting virtuous land tenure strategies and the involvement of private landowners, and to develop payment for ecosystem services strategies and voluntary conservation assistance programs.

Many questions are also being asked by IUCN at this Congress, including:

• What fundamental changes are needed to protect and preserve drylands, while ensuring food security?
• What types of actions or levers can address the underlying factors of land degradation and generate transformative change?

Concrete answers to these two questions are provided by the agroecological initiatives identified and characterized in drylands in the seven Avaclim project countries.

Both ENDS, CARI and many civil society organizations are participating in the IUCN World Congress. CARI is the initiator of several Congress activities:

• An exhibition on the conservation of oases based on Francis Tack's photographs (near stand A12 from September 3 to 9)
• An online e-poster on the essential role played by oases in the fight against desertification
• A thematic session on civil society action for sustainable landscape management in drylands
• A stand (L21) shared with the French Scientific Committee on Desertification