Friday, 16 August]: Fully-funded & Self-funded spots at the Desertification Youth Forum - New Delhi, India; 7-8 September 2019 - APPLICATIONS OPEN!

Dear youth and youth organisations, 

We hope this email finds you well. We are writing to share with you an exciting opportunity and development on the work of the Desertification Youth Caucus !

What is UNCCD and COP14? 

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is one of the three conventions, together with the UNFCCC and UNCBD, the process for which was initiated at the Rio Earth Summit 1992, together with adoption of Agenda 21. UNCCD itself was adopted in 1994. Its primary areas of focus are desertification and land degradation, with several further layers of thematic focus such as Land & Human Security, Droughts, and Climate Change. It is an intergovernmental process, which has biennial Conference of Parties (COP). The next COP (COP14) will take place in New Delhi, India from 2-13 September 2019.

Formal Youth Engagement in UNCCD

Formal youth engagement within the proceedings of UNCCD takes place through the Youth Caucus on Desertification and Land - the process to establish which was commenced earlier during the year (see the tagged email). The Caucus serves as the formal youth constituency to UNCCD and currently houses youth and youth NGOs from different regions of the world. If you are interested to join the Caucus, you can do as an individual member HERE, and as an NGO (or youth entity) HERE. The deliberations of the Caucus are currently facilitated through a voluntary Facilitation Committee that comes from different youth organisations across the world. 

Desertification Youth Forum 

In conjunction with the UNCCD COP14 in India, the Desertification Youth Forum will be hosted to bring together young people from different parts of the world to engage in these topics, and to also participate in COP.  It is being organised by indicated youth organisations in partnership with UNCCD Secretariat.

Dates: 7 September - 8 September 2019

Venue: India Mart and Expo, in the Greater Noida area of New Delhi, India

The Forum is held just prior to the High-level segment and will feature heads of UN agencies, and ministerial participation. The agenda is being developed and will be shared soon! 

Participate or host an event! 

• Are you a young person under the age of 35 and your work relates with the thematic of desertification, forests, land, climate and related topics? 
• Or are you a youth organisation, or agency with focus on youth issues and would like to host a session (workshop, event, etc.) at the Youth Forum? 

The applications are now open! 

Some fully-funded (for international participants) and several self-funded spots are available! 

Apply for one of the spots to participate at the Forum or to host an event at - www.desertification-youth-caucus.org/apply  

Deadline - 16 August 2019, 17.00 UTC

Please make sure you read the information presented on - www.desertification-youth-caucus.org

Please find the graphic tagged below and broadcast within your networks!

Kind regards, 

Yugratna