- Establishment and Ratification
- Emerged from the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.
- Established in 1994 in Paris.
- Ratified by 196 countries and the European Union
- India ratified in 1996.
- Purpose and Significance
- Ensures global action against land degradation.
- Only legally binding international agreement linking environment, development, and sustainable land management.
- National Action Programmes (NAP): Countries required to develop NAP using a bottom-up approach to restore degraded lands.
- India’s Committed
- CoP-14: India President: “Restore land, sustain future” was the theme.
- COP-15: India reaffirmed its commitment to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030