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[email protected] Web site: www.unccd.int PRESS RELEASE Miss Universe 2011 Leila Lopes Appointed Drylands Ambassador Bonn and New York, 21 November 2011 The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, has named Leila Lopes, Miss Universe 2011, as the Drylands Ambassador of the Convention. Drylands Ambassadors are appointed to take a lead in raising international awareness of land degradation, its causes and possible solutions. The other recent appointees are Dr Dennis Garrity, outgoing Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre, South African gospel singer Deborah Fraser, and Spanish football star Carlos Marchena. “Miss Lopes comes from the African region where desertification, meaning the degradation of the land in the dryland areas, is the foremost environmental challenge. Part of her home country of Angola is threatened by desertification,” said Mr Gnacadja during the announcement. Recent studies show that up to 2 billion hectares of degraded land and forest globally have the potential for restoration. “Land degradation entrenches affected populations into poverty, food insecurity and hunger and corrodes the three pillars of sustainable development. Achieving the change needed will take strong advocacy and outreach, but for long-term sustainability to be achieved three things are essential,” Mr Gnacadja said. “We must commit to making the world land degradation neutral through preventive actions and by restoring an equivalent amount of the land we degrade every year. We must cultivate a culture of innovation and knowledge sharing required for an effective land stewardship, and we must contribute to the mainstreaming of sustainable land management techniques.