The meeting was hosted by the General Directorate of the Combatting Desertification and Erosion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey. This third and final global meeting gave the opportunity to share and discuss experiences and results amongst the 15 participating countries.

Regional WOCAT training of trainers for Central Asian countries and Turkey in Ankara within the framework of the Global Environment Facility Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Central Asian countries initiative for Land Management (CACILM) II.

The WOCAT Symposium will be hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia and will be held on Monday 13 May to Tuesday 14 May 2019 in Ethiopia, followed by the WOCAT Network Meeting for long-term collaborators and the Steering Committee Meeting.

The World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) is observed every year on 17 June to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification. Many countries, groups and individuals celebrate and observe WDCD by organizing a variety of outreach activities and awareness raising events.

Join WOCAT at several events: 1st April side event on decision support for SLM with FAO and participation of DS-SLM project partners and the launch of the e-learning course on SLM with CIHEAM and FAO. 2nd April regional initiative to combat land degradation in the Mediterranean with FAO.

The mapping database by WOCAT is now offline. All datasets documented in the old WOCAT dabase, the instructions for mapping and a selecetion of maps can be found in the media library.

The WOCAT program is currently undergoing an external evaluation with the objective to assess the effectiveness and achieved impacts of WOCAT. For this, a survey is sent to various WOCAT partners and users. We hope that many of you can participate in the survey and provide their views and feedback on WOCAT.

The E-learning course on “Sustainable Land Management and Land Restoration" developed by FAO in collaboration with CIHEAM, The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative, University of Leeds and WOCAT, is now available online.

The Global SLM Database is now available in Chinese and Thai. Our thanks for the Chinese translation go to Mr. Sun Guoji, Director General of Department of Combating Desertification, National Forestry and Grassland Administration; and for the Thai translation to Dr. Bunjirtluk Jintaridth and Mr. Kamchai Kanjanatanaseth, Land Development Department (LDD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand; Dr. Pitayakon Limtong, Soil and Fertilizer Society of Thailand.