We co-hosted four side events at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 15), which took place on 9-20 May 2022. These events explored practical entry points to empower communities that depend most on land and natural resources to claim their legitimate rights and fulfil their rightful roles as stewards of these precious resources for the benefit of people and planet. The connecting link across these events was the importance of protecting legitimate land rights to achieve the Convention's objectives of combating desertification, land degradation and drought, and scaling up ecosystem restoration.

We brought together our local, national and international partners to practically demonstrate how we initiate change processes to advance the "the governance of sustainability" at multiple levels. Our COP 15 activities highlighted insights from years of work to connect the dots between local "social innovations" - co-designed by TMG and its partners to strengthen access to land for women, youth and other marginalised groups - and land governance frameworks at the national and higher levels.