World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, 17 June, was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1994 (resolution 49/115). On that date, the same year, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted. States were invited to devote the World Day to promoting awareness of the need for international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought, and on the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification.
It aims to promote community and ecosystem resilience while improving the human condition particularly in dry lands. The decade 2010–2020 has been declared the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (UNDDD).