Restoring land, halting desertification and building resilience against drought are the focus of World Environment Day on 5 June. Up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is already degraded, while more than three billion people worldwide are negatively impacted by drought, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). UN News’s Julia Dean in Canberra spoke with UNEP’s Coordinator for Nature Action in Asia and the Pacific, Makiko Yashiro, about the 2024 campaign and why these are such critical issues for people and planet.