Since the presentation of the National Action Plan (NAP) in 2005, the legal framework, planning and institutional processes in areas related to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have changed in Uruguay. In this context, the NAP was updated in 2013. At the same time, the new reporting must be aligned with the "UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework" to consider current trends of land degradation and, as part of the agreements reached by the negotiations of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNCCD, to present in the national report standardized impact indicators for the implementation of the Convention.

A mechanism for systematic monitoring of the impacts of NAP implementation is needed to detect trends of land degradation in the most affected areas. This system shall be implemented under the technical supervision of the Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning of Uruguay (MVOT) and Ministry of Environment (MA), in coordination with institutions, programs and projects related to land degradation (LD), desertification, drought and Sustainable Land Management (SLM).

This project (EP/URU/036/UEP) aims at enhancing national capacities in prioritizing to achieve the objectives of the UNCCD, to align the NAP and present future high-quality reports that include well-measured indicators. In particular, the specific objective is to improve the quality of the biophysical progress indicators of the UNCCD, the quality of the data collected, data management analysis and tracking system. The main result of the project is a participatory UNCCD reporting system, which includes an improved monitoring and tracking system.

This project is fully aligned with the second priority area of the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) of Uruguay: "Environmental sustainability of agricultural production and productive systems less vulnerable and with greater resilience", through its Result 2.1 "Improvement of policies and programmes for intensification of sustainable agricultural production so that producers and natural resources adopt practices that allow improving the supply of goods and services in production systems of the agricultural sector in a sustainable manner, reducing risks”.