Delegates from 196 countries and the European Union have gathered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for UNCCD COP17, with drought resilience, land restoration, rangeland protection and the multibillion-dollar financing gap expected to dominate negotiations.
Today, delegates from 196 countries and the European Union have convened in Mongolia for the opening of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), with governments and other stakeholders expected to confront some of the world's most pressing land, drought and food security challenges.
The two-week conference, billed for 17 to 28 August in Ulaanbaatar, comes at a time when land degradation, water scarcity and drought are imposing growing economic and social costs globally.
About 60 delegates from Nigeria will be participating in this year's conference and negotiations. Nigeria, alongside other African countries, seeks to advance a legally binding instrument on drought management. Nigerian authorities and the African bloc believe the proposed instrument would essentially establish a protocol for managing drought. Other areas include finance. Nigerian delegates anticipate pushing for more financial support to meet the country's national needs and fund the National Adaptation Plan.
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Land degradation and drought are estimated to cost the global economy nearly $900 billion annually and affect up to 40 per cent of the world's land and 3.2 billion people.
Droughts have increased by almost one-third since 2000 and now cause at least $300 billion in annual losses, according to the UNCCD.
Against this backdrop, negotiations at COP17 will focus on drought, rangelands, agricultural lands and soils, resource mobilisation, private-sector engagement and the future strategic direction of the Convention.
The conference is also the first of the three Rio Convention COPs taking place in 2026, ahead of the biodiversity and climate conferences, creating an opportunity for countries to strengthen cooperation on land degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, food security and water resilience.
In her opening remarks monitored by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad explained that land degradation and drought are no longer distant environmental concerns but are already affecting food production, water sources, the resilience of economies, and the ability of communities to build secure futures.
"Healthy land is the foundation of healthy food systems, resilient economies and stable societies," she said.
She added that: "COP17 must therefore be a COP of implementation. The world does not lack solutions; the challenge is taking them to scale. Ulaanbaatar must mobilise the political leadership, investment, and partnerships needed to translate commitments into measurable results on the ground. Restoring land is not simply an environmental obligation--it is an investment in people, stability and resilience," she said.
Following remarks at the opening session of COP17 in Mongolia, here are seven major issues expected to shape conversations over the next two weeks.
1. Turning drought management from crisis response to resilience
According to the organisers, drought resilience is expected to be one of the most consequential issues at the conference.
Building on discussions at COP16 in Riyadh, the UNCCD said governments will continue negotiations on a global policy framework for drought while examining practical measures to improve preparedness, early warning systems, vulnerability assessments and international cooperation.
More than 70 countries have developed national drought plans, compared with only three in 2013, UNCCD said.
The increase reflects growing recognition that drought needs to be anticipated and managed before it develops into a humanitarian and economic crisis.
The economic case for investment is also significant. The UNCCD noted that every dollar invested in drought resilience can generate returns of up to $10, while some nature-based solutions can deliver benefits of up to 27 times their cost.
COP17 is expected to feature new tools and partnerships linked to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the Drought Resilience Investment Facility and the International Drought Resilience Observatory.
The central question will be whether countries can move beyond adopting drought plans to securing the finance and institutions needed to implement them.
2. Closing the $278 billion annual land-finance gap
Finance will be another major fault line at the conference.
An estimated $355 billion is required annually to combat land degradation and drought, but current investment is only around $77 billion, leaving a financing gap of approximately $278 billion.
The private sector currently accounts for only about six per cent of global financing for land restoration and drought resilience, despite businesses' dependence on healthy land, water and functioning ecosystems.
COP17 will therefore explore ways to attract more private capital, reduce investment risks and create incentives for sustainable land management.
The conference will also examine how governments, development banks, businesses and investors can work together to leverage existing commitments.
One initiative expected to receive attention is Business4Land, which seeks to increase private-sector participation in land restoration and drought resilience.
At the Business for Land Forum scheduled for 24 August, governments, businesses and investors will discuss ways to accelerate investment in regenerative landscapes.
Organisations participating in the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes have already committed more than $9 billion across more than 210 million hectares, according to the UNCCD.
3. Putting rangelands and pastoralists at the centre
Rangelands are expected to receive unprecedented attention at COP17, which is being held during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
Rangelands cover about 54 per cent of the Earth's land surface and support the livelihoods of approximately two billion people, including about 500 million pastoralists.
They produce around one-sixth of the world's food and provide about 70 per cent of livestock feed.
Yet up to half of the world's rangelands are already degraded or at risk, with 78 per cent located in drylands where drought, climate change and unsustainable land use are increasing pressure on ecosystems and communities.
Governments are expected to consider a new policy framework on rangelands and pastoralists, alongside the proposed Rangelands Flagship Initiative, which seeks to increase long-term investment in sustainable rangeland management and strengthen pastoral livelihoods.
For countries such as Nigeria, where rangeland degradation, changing weather patterns and competition over natural resources are increasingly linked to farmers-herder tensions and food insecurity, the discussions could have important implications.
4. Land restoration and the future of food security
Agricultural land and soils will also feature prominently in the negotiations.
With as much as 40 per cent of the world's land already degraded, restoring productive land is increasingly viewed not only as an environmental priority but also as a food security and economic imperative.
The UNCCD argues that healthy land is fundamental to food systems, economies and community resilience.
This, the UNCCD said, will place pressure on governments to demonstrate how land restoration can be integrated into agricultural and development policies rather than treated as a stand-alone environmental programme.
The broader challenge is how countries can increase food production while preventing further degradation of soils and ecosystems.
The outcome of these discussions could influence policies on sustainable agriculture, soil health, regenerative practices and investment in degraded agricultural landscapes.
5. Linking land, climate and biodiversity action
Another major conversation will be how to break down the silos separating the three Rio Conventions.
As the first of the three Rio Convention COPs in 2026, UNCCD COP17 provides an opportunity to strengthen coordination among efforts to tackle desertification, biodiversity loss and climate change.
Mongolian Prime Minister N. Uchral urged countries to treat land, climate and biodiversity as interconnected challenges rather than separate policy issues.
The push is significant because land degradation can worsen biodiversity loss and climate vulnerability, while climate change can intensify drought and accelerate land degradation.
A stronger, more integrated approach could therefore help governments make better use of climate, biodiversity, and development finance while avoiding overlapping or contradictory interventions.
The test for COP17 will be whether this political message can translate into practical cooperation and investment across the three agendas.
6. Bringing science, technology and local knowledge into implementation
COP17 is also expected to examine how scientific knowledge, technology and local experience can be translated into practical solutions.
Mongolia's leaders have repeatedly stressed the importance of placing herders, rangeland users and local communities at the centre of land-management policies.
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This emphasis is particularly relevant in dryland regions where pastoralists and local communities have accumulated generations of knowledge about managing variable rainfall, grazing systems and fragile ecosystems.
The UNCCD Silk Road Caravan, which concluded ahead of COP17, brought together governments, scientists, pastoralists, local communities and young people across Eurasia to exchange knowledge and showcase land-restoration and drought-resilience approaches.
The arrival of the caravan in Mongolia has provided a symbolic link between community-level action and the global negotiations beginning in Ulaanbaatar.
The challenge now is ensuring that local knowledge and scientific innovation influence policy, financing and implementation rather than remaining largely within conference discussions.
7. Can COP17 deliver implementation rather than another set of commitments?
Ultimately, the biggest question hanging over COP17 is whether the conference can move the global land agenda from commitments to measurable results.
UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad said the world does not lack solutions, but faces the challenge of taking those solutions to scale.
She said the success of COP17 should be measured not only by the decisions adopted but by the changes those decisions unlock for communities, economies and landscapes.
That ambition is particularly significant for Mongolia, where land degradation is already an immediate national challenge.
Nearly 77 per cent of Mongolia's land is estimated to be degraded, while pastoralism supports the livelihoods of about one in three Mongolians.
In 2023 and 2024, severe summer drought followed by devastating dzud winters resulted in the loss of more than seven million livestock, exposing the vulnerability of dryland communities to increasingly extreme conditions.
Mongolia's Foreign Minister and COP17 President, Battsetseg Batmunkh, said the country's experience demonstrated why land health could not be separated from livelihoods and the future of communities.
For Mongolia, she said, hosting COP17 is an opportunity to bring the experiences of dryland countries and pastoral communities to the centre of global discussions.
