Photos: UNCCD
UNCCD COP17 – new pathways for land restoration and drought resilience
After two weeks of negotiations, the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) concluded in Ulaanbaatar/Mongolia, in late August.
To mark the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, COP17 gave particular prominence to rangelands and the people who manage them. Parties recognised pastoralists as essential stewards of rangeland ecosystems, highlighting the importance of transboundary mobility and the value of pastoralists’ knowledge and experience.
From commitments to implementation
Up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is degraded, while countries have committed to restoring more than one billion hectares by 2030. Over 70 countries now have national drought plans, compared with only three in 2013, but financing and implementation continue to lag behind the scale and speed of the challenge. Against this backdrop, Parties called for greater mobilisation of financial resources, capacity-building and technical cooperation to strengthen proactive drought management, particularly in African countries, without neglecting other affected developing countries.
Rangelands Flagship Initiative launched
One major highlight of the High-Level Segment was the official global launch of the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, during which governments, development banks, funds and companies announced a 1.3 billion US dollar (USD) portfolio of finance across 45 projects in 23 countries on five continents, at different stages of development. According to UNCCD, this is the largest single mobilisation for rangelands in the Convention’s history. It includes 644.5 million USD identified as new finance, of which 216.4 million USD is already confirmed and moving towards implementation. The portfolio spans rangeland and landscape restoration, drought resilience and locally led adaptation.
From overlooked ecosystems to economic assets
Despite their global importance, rangelands remain largely overlooked in policy and investment. While containing roughly a third of the world’s key biodiversity areas, they feature in the national climate plans of only 24 countries, compared with 181 for forests.
New economic analysis presented in Ulaanbaatar estimated that rangelands generate 21 to 47 trillion USD in ecosystem services each year — up to nearly half of global GDP — through benefits including food production, water, carbon storage and biodiversity. Restoring rangelands typically returns 4–6 USD for every dollar invested, rising to as much as 36 USD when wider public benefits such as water supply are included. The Rangelands Flagship Initiative announced at COP17 seeks to translate that economic case into investment, bringing together projects supporting sustainable rangeland management, restoration and pastoralist livelihoods.
The cost of inaction – focusing on Small Island Developing States and Central Asia
Substantial new evidence presented in Ulaanbaatar highlighted both the costs of inaction and the benefits of investing in healthy land. New reports examined the economics of restoring the world’s rangelands, the growing human and economic impacts of drought, the particular challenges facing Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Central Asia, and the value of investing in soil health.
The findings showed that 18.8 million hectares of land are degraded across SIDS, while in Central Asia more than 80 million hectares — over a quarter of the region — are already degraded, affecting 24 million people. At the same time, all five Central Asian countries have adopted voluntary Land Degradation Neutrality targets, half of which have already been met.
Together, the reports showed how land degradation and drought are affecting food and water security, livelihoods and economies across diverse regions, while making the economic case for prevention, sustainable land management and restoration.
Brazil presenting a new voluntary 2030 LDN target
Brazil’s voluntary Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target for 2030, comprising 17 sub-targets linked to national policies, plans and programmes, represents a major national commitment. The target includes the recovery or restoration of more than 163,000 km², including through native vegetation recovery and agroforestry systems, while a further 3.51 million km² is covered by measures aimed at preventing degradation through conservation and sustainable land management. The 17 sub-targets add up to roughly 3.67 million km².
Tailwind for Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership
The Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, established at COP16, moved towards implementation in Ulaanbaatar. Its first Assembly of Partners advanced work on a proposed pooled fund intended to help around 70 low- and lower-middle-income countries through capacity-building, investment-ready programmes and financing for drought resilience.
Drought Resilience Investment Facility launched
COP17 also saw the launch of the Drought Resilience Investment Facility (DRIF), the first global catalytic financing platform dedicated to drought resilience. Co-created by UNCCD and Luxembourg with support from the International Drought Resilience Alliance, the Facility aims to mobilise up to 400 million USD in public and private capital for investments in water security, sustainable agriculture, nature-based solutions and land restoration. Its first strategic partnership with the Global Environment Facility is to explore opportunities to unlock private and philanthropic finance.
Phase II of the International Drought Resilience Observatory also introduced the world’s first Drought Resilience Index, providing countries with a new tool to assess their capacity to anticipate, prepare for and adapt to drought and to better target policies and investment.
Moving finance for land up the agenda
COP17 also sought to narrow the gap between global land commitments and the finance available to deliver them. An estimated 355 billion USD a year is needed up to 2030 to meet global land restoration commitments, compared with around 77 billion USD currently invested, leaving an annual financing gap of 278 billion USD. Private finance accounts for only around six per cent of global investment in land restoration.
Discussions in Ulaanbaatar also focused on addressing barriers that have kept investment in land low, including how to make land, soil health and drought resilience more visible and trackable within existing nature-finance categories. And participants explored greater use of guarantees, first-loss capital, insurance and project-preparation facilities to turn restoration plans into investment-ready projects.
Business 4 Land Hub
Host country Mongolia launched the first national Business 4 Land (B4L) Hub, alongside sustainable finance principles, a national green taxonomy and a target for 10 per cent green lending by 2030. Russia followed with its own national hub, while Luxembourg moved to establish a B4L Foundation and Germany supported a B4L Finance Expert Group. B4L is the UNCCD’s main vehicle to engage the private sector in sustainable land and water management.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities convene new caucuses
The conference marked the first formal meetings of the UNCCD Indigenous Peoples Caucus and Local Communities Caucus, following the decision by Parties at COP16 in Riyadh to establish the two bodies and provide dedicated spaces for their perspectives and priorities within the Convention. It also brought together the largest representation of Indigenous Peoples in the history of a UNCCD Conference of the Parties. A high-level special event on Land and People Day highlighted Indigenous Peoples as rights holders, knowledge holders and implementation partners, focusing on Indigenous knowledge systems, customary governance, sustainable pastoralism, land stewardship and direct access to finance for Indigenous-led action.
Across COP17, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and local communities called for stronger land and mobility rights, greater direct access to finance, meaningful participation in decision-making and recognition of Indigenous and traditional knowledge in land restoration and drought resilience.
Discussions also highlighted women and youth leadership, including calls to invest in young people as land restoration leaders and strengthen their participation in action on land and drought.
Following sustained negotiations, Parties decided to continue discussions at COP18, building on progress made at COP16 and COP17, with a view to adopting a decision on the proactive management of drought at all levels. Parties also decided that drought will remain a stand-alone agenda item at COP18 and at each ordinary session thereafter.
The next session of the UNCCD Conference of the Parties, COP18, is expected to take place in Egypt, in 2028.
(UNCCD/sri)
Further reading:
Rural 21 issue no 4/2024: Land matters
Rural 21 issue no 1/2024: Indigenous people – why rights and resources matter
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