As the Northern Hemisphere grapples with what is potentially the warmest year on record, marked by raging wildfires in North America and Europe and debilitating heatwaves across Asia, the United Nations’ biannual discussions on desertification have escalated significantly in importance and financial commitment. This week, deliberations are underway to allocate over $12 billion (£8.9 billion) to vulnerable nations, earmarked for combating drought and land degradation. These crucial discussions are unfolding at Cop17, the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which commenced in Ulaanbaatar on August 17th.
Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, emphasized that these negotiations are designed to signal a positive stride towards multilateralism. The primary objective is to translate billions of dollars in pledges, made two years prior, into tangible projects within developing countries. Global populations are bracing for impending food price hikes, a direct consequence of crop damage inflicted by record-breaking heat and severe water shortages. The World Food Programme has even projected that an additional 50 million individuals could be driven into acute hunger next year due to the developing “super El Niño” weather phenomenon. Historically, initiatives aimed at land restoration and drought prevention have suffered from inadequate funding and inefficient management. However, Fouad noted a rapid shift in this paradigm, as nations increasingly acknowledge the inherent risks. She highlighted that food security lies at the heart of these discussions, asserting that increased efforts in land restoration directly contribute to more productive soil and, consequently, enhanced food security. This narrative, she stressed, must be integrated into financial initiatives.
The UNCCD, established in 1992, is one of three pivotal environmental treaties launched at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Its counterparts include the more widely recognized UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which underpins the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, focused on species protection. For the past three decades, the desertification treaty has been perceived as the “poor relation” among these, receiving less attention and yielding limited progress. This dynamic, however, is undergoing a profound transformation.
Intriguingly, Saudi Arabia, a petrostate known for its historical resistance to action on greenhouse gas emissions and efforts to mention fossil fuels at UNFCCC meetings, and its reluctance to provide climate finance, has emerged as an enthusiastic advocate for the UNCCD. Having hosted the Cop16 UNCCD summit in 2024, the kingdom has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to its objectives and is actively collaborating with allies in broader groups and institutions to secure even larger collective pledges. Even the United States, despite Donald Trump’s prior withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and UNFCCC, remains a member of the UNCCD. Osama Faqeeha, the Saudi deputy minister of environment, underscored the severe impact of land degradation and drought on food and water security, biodiversity, climate resilience, and the well-being of nearly half the world’s population, labeling Cop16 in Riyadh as a historical turning point in global awareness and action regarding land management and drought.
The core of the Cop17 discussions, which are scheduled to continue until August 28th, revolves around the operationalization of the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership. This initiative, established in 2024 under Saudi Arabia’s leadership, along with other related programs, has seen countries and institutions commit $12 billion over seven years to assist 74 drought-stricken nations also grappling with the pervasive issue of land degradation. While this sum is modest compared to the estimated $2.6 trillion cumulatively required by the end of this decade to repair degraded land, halt desertification, protect against drought, and restore soils, it nonetheless represents a significant leap forward. This surge in pledges signals a potentially valuable new avenue for global environmental funding. Fouad noted that over 70 countries have submitted their drought management plans, and the immediate task is to transform these plans into implementable projects. These projects could encompass a wide range of interventions, such as upgrading irrigation systems for enhanced efficiency, cultivating land with more drought-resistant crops, and improving rainwater storage facilities for agricultural communities.
Currently, all $12 billion pledged originates from the public sector, but efforts are actively underway to attract additional funding from the private sector. Fouad posited that food companies, textile manufacturers, and other industries heavily dependent on water and crops have a crucial role to play in these financial endeavors. Lily Maxwell-Lwin, head of advocacy at Commonland, a Dutch nonprofit focused on degraded land, emphasized that affluent nations should recognize the mutual benefits of funding drought and land restoration in developing countries. Their core appeal for Cop17 is for restoration financing to be on par with that allocated for emissions-focused climate action. This, they argue, must be underpinned by governments acknowledging that degraded land abroad poses a direct threat to their own food security, intensifies migration pressures, and compromises supply chain resilience.
