UN Desertification COP: India seeks funds for land restoration, drought-proofing

Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav has called for “diversified, adequate, predictable and sustained International finance” for land restoration and drought resilience, citing India’s varied financing architecture. He said India restored 21.76 million hectares of land between 2011-2020, generating 1.22 billion person-days of employment.

“Land restoration is not a cost, but an investment in food, water, biodiversity, livelihoods and long-term resilience,” Yadav said at the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar on Monday. He called for finance beyond public budgets and stronger public-private partnerships to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

Yadav, who is heading the Indian delegation at CoP17, emphasised the need for sustained investment in land restoration. He referred to India’s blended green-finance framework, which enables financing for climate-change adaptation, sustainable land use, forestry and agriculture, afforestation and biodiversity conservation.

Yadav highlighted Sovereign Green Bonds as an avenue to mobilise capital for land restoration, drought resilience, sustainable forestry, and other environmental and climate priorities. He referred to India’s Green Credit Programme. He added that public and private entities can finance the restoration of degraded forest land, with credits issued after five years of restoration and at least 40% canopy density.

“Finance must be continuous, verifiable and connected to local communities,” said Yadav at the ministerial dialogue on ‘Innovative Financial Mechanisms for Healthy Land and Drought Resilience’.

Later in the day, he presented India’s progress in restoring degraded land. He cited the ‘Second Progress Report on the Bonn Challenge’, covering the period 2011–2020, and said around 21.76 million hectares were brought under restoration. “This was supported by significant convergent financial flows and generated approximately 1.22 billion person-days of employment,” he said. He added this was done as part of India’s major pledges in the Bonn Challenge.

In 2015, India enhanced its commitment to restoring degraded and deforested land to 26 million hectares by 2030. “This commitment reflects both the scale of the challenge and India’s confidence in its national capacity to deliver restoration at scale,” said Yadav.

Yadav separately met Bhutan’s minister for agriculture and livestock, Lyonpo Younten Phuntsho, on the CoP17 sidelines and discussed agroforestry and climate-resilient agriculture. “We also deliberated on areas for advancing our transboundary cooperation with particular focus on biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration,” Yadav said on X.

Yadav held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Dammika Patabendi, on wildlife conservation, elephant protection and strengthening bilateral cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation. “We also spoke on capacity building and knowledge exchange in the area of forestry and wildlife conservation,” Yadav said on X.