COP17: UN land summit ends in Mongolia with $1.3bn deal for restoration, drought resilience

The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) ended Friday with governments, development banks, funds and companies announcing a $1.3 billion portfolio to support land restoration and drought resilience efforts across 23 countries.

The deal reached was announced on Friday by the COP17 presidency during the closing press conference in Mongolia.

Delegates also adopted this during the closing plenary, chaired by the respective committees of the conference .

“Governments, development banks, funds and companies announced a US$1.3 billion portfolio of finance for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries on five continents, at different stages of development,” the UNCCD said.

Although the UNCCD did not list the 23 countries earmarked for this ambitious project across the continent, it noted that, among them, $644.5 million is identified as new finance, with $216.4 million already confirmed and moving towards implementation.

The portfolio spans rangeland and landscape restoration, drought resilience and locally led adaptation.

The two-week conference brought together representatives of the UNCCD’s 197 Parties, with over 25,000 participants across both the Blue and Green zones of the conference venue in Mongolia.

Throughout the conference engagement, the COP17 presidency placed implementation at the centre of global efforts to address land degradation, desertification and drought.

The summit also placed the world’s rangelands at the centre of the global land agenda. Rangelands cover about 54 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, support around two billion people and are managed by some 500 million pastoralists.

A major outcome was the launch of the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, which brings together $1.2 billion across 45 projects aimed at sustainable rangeland management, restoration and support for pastoralist livelihoods.

UNCCD Executive Secretary, Yasmine Fouad, while addressing Journalists during the closing press conference, said the summit must ultimately be judged by what happens after delegates leave Mongolia.

“We came to Ulaanbaatar saying that COP17 must be a COP of implementation,” Ms Fouad said.

She said the conference had strengthened the architecture needed to turn commitments into action through political decisions, science, financing mechanisms, investment pipelines and partnerships.

“But Ulaanbaatar will not be judged by what was announced inside this conference,” she said. “Its legacy will be measured by what happens next.”

The conference also advanced efforts to strengthen global drought resilience.

Parties agreed to continue negotiations towards a decision on proactive drought management at COP18, with drought retained as a “stand-alone agenda” item at future sessions.

Additionally, COP17 also launched the Drought Resilience Investment Facility, a global catalytic financing platform designed to mobilise up to $400 million in public and private capital for water security, sustainable agriculture, nature-based solutions and land restoration.

The summit took place amid growing concerns over land degradation, with up to 40 per cent of the world’s land estimated to be degraded and countries committed to restoring more than one billion hectares by 2030.

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However, the financing gap remains significant. An estimated $355 billion is needed annually through 2030 to meet global land restoration commitments, compared with about $77 billion currently invested.

Mongolia, which hosted the conference during the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, also launched three initiatives under its Steppe Plan: the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, Water–Land Nexus Initiative and Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative.

Mongolia’s Foreign Minister and COP17 President, Battsetseg Batmunkh, said the country had sought to promote an open, inclusive and consensus-driven process.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Sandag-Ochir Tsend said the priority after COP17 would be to translate decisions, partnerships and investment commitments into measurable results.

“Although COP17 concludes today, our work does not end here,” he said.

The next UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP18) is expected to take place in Egypt in 2028.