As the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Conference of Parties (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia came to a conclusive end, stakeholders are more ready than ever to mobilise financial resources, capacity-building and technical cooperation to strengthen proactive drought management, particularly in African countries, without neglecting other affected developing countries.

To kick start this commitment, the countries have committed to restoring more than one billion hectares by 2030, bearing in mind that the conference took place against a stark global backdrop that up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is degraded.

More than 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.

A significant body of 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.

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.

Alongside this new evidence, Brazil presented a major national commitment through its voluntary Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target for 2030, comprising 17 sub-targets linked to national policies, plans and programmes.

The target includes the recovery or restoration of more than 163,000 km, including through native vegetation recovery and agroforestry systems, while a further 3.51 million km are covered by measures aimed at preventing degradation through conservation and sustainable land management. Together, the 17 sub-targets cover approximately 3.67 million km.

This commitment supports Brazil’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 15.3 by avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation, while strengthening food and water security, biodiversity and climate resilience.

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 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.

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 $400m 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 will 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.

The COP also sought to narrow the gap between global land commitments and the finance available to deliver them.

An estimated $355b a year is needed through 2030 to meet global land restoration commitments, compared with around $77b currently invested, leaving a yearly financing gap of $278b. Private finance accounts for only around six per cent of global investment in land restoration.

Governments, development banks, funds and companies announced a $1.3b portfolio of finance for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries on five continents, at different stages of development.

Of this, $644.5m is identified as new finance, with $216.4m already confirmed and moving towards implementation. The portfolio spans rangeland and landscape restoration, drought resilience and locally led adaptation.

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.

Participants also explored greater use of guarantees, first-loss capital, insurance and project-preparation facilities to turn restoration plans into investment-ready projects.

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.

The UNCCD Executive Secretary, Yasmine Fouad said: “We came to Ulaanbaatar saying that COP17 must be a COP of implementation. We leave with more of the architecture needed to make that possible – political decisions, stronger science, innovative financing mechanisms, investment pipelines and partnerships that can move solutions to scale.

“But Ulaanbaatar will not be judged by what was announced inside this conference. Its legacy will be measured by what happens next: whether countries are better prepared for drought, whether degraded land and rangelands are restored, whether finance reaches viable projects, and whether the people who manage the land see a real difference in their lives.”

On his part, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and UNCCD COP17 President, Battsetseg Batmunkh, said: “As the host country and President of the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Mongolia has worked in the spirit of ensuring open, transparent, inclusive and consensus-driven atmosphere for the discussions and striving to bring Parties’ positions closer in order to achieve tangible results.

“Within the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, Mongolia has demonstrated to the world that pastures form a strategically important ecosystem which connects food, environment, economy, biodiversity and herdcers’ livelihoods.

“In exercising the Presidency of the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Mongolia was guided by the principle of “from promises to implementation and from discussions to real work.”

As the conference closes, the next session of the UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP18), is expected to take place in Egypt, in 2028, carrying forward the momentum built in Ulaanbaatar.