Aagainst a global backdrop of up to 40 per cent of the world’s land degraded, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) has mapped out key elements to tackle land degradation, desertification and drought.

The action agenda for implementation decided at the conference, which concluded over the weekend at the 17th session in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, included political direction, science, finance, investment-ready projects, partnerships, and stronger participation by the people who manage the world’s land.

Countries have committed to restoring over one billion hectares by 2030, just as over 70 countries now have national drought plans, compared with only three in 2013, though financing and implementation continue to lag behind the scale and speed of the challenge.

Consequently, 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.

Nigeria reports roughly 23.41 per cent (or 21.07 million hectares) of its total land area as degraded. Under the project, Nigeria seeks to advance a legally binding instrument on drought management and establish a protocol for managing drought. The new finance is crucial for securing more financial support to meet national needs and fund the country’s National Adaptation Plans.

In Nigeria, authorities have said that over 50 per cent of the country’s rangelands and grazing routes have been degraded, a development that has contributed to farmer-herder conflicts affecting communities across the country for decades.

However, governments, development banks, funds and companies announced a $1.3 billion portfolio of finance across 23 countries on five continents, at different stages of development. This includes $644.5 million identified as new finance, of which $216.4 million is already confirmed and moving towards implementation.

Approximately 11.96 per cent of Africa’s total land area was recorded as degraded in baseline reporting, while sub-Saharan Africa, Western and Southern Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean experienced land degradation at rates faster than the global average.

Notably, in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, 163 million hectares and 108 million hectares, respectively, have been affected by land degradation since 2015.

The biannual meeting of the UNCCD’s 197 parties put the world’s rangelands, which cover 54 per cent of the earth’s land surface, around two billion people and are stewarded by some 500 million pastoralists, at the centre of the global land agenda.

Launched in Ulaanbaatar during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, the Rangelands Flagship Initiative brings together $1.2 billion across 45 projects, the largest single mobilisation for rangelands in the convention’s history.

The Rangelands Flagship Initiative announced at COP17 seeks to translate that economic case into investment by bringing together projects that support sustainable rangeland management, restoration, and pastoralist livelihoods.

Alongside the negotiations, COP17 delivered a series of initiatives and financial commitments aimed at accelerating action on land restoration and drought resilience.

Meanwhile, Mongolia’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Sandag-OchirTsend, who also chaired the conference’s national organising committee, said that, in exercising the presidency of the 17th UNCCD COP17, the country was guided by the principle of “from promises to implementation and from discussions to real work.”

Tsend stated that one of the most significant outcomes for Mongolia was securing support from parties, international organisations, the private sector, and civil society for the “Steppe Plan” – a key policy legacy of COP17.