IUCN closing statement – UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP17

COP17 closes with important commitments to accelerate action on land restoration and drought resilience, including more than US$1.3 billion pledged across 23 countries and a new Rangelands Flagship Initiative to support resilient landscapes and pastoralist livelihoods.

Several critical issues – including a global drought framework, gender equality, and the participation of Indigenous Peoples and other stakeholders – remain unresolved and will require continued engagement ahead of COP18 in Egypt in 2028. IUCN stands ready to support this work and carry the momentum forward, connecting global commitments with action on the ground and ensuring finance reaches the people and ecosystems where it can make the greatest difference.

As the Chair of the Ulaanbaatar Technical Dialogue on Rio Synergies, IUCN heard strong ambition from many countries to adopt integrated approaches for delivering climate, biodiversity, and land outcomes. Turning that ambition into reality will require working with existing national processes; aligning policies, investments, and action; and putting peoples and communities at the centre. Nature-based Solutions can help translate these synergies into implementation by connecting land restoration, biodiversity, climate resilience and livelihoods through existing national priorities and planning frameworks. IUCN looks forward to carrying this work forward through the next Rio Synergies Technical Dialogue at CBD COP17 in Yerevan and onwards to UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, together with the Türkiye COP31 Presidency, the G20 Global Land Initiative, ENACT and other partners.

COP17 took place during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, placing a long-overdue spotlight on rangeland ecosystems and the stewards who sustain them. IUCN strongly supports pastoralist leadership and is pleased to see a decision endorsing inclusive governance, secure tenure, and mobility. IUCN applauds the efforts of the Mongolian Presidency to champion this issue and looks forward to continued collaboration on the Steppe Plan, supported through the GEF Legacy Project, which IUCN will implement with Mongolia and the UNCCD Global Mechanism.

Discussions on drought also advanced at COP17. IUCN applauds the overwhelming consensus on the need to transition from crisis response to proactive drought management. Though the drought decision lacked the ambition that IUCN and many Parties wished to see, it solidified drought as a standing agenda item, to be returned to at COP18. IUCN will continue working with Parties in the meantime on integrated land-use planning, restoring hydrological functions, and conserving soil water as essential approaches for building drought resilience. IUCN also welcomes the first Assembly of the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, as well as the launch of the Drought Resilience Investment Facility.

COP17 did not fully operationalise the Caucuses for Indigenous Peoples or for Local Communities – an essential step to ensure that their inputs are reflected in negotiated outcomes, and that Indigenous Peoples' rights over ancestral lands and territories are respected in related policies and financing instruments. Land degradation cannot be reversed without the full and meaningful participation of those most affected by it, including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, pastoralists, farmers, women, and youth. IUCN will work with its Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation Members, as well as UNCCD stakeholder mechanisms, to advance this work ahead of COP18.

Looking beyond Ulaanbaatar, IUCN recalls other key decisions taken, from degradation of agricultural lands and land tenure to sand and dust storms and the work of the Science-Policy Interface. IUCN congratulates the Government of Egypt for assuming the COP18 Presidency and looks forward to collaborating with them.

IUCN reiterates the need to keep ambition high and, above all, to ensure that the commitments and declarations made here in Mongolia translate into measurable action and investment on the ground. We will continue working with Parties, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, partners and the Rio Convention processes to help turn those commitments into lasting outcomes for land, people and nature.