The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will convene in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 2, 2024.
At the 1992 Earth Summit, three global agreements were established: the UNCCD, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These agreements work together to ensure land, climate, and biodiversity benefit from a joint approach to restore our balance with nature. The UNCCD focuses on coordinated actions to achieve land degradation neutrality and carbon neutrality.
The 16th session of the Conference of Parties (COP16) of the UNCCD marks the convention’s 30th anniversary. It will be held from December 2-13, 2024 in the West Asian region, a region that has firsthand experience of the impacts of desertification, drought and land degradation.
The theme of COP16 is Our Land and Our Future, coinciding with the UNCCD’s 30th anniversary. This will be the largest UN land conference to date. This COP aims to be a game-changer and targets to hasten the investment and action to restore land and boost drought resilience for the benefit of the community.
For the first time, COP16 will introduce a dual approach with a Negotiation Track and an Action Agenda, both interlinked to achieve outcomes through negotiations and facilitate the implementation of COP decisions. According to the UN, the Negotiation Track focuses on critical COP decisions and political declarations essential for advancing global land and drought resilience. The Action Agenda will talk about voluntary commitments and actions on land, resilience and people across the thematic days during COP16.
Droughts are becoming more common in an era of erratic rainfall. Desertification and drought are driving forced migration, putting tens of millions of people each year at risk of displacement. More than 216 million people across six continents will be on the move within their countries by 2050 in large part due to climate change, according to the World Migration Report 2024 released by the United Nations on May 8, 2024.
Droughts have increased by 29 per cent since early 2000 due to variability of rainfall and unsustainable management of land, according to the report. Further, 3.2 billion people are impacted due to desertification. Land degradation has led to losses worth $11 trillion as well.
Rainfall deficiency and a decline of natural groundwater recharge zones such as ponds, lakes, and tanks result in a drop in groundwater, which is the primary source of irrigation for farming. Decline in groundwater pushes farmers to migrate to nearby cities.
A 2021 report by the World Bank projected that without tangible action on climate and development, millions of people across North Africa could be forced to move within their countries as a result of climate change. Droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, increasing by 29 per cent since 2000 due to climate change and unsustainable land management.
If current trends continue, restoring 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030 will be necessary to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world.
At Riyadh, 197 parties across the globe will be addressing the issues and fighting against degradation, desertification and drought on a war footing and are expected to declare a global emergency. The UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw, in a press statement, said he expects the countries to move towards a pledge on concrete implementation on land restoration after years of discussions.
COP16 would expect to see actions regarding accelerating land degradation by 2030 and beyond, boosting resilience to droughts, dust and sand storms, restoring soil health, promoting land rights and job creation, unlocking economic opportunities.
The big takeaway for this COP16 will be the Riyadh Action Agenda. The launch will occur through a series of announcements, events, multi-stakeholder dialogues and initiative launches, structured around thematic days.
This will be a platform to harness the collective voices of non-state actors and multi-sectorial partnerships to scale up the global response to land conservation, restoration and drought resilience, supporting national governments to take ambitious action.