She described COP17 as the “COP of implementation,” stressing that the true measure of success would be whether decisions taken at the conference lead to action on the ground.
As delegates await the adoption of the final text and resolutions of the two-week-long COP17 negotiations in Mongolia, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Yasmine Fouad, has said the conference must translate commitments into concrete action.
She described COP17 as the “COP of implementation,” stressing that the true measure of success would be whether decisions taken at the conference lead to action on the ground.
“Rest assured that COP17 is the COP of implementation. And here, implementation can mean one of two things: either what we put on paper to implement, or simply putting things on paper while remaining far away from actual implementation,” she said.
Ms Fouad said the conference was taking place against a backdrop of mounting geopolitical and environmental challenges, including increasing heatwaves and drought.
“One thing I want you to remember when you go back home is that this is the first COP in a real ‘trio,’ in a year full of geopolitical challenges. El Niño has proved that there will be more heatwaves and more drought. It is real; it is happening,” she said.
She said the UNCCD Secretariat came to Ulaanbaatar with a strong focus on food security, the land-water nexus and financing for land restoration and drought resilience.
“One thing we wanted to change at this COP was to show that land is central to everyone and that people matter,” she said.
The 17th session of the UNCCD Conference of the Parties, which began in Ulaanbaatar on 17 August, is scheduled to conclude on 28 August, subject to agreement among parties.
The conference is being held under the theme, “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope,” and coincides with the UN-designated International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
Negotiations have focused on efforts to combat land degradation and drought, strengthen land restoration and mobilise financing to support vulnerable countries and communities.
As the conference enters its final hours, delegates are still working to bridge differences over how to strengthen global action on land degradation, drought and sustainable financing.
Nigeria and the African bloc are pushing for sustainable financing mechanisms to address rangeland challenges and a legally binding framework for drought management.
In the early hours of Friday, a 15-page initial draft text was published and was still being scrutinised ahead of the final plenary later in the day.
Disagreements emerged during the opening plenary over procedural and substantive issues surrounding several agenda items.
Indigenous peoples, civil society organisations and young people have also raised concerns over their participation in the formal process, insisting that their voices must be reflected in decisions affecting their communities and livelihoods.
Some of the major issues at the centre of COP17 include the proposed drought framework, finance and investment, rangelands and pastoralists, and the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Reflecting on her engagements during the conference, Ms Fouad said the human dimension of land degradation had remained central to her work.
“So, we had the Silk Road Caravan, we had the pastoralists, and I was very keen, as the Executive Secretary of the Convention, to attend the Global Pastoralists Gathering that Mongolia organised, with participants from more than 100 countries,” she said.
She said engagements with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, young people, women and small island developing states had reinforced the need for a people-centred approach to land restoration.
“The conference’s message from all the events I have attended — including those involving Indigenous Peoples, local communities, the youth caucus and the gender caucus, as well as when I sat with the SIDS [Small Island Developing States] and listened to their needs — is that this is a human-centred convention. It will continue to go down to the grassroots,” she said.
According to her, one of her priorities was to ensure that COP17 produced tangible pledges on rangelands and land degradation.
“I was keen to ensure that there were real pledges on rangelands and land degradation, and that there was something new,” she said.
She pointed to financing commitments announced during the conference’s high-level opening, including $1.29 billion for rangelands through the coalition and an additional $2 billion from the Asian Development Bank for Asia and the Pacific.
Ms Fouad said the Secretariat also focused on ensuring that progress on drought financing would continue regardless of whether parties reached an agreement on a legally binding drought protocol at COP17.
“We moved on to drought because we knew that, even if a decision on a protocol or otherwise was not reached at this COP, I wanted to make sure that this would not hinder me, as Executive Secretary, from getting the money needed to ensure that countries that had developed their drought management plans would have access to funding,” she said.
She said two facilities — the Reversing the Flow (RTF) facility and the Drought Resilience Investment Facility (DRIF) — were among the mechanisms being used to support drought resilience.
According to her, the DRIF is particularly aimed at encouraging private-sector investment by helping to de-risk capital in drought-affected areas.
“I am saying these words because these are the elements of implementation for me. The elements are not only the decisions,” she said.
Ms Fouad said parties had already adopted a decision on the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG), while discussions on drought had progressed and would continue at the next COP.
