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WWF: UNCCD COP17 lays foundation for land restoration but falls short on drought action – EnviroNews
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The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has welcomed the outcomes of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), saying the summit delivered important progress on rangelands, grasslands, pastoralist communities and nature-positive agriculture, but failed to secure a long-awaited agreement on drought resilience.
The conference, which closed in Ulaanbaatar on Friday, August 28, 2026, delivered what WWF described as much-needed structure and investment for solutions to interconnected nature, climate and food security challenges.
According to WWF, governments adopted decisions aimed at protecting, sustainably managing and restoring rangelands and grasslands, while also supporting pastoralists and local communities and promoting a transition towards nature-positive agriculture.
The COP17 Presidency also mobilised stakeholders around a flagship Rangelands Initiative, which attracted $1.2 billion in investment for rangeland ecosystems and related solutions.
However, WWF said the conference fell short of expectations on drought preparedness and resilience.
Despite efforts by the Mongolian Presidency and a number of countries, negotiators failed to reach agreement on a landmark protocol or framework designed to strengthen global preparedness and resilience to drought.
Instead, Parties agreed to continue negotiations at COP18 in 2028, following the deferral of a decision on the issue at UNCCD COP16 in 2024.
WWF warned that continued delays come as communities and ecosystems in many parts of the world face increasingly severe drought impacts.
Commenting on the overall outcome, WWF Global Food & Agriculture Leader, Joao Campari, said COP17 had created new hope through its elevation of rangelands, grasslands and nature-positive agriculture, even though countries and communities confronting worsening drought had been left without the stronger international framework they had sought.
“The theme of COP17 was ‘restoring land, restoring hope’,” Campari said.
He noted that formal negotiations represented only part of the work taking place around a UN climate and environment summit, pointing to the momentum generated by governments, civil society organisations, finance institutions and other stakeholder coalitions.
“Yet hope alone will not protect nature, limit climate change or put food on the table,” he said. “COP17 has laid strong foundations but the focus must now shift to implementation on the ground and supporting local communities to deliver lasting benefits for all.”
Drought agreement remains elusive
On drought, WWF Global Head of Freshwater Policy, Christine Colvin, described the failure to reach a substantive agreement as deeply disappointing.
“It is deeply disappointing that ambition on drought dried up,” Colvin said, arguing that the COP had failed to establish a stronger foundation for coordinated international action.
Nevertheless, she said discussions outside the formal negotiating rooms had maintained momentum, with governments, civil society organisations and financial institutions continuing to advance drought-related action.
“Whilst no substitute for a protocol or framework, the drive displayed by many governments, CSOs and finance institutions will ensure implementation can progress,” she said.
Colvin added that countries and regional stakeholders would continue working to strengthen drought preparedness and resilience, particularly as drought disasters affect communities across the world.
Rangelands emerge as major COP17 success
WWF described progress on rangelands, grasslands and savannahs as one of the most significant achievements of COP17.
WWF Global Grasslands and Savannahs Lead, Leonie Meier, said these ecosystems cover more than half of the world’s land and are central to global food production.
“Nature-positive food and agriculture systems are essential to maintaining these critical ecosystems,” Meier said.
She stressed the need to transform how these landscapes are managed, governed and financed, adding that COP17 had succeeded in bringing greater attention to ecosystems that have historically received insufficient policy and financial support.
“From the Presidency to Parties to pastoralists, and all other stakeholders in between, COP17 has delivered for these once overlooked landscapes,” she said.
The $1.2 billion commitment under the Rangelands Initiative, alongside the decisions on sustainable management and restoration, could provide an important platform for scaling investment and action if translated into projects and programmes on the ground.
WWF urges integrated approach to land, nature and climate
WWF also expressed disappointment that negotiators were unable to secure stronger formal cooperation between the three major Rio Conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity and land degradation.
Martina Fleckenstein, WWF Global Head of Food & Agriculture Policy, said communities experience environmental crises as interconnected challenges rather than separate problems.
“People do not experience land degradation, nature loss or climate change as independent issues,” Fleckenstein said. “A coordinated and integrated response is needed to address integrated impacts.”
Formal negotiations on greater integration across the Rio Conventions were blocked, she said, but opportunities for cooperation were continuing to emerge outside the negotiating process.
According to Fleckenstein, the Presidencies of the three conventions are advancing efforts to strengthen synergies, with food and agriculture emerging as a particularly important area for joint action.
Focus shifts from commitments to implementation
As COP17 closed, WWF called on governments, financial institutions, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders to translate the commitments and initiatives emerging from Mongolia into practical action.
The organisation urged stakeholders to build on the momentum generated at COP17 through the forthcoming meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), scheduled to take place in Armenia and Türkiye respectively in the coming months.
For WWF, the central test of COP17 will ultimately be whether the decisions and financial commitments secured in Ulaanbaatar can deliver tangible improvements for degraded landscapes, ecosystems, food systems and the communities that depend on them.
While the failure to agree a global drought protocol or framework represents a significant gap, WWF said the progress on rangelands, grasslands, pastoralists and nature-positive agriculture provides a foundation that governments and other stakeholders must now build upon.
The organisation stressed that implementation, urgency and support for local communities must remain at the centre of the next phase of global efforts to restore degraded land and strengthen resilience to climate and environmental pressures.
