The post-2030 strategic framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: the work of COP17 in Ulaanbaatar

The seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is taking place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme Restoring Land. Restoring Hope. The agenda includes preparations for the strategic framework of the Convention for the period beyond 2030, currently entrusted to an intergovernmental working group. This note sets out the state of play on the basis of the official documents of the session.

The Convention and the 2018-2030 strategic framework

The UNCCD is one of the three conventions that emerged from the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference, alongside those on climate and biodiversity, and has 197 Parties (196 countries and the European Union). Its 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the overarching policy and implementation framework for global action to combat desertification and land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought. As document ICCD/COP(17)/2 recalls, the vision of that framework is aligned with target 15.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals, and its strategic objectives concern ecosystem restoration, livelihoods, drought resilience, global environmental benefits and resource mobilization.

The operational concept underpinning implementation is land degradation neutrality (LDN), defined by the Convention as a state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services remain stable or increase within specified temporal and spatial scales. According to the secretariat, 131 countries have joined the voluntary LDN target-setting programme, and 70 per cent of all ice-free land has already been altered by human activity, affecting more than 3.2 billion people. The COP17 overview page reports that land degradation affects up to 40 per cent of the world’s land.

The mandate of the intergovernmental working group

At the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties, held in Riyadh from 2 to 13 December 2024, decisions 4/COP.16 and 7/COP.16 established the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework of the Convention (IWG-FSF). Its mandate covered two tasks: to identify key elements, which could include goals and targets, for a post-2030 strategic framework, and to analyse the indicators currently used for national reporting under the 2018-2030 framework, with a view to improving their relevance, feasibility and responsiveness to the capacities of Parties.

The terms of reference of the group were endorsed by the COP Bureau in April 2025. Informal consultations followed during the twenty-third session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 23), together with a first in-person meeting that produced the vision, two rounds of regional consultations and a second in-person meeting from 24 to 26 March 2026, at which the key elements were identified by consensus. The final report, dated 30 June 2026, was submitted to COP17 as document ICCD/COP(17)/2.

The vision and the key elements identified

The vision proposed for the post-2030 framework describes a world where healthy and sustainably managed land enhances resilient and inclusive human well-being and food security, supports ecosystem services, and enables societies to cope with drought and other growing pressures on land.

The group identified sixteen key elements, presented in no particular order: advocacy, communication and public awareness-raising; capacity-building; resource mobilization; cooperation; knowledge-sharing; monitoring and evaluation; proactive drought management, resilience and preparedness; food security; sustainable land and water management; rights and tenure; inclusion; gender equality; sand and dust storms; science and policy; effective implementation; and synergies and policy coherence. The document also states that land degradation neutrality may continue to serve as an operational concept and that full use will be made of new technology, including artificial intelligence, in implementation.

On indicators, the group considers that future work should build on the new key elements and take into account lessons learned from the 2026 reporting processes, with a system that reflects gains and losses of natural capital and changes in the health of rangelands, agricultural lands and soils, and that can be applied flexibly to national contexts. The document also notes that the United Nations will revisit the post-2030 agenda by 2027.

Other items on the COP17 agenda

Alongside the strategic framework, the session considers a series of files documented by the secretariat: policy advocacy on drought (ICCD/COP(17)/11), rangelands and pastoralists (ICCD/COP(17)/10), the role of measures taken under the Convention in relation to desertification as a driver of migration (ICCD/COP(17)/8), follow-up on gender, land tenure and sand and dust storms (ICCD/COP(17)/9) and the programme and budget for the 2027-2028 biennium (ICCD/COP(17)/7). The Committee on Science and Technology examines a synthesis report on supplementary technical guidance for aridity and drought planning and adaptation across the Rio conventions and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as a document on the degradation of agricultural land and soils. CRIC 24 receives the report of the Global Mechanism on financial flows and on matters relating to target 15.3.

The programme provides for the high-level segment in the second week, with three ministerial dialogues (innovative financial mechanisms, drought resilience, and restoration of rangelands and the well-being of pastoralist communities) and four thematic days from 24 to 27 August devoted to finance, water, land and people, and food systems and soil health, brought together in the Riyadh-Ulaanbaatar Action Agenda. The session takes place during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists declared by the United Nations General Assembly: according to the secretariat, rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s land surface, support the direct livelihoods of around 500 million people and provide one-sixth of the world’s nutrition needs. The host country, with a territory of 1.56 million square kilometres, reports nearly 77 per cent of its land as degraded.

The European context

In the monitoring published by Eurostat on 3 June 2026, the European Union is reported to have moved away from the sustainable development objectives of life on land (Goal 15) and clean water and sanitation (Goal 6), owing to biodiversity loss, water scarcity and deteriorating water quality. In regulatory terms, Directive (EU) 2025/2360 on soil monitoring and resilience, proposed by the Commission in July 2023 and adopted by the Council on 29 September 2025, entered into force on 16 December 2025 and is the first Union act dedicated to soils. The directive sets up national monitoring systems based on a common methodology, with reporting obligations to the Commission and the European Environment Agency, addresses contaminated sites and introduces land take mitigation principles, without setting binding targets. Member States have three years from entry into force to transpose it. According to the Commission, 60 to 70 per cent of European soils are in an unhealthy state, at an estimated cost of over 50 billion euro per year.

Outlook

COP17 closes on 28 August 2026. On the post-2030 framework, the working group proposes that Parties welcome the report, extend and expand its mandate for the 2026-2028 biennium with the task of completing a proposal for a strategic framework, and continue the work on indicators, subject to the availability of resources. The structure of the future framework, any quantified goals and targets, and the indicator system for national reporting therefore remain to be defined; until then the 2018-2030 strategic framework continues to apply. The timeline intersects with the review of the post-2030 agenda announced at United Nations level by 2027. In the European Union, the next step is the transposition of the soil monitoring directive by the Member States.

In dialogue with the 2030 Agenda

Goal 15 (Life on land). Target 15.3 on land degradation neutrality is the explicit reference of the Convention’s strategic framework.
Goal 2 (Zero hunger). Food security and the health of agricultural land and rangelands are among the key elements identified for the period beyond 2030.
Goal 6 (Clean water and sanitation). Integrated land and water management and drought resilience are among the negotiating topics and the thematic days of the session.
Goal 13 (Climate action). Land degradation and drought are addressed in connection with the other Rio conventions and the Sendai Framework.
Goal 17 (Partnerships for the goals). Resource mobilization, cooperation and policy coherence recur throughout the working group’s report.