The UN summit on desertification ended in Mongolia without resolving demands for greater participation by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities or advancing stronger coordination among the global conventions dealing with land, climate and biodiversity.
The 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), held in Ulaanbaatar, had been expected to build on a decision taken at COP16 in Riyadh in 2024 to create dedicated caucuses for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
Instead, those caucuses were not operationalised and their terms of reference were pushed to COP18, leaving Indigenous communities without the formal participation mechanism they had been promised.
For communities living on the frontlines of desertification, drought and land degradation, the delay is not merely procedural. Indigenous Peoples and local communities argue that their traditional knowledge, customary governance systems and long term stewardship of land are essential to developing effective responses to degradation and drought.
At the closing plenary, Indigenous Peoples’ representatives stressed that they should be recognised not only as communities affected by environmental crises but also as rights holders, knowledge holders and providers of solutions.
Agenda dispute dominates COP17
The setback began on the opening day of COP17, when the United States objected to the inclusion of several issues in the provisional agenda, including gender, civil society participation and synergies among the three Rio Conventions.
Without consensus, the issues were removed from the agenda. Despite repeated efforts by Indigenous Peoples, youth, civil society organisations and several governments to restore them, no agreement was reached before the conference closed on August 28.
The deadlock also extended to negotiations on a possible global drought framework. Parties again failed to agree on whether such a framework should be binding or voluntary, leaving the issue for COP18.
Climate, biodiversity and land remain disconnected
The dispute over “synergies” reflected a larger question about how closely the three Rio Conventions should work together.
The UNCCD the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change address different crises, but land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change are closely interconnected. Governments and civil society groups have increasingly called for coordinated action rather than separate responses.
COP17 was the first of the three major Rio Convention meetings scheduled for 2026, ahead of the biodiversity COP in Yerevan in October and the climate COP in Antalya in November.
However, the proposed agenda item on strengthening synergies among the three conventions was blocked at the start of the meeting.
The United States also opposed references in negotiating texts to climate change, climate action, the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. It raised similar objections to references involving gender equality and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
Governments call for unfinished issues to return
Several countries said the issues should not be treated as expendable.
The European Union reiterated its support for stronger cooperation among the Rio Conventions, while Spain said climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, land degradation and drought were deeply interconnected and required an integrated response.
Paraguay, speaking for the Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries, linked stronger coordination among the three conventions to effective implementation of the UNCCD.
India, speaking for the Asia-Pacific region, said gender, synergies and stakeholder participation had emerged across several agenda items and required a more durable solution before COP18.
South Africa similarly expressed concern over the lack of progress and warned that changing national priorities should not weaken collective commitments or implementation.
With the key participation and coordination questions unresolved, COP17 has effectively shifted several contentious issues to COP18. For Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, however, the delay means another two years before the formal participation mechanisms agreed in Riyadh can become operational.