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The 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification concluded in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on 28 August 2026 after a two-week session that opened on 17 August.
The theme was 'Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.', and rangelands and pastoralists were the defining subject because 2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
India released its first-ever Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems at the session on 17 August 2026, arguing that conservation policy must look beyond forests.
COP17 mobilised about USD 1.3 billion in new and pipeline financing for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries on five continents.
Parties shifted the drought agenda from crisis response to resilience but did not agree on a new legally binding financial mechanism for drought.
The legally binding international treaty on desertification, land degradation and drought, adopted in 1994; one of the three Rio Conventions alongside the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity
UNCCD adopted; 196 countries and the European Union are Parties
India hosts COP14 in New Delhi and pledges to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030
COP16 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the Riyadh Action Agenda is launched
COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists
COP18 to be hosted by Egypt at Sharm El-Sheikh
Desertification, in the UNCCD's definition, is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas caused by climatic variation and human activity - overgrazing, deforestation, unsustainable cultivation and poor water management. It is not sand dunes marching outwards from an existing desert. The Convention's operational target is Land Degradation Neutrality: the amount and quality of land resources needed to support ecosystem functions should remain stable or increase, so any new degradation must be balanced by restoration elsewhere. Land Degradation Neutrality is tracked as Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3.
Simple Analogy: It is a balance sheet, not a boundary line: degradation is the debit, restoration is the credit, and neutrality means closing the year no worse off than you started.
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation and international environmental conventions
General Awareness > International organisations and summits
What is/are the importance/importances of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification? 1. It aims to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships. 2. It has a special/particular focus on South Asia and North Africa regions, and its Secretariat facilitates the allocation of major portion of financial resources to these regions. 3. It is committed to bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating the desertification. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/dried up in the recent past due to human activities? 1. Aral Sea 2. Black Sea 3. Lake Baikal Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1 only
Which one of the following lakes of West Africa has become dry and turned into a desert?
Answer: Lake Faguibine
Grasslands, shrublands, savannas and deserts grazed by livestock and wildlife; more than half of the Earth's land surface.
Non-forest natural landscapes such as grasslands, savannas and deserts, historically misclassified as wasteland in Indian land records.
The state where land resources needed for ecosystem functions remain stable or increase; tracked under SDG target 15.3.
The UNCCD, the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the three treaties tracing back to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.