United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

The UNCCD is one of three Rio Conventions adopted in 1992 — alongside the UNFCCC (climate change) and CBD (biodiversity). It entered into force in December 1996 and has 197 Parties. The UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement specifically addressing land degradation and desertification, with a particular focus on dryland regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Its main goal is to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030 — ensuring that the amount of productive land remains stable or increases, not decreases, globally. The UNCCD defines desertification as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climatic variations and human activities. COP17 will be held in Mongolia — itself one of the most severely degraded countries, with approximately 77% of its land degraded.