EU to push for increased global cooperation on desertification, drought and land degradation at UNCCD COP16

The EU will work with international partners to deliver on global commitments to tackle desertification, land degradation, and drought at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh from 2 to 13 December.

Desertification, land degradation and drought are global challenges that require urgent action and the scaling up of  viable solutions. Climate change exacerbates them, aggravating economic, social and environmental problems including poverty, food security, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, migration and forced displacement. 

Action to combat drought and land degradation, including improving water resilience, will help secure the EU’s strategic autonomy, competitiveness and security. 

On 3 December, the high-level One Water Summit will take place on the margins of the conference. It will act as an incubator for concrete solutions to enhance global water governance and accelerate action on Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation in preparation for the next UN Water Conference in 2026. 

The EU will be represented at UNCCD COP16 by the Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Circular Competitive Economy, Jessika Roswall, who said:  

"The world loses 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land every year - around twice the size of France.

"Without rich and fertile soils, we have no food. Without healthy land, people lose their livelihoods. Without combatting land degradation and enhancing drought resilience, we can’t achieve a competitive and circular economy that guarantees our security.

"The EU is committed to working with international partners and will play a crucial, leading role in the negotiations in Riyadh."

At UNCCD COP16 the EU will push to strengthen synergies between the 3 Rio Convention COPs (climate, biodiversity, desertification) as outlined in Council conclusions, by increasing awareness of the interlinkages between all challenges and concrete actions, including nature-based solutions, that lead to viable, integrated solutions.

The EU will work together with partners to find viable solutions to address drought for all parties, including by supporting a shift from a reactive and crisis-based approach to a proactive approach to drought management.

The EU is also pushing to increase the involvement of civil society organizations and the private sector in all UNCCD processes and implementation, increase gender balance in the UNCCD, and enhance gender-responsive approaches to implementing policies.

The EU supports the strengthening of the implementation of the UNCCD for the current implementation framework and beyond after 2030. It is also important for the EU that parties agree on a solid budget to be allocated to the Convention secretariat to implement the decisions of the parties at the COP.  

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and UNCCD have been working together on the World Drought Atlas, which will be released at COP16. The Atlas assesses current and future drought risks at a global level and recommends actions to build drought resilience and fight water scarcity. The UNCCD will also launch an Economics of Drought Report, highlighting the economic benefits of acting on drought prevention and the cost of inaction.  

Background

Land degradation is a cross-cutting challenge, compromising food production, with negative effects on the economy, society, climate and the environment. Joint and coherent solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution of land are important, including upscaling nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches.   

It is a priority for the EU to accelerate global action to address the water crisis, which is driven by overdemand, mismanagement, and the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Global freshwater demand is predicted to exceed supply by a staggering 40% by 2030. Water resilience is also key to preventing and addressing the current and future health, food and energy crises.

In her political guidelines for the next College 2024-2029, President von der Leyen announced the development of an EU Water Resilience Strategy to ensure sources are properly managed, that scarcity is addressed and that we enhance the competitive innovative edge of our water industry while taking a circular economy approach.   

More Information

EU efforts on the global water agenda

European Commission’s #WaterWiseEU campaign

Council conclusions on UNCCO COP16 

Council Conclusions on 3 Rio Convention COPs

JRC - World Drought Atlas: Global water crisis requires urgent action