No progess on decision to combat drought at COP17
Governments meeting at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification conference in Mongolia have decided to postpone negotiations on a decision to tackle drought until the next COP in Egypt in 2028.
Wetlands International is alarmed by this failure to make any progress on drought.
Richard Lee, Head of Communications, Wetlands International, in Mongolia at COP17
“Incredibly, governments have failed to agree an approach to tackling drought despite the ever growing list of drought disasters around the world. Just this year, Europe has suffered a historic drought, while a strengthening El Nino could fuel devastating droughts from southern Africa to Amazonia. We believed that the world’s worsening droughts would force the world’s governments to act. We were wrong.
Delaying a decision on drought for at least another two years will cost more than time: communities and economies across the world will pay the price.
This was an opportunity for governments to signal their commitment to combating drought and highlight the urgent need to scale up solutions – from reining in climate change to improving water infrastructure, from restoring drylands to investing in healthy freshwater wetlands. They failed.
Instead, all they did was agree to disagree and come back for more talks in 2028 – signalling that greater drought resilience is not one of their most urgent priorities.
This decision also signals that it is now up to others to redouble their efforts to mitigate the risk and impacts of drought. Like Wetlands International. We will expand our work with communities, partners, companies and governments to protect and restore rivers, lakes, floodplains, peatlands and other wetlands, including in particularly vulnerable regions like the Sahel and East Africa.
Investing in healthy freshwater ecosystems is not a silver bullet for droughts. But it is a central part of the solution since healthy wetlands store more water in nature, not only replenishing aquifers but also releasing water in drier times – helping to alleviate water scarcity and droughts.
Many countries here in Ulaanbaatar have highlighted the critical importance of healthy wetlands, with Ministers and other high level officials from Mongolia, Brazil, Kenya and Zimbabwe also pointing to the Freshwater Challenge – the world’s largest freshwater protection and restoration initiative – as a key part of the solution. We were hoping this widespread support for investing in healthy freshwater wetland would be included in the final decision. ”