EU Urges Action at COP17 to Build Drought Resilience as 13 Member States Face UNCCD Risk
Updated
Updated · Environment · Aug 14
EU Urges Action at COP17 to Build Drought Resilience as 13 Member States Face UNCCD Risk
3 articles · Updated · Environment · Aug 14
Summary
COP17 opens in Ulaanbaatar on Aug. 17-28, where the EU will press governments to restore degraded land, protect water resources and shift drought policy from emergency response to prevention.
Europe’s faster warming, extreme heat and low rainfall are straining water supplies, farming, energy production, river transport and ecosystems, driving the bloc’s call for early warning, risk reduction and sustainable land and water management.
2026 gives the EU a wider diplomatic opening because the three Rio conventions and the UN Water Conference all meet this year, letting Brussels push tighter links across land, water, biodiversity and climate policy.
Through Global Gateway, the EU plans to showcase on-the-ground projects including support for Africa’s Great Green Wall and Copernicus-based drought monitoring, while backing a stronger UNCCD implementation framework beyond 2030.
The UNCCD has 197 parties, including the EU and its 27 member states, and 13 EU countries are already classified as affected parties under the convention.
As COP17 unfolds amid severe European droughts, can these ambitious global pledges actually save our collapsing water systems before it is too late?
With Africa's Great Green Wall missing its targets, will the EU's current COP17 financial push finally reverse the devastating spread of global desertification?