Ten recommendations for the UNCCD COP16 to strengthen its efforts in combating desertification, land degradation, and drought

Prioritise Land Tenure Security for Sustainable Land Management

Drynet urges the parties to integrate COP14 Decision 26 on land tenure into their LDN Action Programmes to strengthen sustainable land management and combat desertification and land degradation. Recognizing and protecting collective and customary land rights is imperative to achieving LDN targets through sustainable land management and indigenous and community-led restoration initiatives. Parties should allocate resources and funding for capacity-building activities on the implementation of UNCCD decisions 26/COP14 (land tenure), 3/COP15 (integration of SDGs) and 27/COP15 (land tenure) and the recognition of informal, collective and customary land rights, using the UNCCD-FAO's Technical Guide on the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests. This could include creating an international programme of short courses for mid-career professionals. In addition, governments should initiate inclusive national dialogues with policymakers, local authorities, civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples, and other stakeholders to facilitate knowledge exchange on legitimate tenure rights, including informal and customary rights. High-income countries and international organisations are encouraged to provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries to establish and implement land administration systems based on coherent and inclusive land use planning and aligned with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests.

Adopt People-Centred, Pro-Active Drought Management Strategies

Drynet urges the parties of the UNCCD to adopt comprehensive drought management strategies that actively involve local communities, indigenous groups, women and youth prioritising community-based approaches and integrating local and indigenous knowledge and initiatives with these strategies to enhance their effectiveness, inclusiveness and sustainability in coping with drought. These strategies should include increasing financial resources for drought resilience, supporting agroecological approaches, and reallocating environmentally harmful subsidies towards sustainable land management. Additionally, fostering collaboration across ministries and levels of government is essential to address the root causes of drought vulnerability, such as land degradation and unsustainable water management. These Drought Management Strategies must be supported by adequate financial resources from national budgets and through the support of high-income countries and international organisations. A well-balanced mix of incentives and regulations is needed in all countries to prevent maladaptation in the face of drought. Governments must support investments in drought resilience, reward sound practices in times of drought and regulate in ways that limit practices that abuse natural resources such as over-stocking.

Develop Policies for Inclusive and Sustainable Rangeland Management

Drynet recommends that the parties of the UNCCD develop targeted policies and programmes for sustainable and inclusive rangeland management, based upon COP14 Decision 26 on land tenure. These policies should ensure the active participation of pastoralist communities and integrate local knowledge into rangeland management plans. Governments should acknowledge and support the mobility of nomadic pastoralists, recognising their collective rights to land, their territories and natural resources. Governments should adopt participatory integrated land use planning approaches that consider the needs of pastoralist communities and the ecological integrity of rangelands in particular through strengthening customary governance and territorial management systems and institutions of pastoralists. Strengthening national, subnational and local institutions for inclusive and sustainable rangeland management, supporting local pastoralist organisations, and decentralising management responsibilities to lower levels of government will enhance context-specific and responsive decision-making. These targeted policies and programmes for sustainable and inclusive rangeland management must be supported by adequate financial resources from national budgets and through the support of high-income countries and international organisations. Governments should seize the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists to promote knowledge exchange and development, while raising awareness of the crucial roles that rangelands and pastoralists play in sustainable land management, restoration, ecosystems, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience.

Guarantee Civil Society Participation at All Levels

Drynet urges the parties to the UNCCD to secure and support meaningful participation of civil society organisations (CSOs), including youth and women’s groups, throughout all stages of UNCCD implementation—from policy development to monitoring and evaluation at every level. For effective implementation of UNCCD decisions, it is vital that the voices of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are heard. Governments should actively promote and support inclusivity in the development and review of national policies and action programmes on land and drought management by consulting with CSOs, including grassroots organisations, to incorporate local knowledge, challenges, and solutions. The presence and accreditation of Women’s and Indigenous Peoples’ organisations should be encouraged and supported in civil society participation, as their knowledge and insights are invaluable for developing effective land and drought management. In preparing the reporting on UNCCD implementation, governments should support the participation and contributions of CSOs to ensure the actions and voices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are represented.

Additionally, gender considerations must be better integrated into the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface by formally including a gender expert in its Terms of Reference. To enhance transparency, CSOs should be allowed to observe contact groups during UNCCD bodies, such as COP, CRIC, and CST. Furthermore, the UNCCD secretariat and all parties should support the Gender and Youth Caucuses in organising network and knowledge-sharing events during and between official UNCCD meetings. High-income countries should provide financial backing to the CSO panel to facilitate the mobilisation and active engagement of CSO actors at all levels.

Set Clear Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Land

Drynet calls on UNCCD parties to establish clear guidelines for the responsible involvement of private sector entities in land management, both domestically and abroad. These guidelines should protect the rights and interests of women, youth, local communities and Indigenous Peoples. They must be grounded in the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (VGGT), the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). It is essential that private sector activities align with these guidelines to promote responsible and sustainable land management practices.

Increase Public Funding for Locally-led Actions and Initiatives for LDN

According to the UNCCD, the global economy could lose an astonishing USD 23 trillion by 2050 due to land degradation. Taking urgent action now to halt these alarming trends would require an investment of USD 4.6 trillion—merely a fraction of the projected losses.

Drynet urges all governments to allocate sufficient budgets for implementing UNCCD and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) actions and initiatives. Furthermore, all governments should report on their allocation of public resources for the UNCCD, including international cooperation, as well as the percentage of funds spent on locally led actions and initiatives.

Drynet calls on high-income countries to strengthen their support for the implementation of the UNCCD by increasing public resources for international cooperation. Specifically, high-income countries should prioritise funding for locally-led initiatives that:

• Integrate sustainable land use and restoration practices, such as agroecology and community-based restoration,

• Secure land tenure for women, Indigenous peoples, and local communities,

• Strengthen the organisational capacities of these groups and promote its active participation in decision and policy-making processes related to land management and restoration and,

• Facilitate knowledge exchange among Indigenous Peoples, local communities, civil society organisations (CSOs), policymakers, and scientists.

• Funding mechanisms must be accessible to Indigenous Peoples organisations and Local communities recognizing their leadership in sustainable land use and restoration practices.

This funding should be tailored to the leadership, needs, and capacities of local groups and Indigenous communities and the organisations that support them. Financial contributions can be channelled through dedicated international cooperation programmes, mechanisms such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), or existing small grants funds specifically designed to support locally-led actions and initiatives and build on their successes.

Promote Women's Economic and Social Empowerment in Land Governance

Drynet urges the parties of the UNCCD to effectively implement the UNCCD Gender Action Plan by taking concrete steps to advance gender equality in land management. In this process, special attention should be given to the role of Indigenous and rural women in land governance. Governments should focus on enhancing women’s access to resources, technology, and decision-making power by: making funding available through dedicated women’s schemes; establishing quotas for women; providing targeted training and capacity-building programmes, and supporting women’s leadership in relevant organisations and committees. Targeted support is essential to enhance Indigenous and rural women’s participation in this process. Governments should also strengthen women’s land rights by reforming discriminatory laws, ensuring equal rights in land ownership and inheritance, and promoting the documentation of women's land rights. Additionally, they should collaborate with Indigenous Peoples and local communities to develop community-led data collection methods and improve data collection and monitoring to track gender equality progress, using gender-responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated data to assess the impact of land degradation and drought on women and men, and regularly report on advancements in implementing the UNCCD Gender Action Plan.

The parties should support the UNCCD secretariat to establish a gender team within the Secretariat and the GM to incorporate the recommendations of the independent evaluation of the UNCCD Gender Action Plan. In addition, they should provide support and funding to the Gender Caucus to organize network and knowledge-sharing events during and in between the official UNCCD meetings. The parties should ensure that a gender expert is included in the Terms of Reference for the composition of the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface to enhance the inclusivity and effectiveness of the policies.

Boost Synergies for Land, Biodiversity and Climate Action through cross-sectoral and multi-level collaboration

Drynet urges the parties of the UNCCD, with the support of the secretariats of the three Rio conventions, to establish national coordination frameworks for implementing these conventions through cross-sectoral and multi-level collaboration that includes the voices of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities These frameworks should include:

• A national coordination mechanism, such as a national working group or intergovernmental platform, to facilitate communication and budget allocation among government entities; and to raise the implementation of the three Rio Conventions to the highest decision-making level in the countries;

• Streamlined communication channels that ensure effective coordination between national, subnational, and local levels;

• A matrix of national-level objectives and actions for the Rio conventions to maintain coherence despite changes in national focal points; and

• An integrated financial strategy that addresses actions for all three conventions.

The UNCCD’s collaboration with the CBD and UNFCCC underscores the need for integrated national coordination frameworks.

Additionally, the UNCCD secretariat, in collaboration with the secretariats of the CBD and UNFCCC, along with support from the GEF, GM, and Climate Funds, should promote knowledge sharing across the Rio conventions at international, national, subnational and local levels. This can involve sharing data collected under each convention, initiating joint science-policy publications, organising workshops and awareness-raising events, facilitating national data sharing, and developing a unified national reporting indicator system that also aligns with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) reporting.

Improve Data Collection and Reporting by Empowering Communities to Contribute to national reporting, including UNCCD and SDGs reporting

To enhance the tracking of the UNCCD's progress, Drynet recommends improving the monitoring and reporting mechanisms by integrating relevant Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets into the UNCCD reporting system (PRAIS). Next to the indicator 15.3.1 (Land Degradation Neutrality), the indicators 1.4.2 (land tenure security), 5.a.1 and 5.a.2 (land tenure security for women), 11.5 (disasters, including water-related disasters), and 17.9.1 (financial and technical assistance for SDGs) should be incorporated. The system should also include community-led data collection methods on surveys and verification, incorporating local and Indigenous knowledge to reflect local realities and inform more effective interventions.

Governments must ensure transparency and accessibility by making national reports publicly available in accessible formats and local languages, and by creating platforms for dialogue and feedback. This approach will empower civil society organisations, local communities, and the general public to engage with the reports, provide input, and help refine monitoring processes. Furthermore, governments should include qualitative data alongside quantitative metrics to capture the impacts of land degradation, drought, and UNCCD implementation on local communities, with a particular focus on women, youth and Indigenous Peoples, considering that the qualitative data will lead to a comprehensive understanding of these impacts. Drynet urges governments, scientists, and knowledge institutions to engage with women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and the organisations that support them to ensure effective capacity development for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). This development will empower these groups to contribute more effectively to the monitoring and reporting of UNCCD and LDN implementation. Initiatives under the UNCCD, such as GEO LDN, which aim to build knowledge and capacity for monitoring and reporting within countries, should involve more civil society organisations (CSOs) in their training programs.

Make Agroecology Central to Sustainable Land Use and Land Restoration

Drynet urges the parties to the UNCCD to promote a shift towards agroecological practices as a central strategy for achieving drought resilience, sustainable land use, ecosystem restoration and healthy food systems Agroecology supports biodiversity, carbon sequestration, adaptation and food security. This transition should prioritise approaches that improve soil health, enhance biodiversity, acknowledge local and traditional knowledge, and build resilience to climate change, while contributing to the economic, social, and environmental well-being of Indigenous and rural communities, addressing root causes of migration. To support this shift, the parties to the UNCCD should develop and implement policies at both national and subnational levels that:

• Actively support agroecological approaches and practices with specific attention to Indigenous and community-led conservation and restoration initiatives,

• Encourage community-led conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems, including forests, grasslands, and water bodies,

• Limit water-intensive business practices, and

• Redirect public support away from land-degrading agriculture, infrastructure, extractive industries, and mining.

These actions will ensure a holistic and sustainable approach to land management that aligns with long-term environmental and community goals as defined in the convention’s text and decisions.