Media Briefing on Finance Day - Press Conference, UNCCD COP17

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this COP17 press conference on financing land restoration and drought resilience. Today is the start of COP17 high level segment and it is finance day. And as we heard from the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations today, finance equals means of implementation. My name is Yazan Neme, and I will be moderating today's press conference. We will hear about the finance being mobilized at COP17, the growing role of the private sector, a major new investment pipeline for rangelands, and the support being provided by the Global Environment Facility for drylands and drought resilience. Let me begin by introducing our speakers. First, we have Pablo Moniez from the Global Mechanism of UNCCD, who will outline the scale of the financing challenge and how public development and private finance can work together to close the gap. We are also joined by Sara Toumi, also from the Global Mechanism of UNCCD, who will speak about business for land, private sector engagement, and the Rangelands Flagship Initiative. Our third speaker is Ulrich Appel, land degradation lead at the Global Environment Facility Secretariat, who will explain the GEFS role as a financial mechanism of the UNCCD and introduce the new drylands and drought management integrated programme. Let me now give the floor to Pablo for his opening remarks.

Thank you and good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining today in this press briefing. I'd like to start by introducing some of the trends related to financing for the implementation of the Convention. Country parties set the ambition to restore one billion hectares reflected in their DLDD related plans. This includes policies of governance as well as restorations. One billion dollars a day requires approximately 355 billions a year from now to 2030. This is about 3.5 times current financial levels. And that is the scale of the challenge that we are talking about. It is acknowledged the the importance of grants and concessional finance, but the scale might require to think in a different way. And we saw in the financing dialogue this morning how we develop and build a new architecture that can support countries, countries to implement their plans. This is in a context where we see many challenges at the country level with tight fiscal space, in their budgets and rising level of sovereign debts. So what can we do about that? That's the key question, perhaps. Which kind of solutions we can propose that are at the scale of the challenge? I like to provide highlights around four pathways that could shed some light in that direction. The first one is how we can use public resources to the risk investment and bring the private sector in to unlock further resources. Also, how we can provide the right signals in terms of incentive so the private sector can transition towards sustainable land management. Second is about multilateral partners, how we can create a taxonomy and track the financial flows within their portfolio of investment that support countries. Third is about how we can continue developing bankable business model that can mainstream the many benefits that deliver land into their business model. The fourth is about ensuring agriculture and range land value change become regenerative, which is the work of our Business for Land initiative. Last but not least, I'd like to reference to the Rangeland Flagship Initiative in the International Year of Rangeland and Pastoralists, where $1.2 billion of pipeline pledged with the vision for more investment over the coming decades. Rangelands cover more than half of the world's land surface and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of pastoralists. They have been chronically underfunded for as long as anyone has been counting. I will stop here, but I'll be pleased to further elaborate on any of your questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Pablo. I will give the floor now to Sarah.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Sarah Toumi. I'm in charge of the Business for Land Initiative at the Global Mechanism. So I'm here to tell you more about the Business for Land Initiative. And first of all, to tell you that this finance day for this COP is not just about pledges, it's about architecture and how we bring in the private sector to complement the action of public sector and scale investments. We have four announcements today. We have four announcements today. The first one is the Business for Land Champions Council. We have 13 business leaders from four continents, Sekem in Egypt, LVMH, Bayer, Olam Agri, Suzano, Mirova, EY and Nexera. And they are not here to sponsor. They are here to showcase that in any sector in the business, we now the business has to transition into sustainable land soil and water management because it's about business survival and those business champions are you will meet them tonight at 6 p.m. in the action Dome you're all welcome for the reception of the closing of the finance day and they will express what are their commitments for land soil and water secondly I would like to also inform you that we have launched now a network of business for land hubs parties have asked us to work more with businesses at national level. And the secretariat has launched a call for proposal. We have now launched a hub in France, in China, and tomorrow we launch a hub in Russia, and after tomorrow in Mongolia. Those hubs are very important because they are led by business associations and they are gathering their business members to think about how they can take into account land, soil and water in their business operations and value chains, how they can scale investments in solutions that can transition to sustainable land management, and then how they can advocate and have peer-to-peer exchanges on what are the better solutions to implement. Thirdly, I would like also to say that on the finance pillar of the Business for Land initiative, we are launching today the Business for Land Expert Group on Finance. We launched several months ago the Expert Group on Corporate Target Setting and Disclosure, but this time on finance, we are gathering experts and leaders from investment funds, from multilateral development banks, from DFIs, and the goal from this COP to next COP is to develop this financial architecture that we need to bring in more the private investments and the capital into the goals of the convention. We also have published a report with the Global Reporting Initiative, which is the most adopted framework for disclosure by more than 70% of companies in the world. You will find it on our website and you can learn more on how we have worked with Olam Agri and Rio Tinto on how they can use their disclosure systems to report to UNCC. CCD and to actually disclose on what is their real impact on land and how they can support national priorities on this matter, on target setting as well. countries as you know here are all setting targets for LGN but what about businesses we need science-based credible targets and to do so we are working with the science-based targets for nature and we also um actually presented just now at the business forland Forum in the action Dome two study cases one for Pakistan and one for Mongolia with um companies explaining how they are supporting National priorities on land degradation neutrality finally I would like to say that we are launching uh we launched just yesterday is a stellar range lands restoration investment hub to bring more investments into range lands, especially from the private sector, because as you can see here, in the range lands, you can have, you have fashion, you have agriculture, you have so many sectors depending on the land and the range land, and they are actors who, who can also contribute to making a positive change. We also heard at the Business for Land Forum, um, which is a French business network of all the, um, companies, um, in the stock exchange, uh, they all presented their, um, uh, their, uh, study on how they are taking into account land use. To finish, I would like to say that at 2:00 p.m., actually, 30 p.m. in the action domes, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development mandated by the global mechanism is handing over its recommendations for Germany and Cote d'Ivoire. And it's also very interesting to see this shift because parties asked us at COP16 to work on mobilizing more the private sector. And to do so, we have worked with this organization together some recommendations that now discussed by parties in the negotiations scheme. I will finish here and if you have any questions, don't hesitate. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Sarah. Ulrich, let me turn to you now.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for this press conference. My name is Ulrich Apel. I coordinate the land degradation focal area at the Global Environment Facility. The Global Environment Facility is a financial mechanism of the UNCCD since 2003. And in the past two decades, the GEF has provided 5.7 billion US dollar to 742 projects and programs addressing desertification, land degradation and drought in 144 countries. First of all, we are honored to be part of the Rangelands Flagship Initiative led by Mongolia and the UNCCD. The GEF supports the development and coordination of the initiatives through a 3.3 million US dollar grant to the UNCCD COP17 Legacy Project that will leverage another 8 million US dollar in co-financing from Mongolia and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In addition, during the GEF eight cycle, which ran from 2022 to 26, the GEF has approved 50 projects across its family of funds that support sustainable rangelands management and restoration and pastoralists livelihoods with a total investment of more than 300 US dollar million US dollar. The GEF is also announcing here at the COP17 the development of a new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program with a tentative envelope of 140 million US dollar. And this program responds to calls from parties to the UNCCD for stronger action on drought resilience. It will help countries to move from crisis response to preparedness with better monitoring, stronger national drought planning, nature-based solutions and investments that build resilience before drought becomes a disaster. The program is part of an initial 3.9 billion GEF replenishment package that will support the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements through 2030. And during the next four years, drought resilience will become more central, more targeted, and measurable for the GEF. In addition to the new integrated program on drought, we will have a dedicated focal area objective to support the implementation of national drought plans, a drought vulnerability index in the formula to calculate the allocation to the countries, and new indicators to track improved drought resilience. So our message today is simple. Investing in healthy land and healthy people means investing in food security, in climate resilience, biodiversity, water, jobs, and peace. So we will look forward to work together with countries and partners to turn this ambition into action. on the ground. Thank you and I would be happy to take your questions.

Thank you very much, our panelists. I'll remind everybody that you should have two press releases in your inboxes, one from UNCCD and one from the GEF. If you don't, please come speak to us afterwards. I will open now the floor for any questions. Please raise your hand. A mic will be handed to you and then please mention which media you are from and also who the question is for. I might have a quick follow up for you, Erlik, if you don't mind until we have questions. Can you tell us a little bit what will the new Drylands and Drought Management Integrated Program do differently and how and when will affected country be able to access its support?

Yeah, thank you for the question. So first of all, it is for the very first time that we have a dedicated integrated program. The series of integrated programs in the GEF started in GEF seven, eight years ago. And now for the first time, we have a dedicated integrated program. So the new thing is that it can really provide targeted support for countries that want to prioritize the implementation of their national drought plans and can really coordinate action among the participating countries so that they can learn from each other, share knowledge and help to contribute to the global agenda on drought. And the funding will be, so we are developing this program now. We are in the process of identifying the lead agency and we expect that we will have about a council approval in next June, 2027, after which then the funding can be dispersed.

Thank you very much. Sarah, very interesting opening remarks, very exciting names and really a lot of advances since COP16. But also I would like to ask you, how can we encourage more private capital to enter land restoration? How can Business for Land help companies and their interest? When you speak to them, how do you convince them that this is a good investment?

Well, it's about just it's a smart opportunity to take into account land, soil and water management now in the value chains and agriculture sectors, the fashion sector, they all know it perfectly because they are most the biggest companies are now obliged to do all the necessary extra financial reporting like the like I would I was talking about the Global Reporting Initiative we are working with with We are working actually with more than 20 frameworks on disclosure with corporates who are working. So we are, this is our entry point. We work with those frameworks telling them that they should convince their companies to disclose on their land impact because this is a strategic asset for them. If they know what is the status of the land degradation in their value chain at the moment, then they will be able to do a strategy on how to improve it. And when they improve it, it's business transformation. It's pillar one of Business for Land. Automatically, they will have to find more finance. And they will have to finance it somehow because this is about business survival. And this is all and this is why we think now businesses have a role to play in this convention because now they have most of them have understood from the corporate disclosure and target setting angle that they need to change their practices to survive from an economic perspective. I mean, because now drought and land degradation are a risk, an economic risk, not just environmental risk. So from there, how they invest in their value chains, but not just in their value chains, at the landscape level. And that's where our collaborations comes in with the global mechanism, which is leading on the project preparation partnership program that is funded by Germany, where we are supporting governments to develop project pipelines. And there, from now to the next COP, when I was talking about architecture, I was talking about also including those private sector into this pipeline development so they can co-invest in these governments. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry, can we hand the mic, gentleman, third row?

Hello. Thank you. I'm Peter Catterall with AFP. I'm not sure who is best placed maybe to answer this. Maybe you can help me direct it. First of all, I'd like to ask about the funding. The amount that you've announced today, how does it compare to the overall scale of funding that's actually needed, that's urgent right now? And then secondly, what will be the priorities, maybe the countries or the recipients in terms of when it comes time to disperse these funds, what will the priorities be? Where will they go initially? Thank you.

I think Pablo would start with you and then if our panelists would like to add, please do.

Sure. Thank you for the question. As I mentioned, the gap that we see is about 280 billion a year, every year from now to 2030, right? Today, we have a flagship that is in the range of 1.2 billion as a pledge. Now, the gap is a gap that consider all developing countries and that is the scale and the scale is considerable. That's why we are talking about a structural problem, how we can solve it, that go beyond business as usual or a flagship initiative of a COP. That's what maybe you heard in the ministerial dialogue about what kind of reforms can be done by finance ministers in terms of structural changes and the way we finance land. Regarding priorities, this is an aggregated figure across countries. It will be up to every country to set up strategies how they will take the leadership to close the gap with the support of international partners and all sources of funding. So it's not that there is a list of priorities, you know, country by country. At the global mechanism, we are supporting the setting up of a fund that will support least developed countries to fund their plans. That's the global partnership on drought resilience, for example. We can provide you more information if you are interested in, but that's a little bit the landscape. Thank you.

Yeah, today during the finance ministerial segment, there were several announcements of financial contributions and ours, so all these financial contributions together, they can make a significant contribution in closing this financing gap. We all recognize that the financing gap is huge, but the Working in partnership, for example, Jeff also works in close partnership with the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership on our program and with the newly announced Drought Resilience Investment Facility that Luxembourg just announced. So these funding can then also catalyze and mobilize more investment in the future, bringing in private sector sources and from other partners. Thank you.

Okay, I have, oh sorry, please. Thank you.

Thank you. I am Shagun from India. I have two questions. One is to Mr. Ulrich. You explained the GEF eight cycle and the projects under it. How much has actually reached the countries and what are some of the projects that are being executed from this funding, if you can shed some light on that. And my second question is to the UNCCD Secretariat. In the migration last week, some parties wanted financing obligations to fall on all countries and not just on developed countries. They suggested that this is the language that should be used and that's a shift from the traditional CBDR framing that we use. And if the language shifts from developed to all countries, you know, providing finance, does that risk letting traditional donor countries, you know, reduce their commitment and it can set a precedent. Just wanted to know what's the UNCCDs position on it.

Ulrich, would you like to start?

Here at COP17, the GEF has presented its report to the COP and the reports on the GEF8 funds that have benefited 245 projects in 100 34 countries and it was a total GEF investment of 1.97 billion, close to 2 billion US dollar. And these projects are now in various stages of development. Some have started implementation where disbursement to the countries have started. Some are in the project preparation phase where they will be all implemented over the course of the of the next uh five to six years and uh I you know this 245 projects is a lot but maybe just to give you an example so we had in Jeff 8 uh a large uh program to support the great green wall initiative in the Sahara and the Sahel we have also supported the Southern African Great Green Wall Initiative, just to give you some examples. And these projects are usually integrated projects that get generate global environmental benefits working on sustainable land management and improving the livelihoods of smallholders, smallholder farmers and pastoralists.

Yeah, on your question, maybe I will give you a brief answer and then we might follow up to confirm. But the Global Rija Partnership is targeted at the big, in principle, least 73 least developed countries or 74 as per World Bank definition of least developed countries. We heard some parties that are asking how we can make wider the scope of countries eligible to apply to resources from this financing vehicle. We understand that this is a, there is nothing confirmed, but I would prefer to follow up with a respective colleague in charge of this flagship and give you a more, confirm my answer, if that's okay. Thank you.

Gentleman, second row.

Thank you so much for the opportunity. My name is Abdul Karim Majid. I'm a journalist with Premium Times from Nigeria. Um I just want to ask the Jeff official. Uh you spoke about funding and from the region I come from, Africa and even Nigeria for instance. I know interacting with some of the of issues around environmental issues. The the complain has always been lack of funding, finance, and all of that. To address this issue. And many of them also talk about the inability to access funding for maybe like Jeff. What do you think looking at the cup? Now, with and all the conversation going on around finance. What should African countries do differently to be able to assess some of this finance to do projects that could help restore degraded lands across the respective countries. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for the question. So first of all, the GEF always programs all the funding that is available. So we have in GEF 8 programmed all of our available funding. And in fact, the African region is the largest beneficiary of our funding, which they have received 30% of the funds, followed by Asia with 18% and Latin America and the Caribbean with 15%. So the African countries, because they are also a focus of this convention, are actually our largest beneficiary in the GEF. And I think it's not the problem of accessibility of the funds because we program our entire funding that we have available.

Okay, if there's no further questions, I want to really thank our panelists for their time and the information they gave us here. Please, for anything related to UNCCD, approach me, my colleagues, John and Fregiska. and we can get you more detailed stuff and put you in contact with the right people. This is quite a wide subject that we would like to always provide the most accurate confirmation with GEF as well. We can also be in touch with my colleague Alexander Pinero who will also be able to help you if you have any follow-ups. And with that, thank you very much for attending today and we will see you at the next press conference. Thank you.

He was a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.