Opening Press Conference of UNCCD COP17

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, members of the press, good afternoon and welcome to this opening press conference of the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD COP17. My name is Xenia Scanlon and I will be moderating today's press conference. We have very distinguished speakers joining us this afternoon. They will first make brief remarks and after that we will be taking questions to the extent of the time available. In terms of the housekeeping announcements, this press conference is being live streamed and it is also available in English, Mongolian, and French. So if you would like to follow the conference in one of these languages, please use these headsets. Without further ado, allow me to introduce our speakers this afternoon. First and foremost, we've got His Excellency Sanagochir Tsing, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia and Chair of the National Organizing Committee for COP17. Welcome. We've got Her Excellency Yasmin Fouad, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. And we're also joined here by His Excellency Osama Fakiha, Deputy Minister for Environment, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and advisor to the UNCCD COP16 Presidency. Without further ado, I would like now to give the floor to His Excellency Sadagchir Sen, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia. Sir, the floor is yours, please.

Dear press, journalists, and attendees, good afternoon to you all. The UNCCD COP17 has begun successfully. And the sky seems to be looking down on us today. Foremost, and everybody who has come to attend this conference, all the representatives, the guests, thank you all. journalists and everybody else, I know we all have high expectations. Today is just the beginning, the first day. And so maybe it's too early to discuss results. So Every day at 1 p.m., there will be a press conference at the center. So every day updates from the happenings. Relevant officials and heads responsible for events will introduce news. So of course, all the representatives have started meeting and all the regional meetings. have started happening and all of the our parties have started expressing their positions and so any issues geopolitical issues there may be some but in terms of our country in terms of since we are the country of presidency here So any parties that have opposing views, it's our responsibility to have them reach an agreement and guide them along these talks. And the COP16 presidency representatives are here. They'll be officially handing over the duties for the next two years of the presidency to our side. They will hand over to Her Excellency Batsetseg Batmunkh, the Foreign Affairs Minister. We can't just think of the next 12 days. We also have to think about long-term sustainability and sustainability of policies, sustainable development, sustainable finance. We all have expectations regarding these issues. And so today is a bit too early to discuss results, but I hope you all stay tuned to more news and we will continue to report to the press all of the positions of the different participating members. So I hope you all come here at 1 p.m. every day at the Center for News.

Thank you very much, Minister Tsing, for setting us for an exciting weeks ahead. And it is now my pleasure to invite UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ms. Yasmin Fad, to outline her vision for this COP17. Madam Executive Secretary, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Zhenya. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like really to thank the government of Mongolia, Minister Tseden, for the tireless efforts to put this together and to have that interesting start this morning. And my thanks and appreciation definitely would go as well to COP16 presidency, Dr. Al-Faqih, Minister Al-Fadli, and all the team in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their commitment, dedication, and leadership in turning point for the UNCCD. This COP is a very special COP. We didn't start officially, we started today with the opening remarks and handing over the presidency from COP16 to COP17 under the theme of restoring land, restoring hope, but three important things I'd like to lie here. Saturday and Sunday there were the informal regional consultation, but there was something that's very important and interesting that was happening in this country. 77% of the land of Mongolia is facing land degradation and the economy here with all the number of people are really depending on the issue of range land. What has been happening over the past few months is also important to say how we are here today. The Silk Road Caravan that was organized by the UNCCD with other partners like the FAO, and other resident coordinator was away through of 7,000 kilometer getting pastoralist around air Asia to come here in Alam batar and we saw the parade today it was very interesting but the interesting part how Mongolia took that very seriously in convening the global pastoralism Gathering conference over three days more than 100 countries they came out with a declaration showing the needs the priorities of pastoralists around the world with an emphasis on a special declaration for women and I attended that. And that means that this COP and the CCD will continue to be a human-centered convention. It will continue to serve the people and will continue to have women at the top of that. This is the first thing. The second message that we would like to achieve here is implementation. How can we build upon the legacy that happened in COP16 with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on building on business for land, private sector, how can we shift finance? All these are still important topics to move from just decisions to actual implementation on the ground. And for that, we have the land action agenda that would start the high level segment on the 24th of August with the finance day. But if we talk about rangeland and finance, we still need to talk that sustainable agriculture and agricultural land. Most of the degradation that happens, happens with human induced over agricultural land. And the figures says that around 40% of the world land is already degraded and we have 60% that comes on agricultural land, which means that We will not in this process pick and choose, we will continue investing on healthy soil, whatever it will be in grassland, in range land, in different ecosystem. And the second one, we will continue to focus on people as a human-centered convention. And the third one, we will continue to provide the enablers, which is mainly the access to finance, but we need to raise the bar. And we need to find innovative mechanisms that would help us to do that. What we're trying to do here with that opening, we heard the representative of the regional groups the last two days, we heard them today in the plenary, all of them had mentioned one common that land is vital for food security and water, but they also mentioned that implementation should be the center of this COP. So I really hope that we would be able to make that happen collectively, show that multilateral system is not only about decisions on paper, but also about action on the ground, and that will be done with the parties and other organizations, and definitely the media would be on top of that to raise our voices up there. there to the future generation. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Executive Secretary. Let's try again. Let's try again. That's much better. Thank you very much, Madam Executive Secretary, for sharing this vision for the COP17. And as we've just heard this morning, we saw the passing of the baton between COP16 presidency, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Mongolia. And it is now my pleasure to invite Dr. Samah Hijri for the presidency of COP16 to share his views on the journey from Riyadh to Ulaanbaatar, please.

Thank you and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, members of the press. This is a very important day in the journey of the UNCCD convention. First of all, we reiterate our thanks to the government of Mongolia for the great efforts to organize COP17. on the focus that they are putting. This is extremely important. COP16 has been by many observers considered as a historical turning point in the global focus on this convention. And this convention focused on land degradation and drought. And I think this is what was our main focus, to raise global awareness of the importance of land, the centrality of land, because our cities are on land, our forests are on land, our farms are on land, the fresh water comes from land, our food from land, 99.7% of our calories come from land. 95% of our food come from land. All our accessible fresh water is on land. And the way we alter land and we deal with land, the way we raise our food, the way we use our building materials, our minerals come from land. Our homes built from land. Our clothes are actually coming from the land. And our dependence on land but we have used it and we have been dealing with it as an infinite resources. And we couldn't understand the interlinkages between the land, the ocean and the atmosphere, the climate. And this is what we succeeded in, I think, COP16 to bring those relation together because, you know, if we degrade land, we impact food security and water security, but we impact biodiversity in a huge way. 60% of biodiversity loss now is attributed to habitat loss. This is a link to land degradation. And in IUCN Red List, 85% of the red list species are associated with habitat loss and a big percentage of that related to land degradation and drought. Even with climate, the amount of carbon stored in land and vegetation cover is three times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. And when we degrade land, we actually release carbon and we amplify the climate. Even the conflicts, many of the conflicts over resources, migration is linked to drought. About 3.5 billion people are impacted by land degradation, 1.8 billion people are impacted by drought. 80% of the drought impacts are on farming communities. 85% of the people impacted by drought are living in low and lower middle income developing countries. So there is also a significant social dimension. The Now the task is huge. We cannot continue business as usual. This is the mission of this convention, is to transform the way we manage land. We need to shift to sustainable land management. We need to accelerate land restoration. As mentioned by His Excellency, the Executive Secretary, we have about one billion hectare of commitment by countries. But we have now between 1.5 to 2 billion hectares of degraded land. Every year, we degrade about 100 million hectares of land. That includes forest, range lands, agricultural lands. About 10 million hectares of forest are degraded every year. And of course, range lands also very important for Mongolia is degraded also in substantial way. And this has significant impacts. on food security and water security. Today we are eight billion people. By 2050 it is expected that we exceed 10 billion people. And we have two billion hectares of degraded land, or at least the figures between 1.5 to two billion depends on the reporting because 40% of the countries are not reporting their land degradation. So the reported figure is about 1.5 billion. And now it is this number is expected to double by 2050 if we continue business as usual. And that will be a major challenge for future generations. So this is a very important convention. It is central. Our message is that we cannot achieve climate objective, we cannot achieve biodiversity objective, we cannot achieve water and food security without acting on land. And that's why we are here. That's why COP17 is very important to continue the momentum that we have in COP16. In COP16, we had 37 resolutions. There was a resolution about sustainable agricultural land management, about food security, about indigenous people, about civil society. Also made big progress on the drought. There were 35 initiatives were launched during COP16 and the Riyadh Action Agenda. Now we have around 105 initiatives under Riyadh Action Agenda today. And this is to really amplify the action and the involvement of all stakeholders. The journey, we have a lot to go and a lot to do. Everybody should be involved, governments, the private sector, the civil society, indigenous people, women and youth. This is a global problem that cannot be solved without us working together. And we count on Mongolian leadership and the spirit of collaboration of all parties so that we can strengthen the multilateral cooperation to have a better world for our future generation through acting on delivering on the objectives of this convention. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister Fakiha. And we have now come to the end of the remarks. So now we will come to taking the questions from the media present. Just as a reminder, when you ask your question, please identify yourself and your media outlet and please indicate who of the speakers you would like to address your question to. So please, if anyone would like to raise their hands for questions, I can see the lady in the front row in the pink Please, madam, the floor is yours. Please wait for the microphone and the lady will be with you momentarily. Thank you.

Hello, this is a question from Sino Finance China. And I have questions for Ms. Fong and also for Mr. Fakhri. So my first question is COP16 launched the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership mobilizing over 12 billion US dollars in pledges through the Riyadh Ulaanbaatar Action Agenda. What specific steps will you take at COP17 to translate those commitments into measurable on the ground outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable affected countries? And also my second question is China has hosted COP13 and it has been almost 10 years. So how do you assist China's contribution in combating desertification and land restoration from COP13 to COP17? And how do you see China's future role in this area? Thank you.

I will answer the question on the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership. Again, as I mentioned before, drought impacts currently about 1.8 billion people, mostly into low income and lower middle income developing countries. The prevailing response to drought globally now is after it hits. after drought hits, we have, you know, community are impacted, we have water scarcity, we have food insecurity, even we have communities that, you know, their life fabric is being impacted, and then we have relief organization come. And that's very important and noble work. In the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the aim was to start way before the drought hits, and to readiness and through the drought resilience strategies and plan, national plans, through using early warning system, through integrating drought resilience into national development plans. And during COP16, there were 12 billion for land degradation and drought. For Riyadh partnership specifically, we got until now about 2.2 billion. And we are actually getting more and more support. And we expect even more announcement in COP17 for more private sector participation in land degradation and drought. We actually held the inaugural conference in Germany, in Cologne last summer, where 64 countries met to decide on the governance of the initiative. We also decided on the the steering committee composition including donor entities and representative from beneficiary countries and international organizations. We have been working on the terms of references. We are actually, we held our first steering committee in Panama in December of 2025. We will hold the second steering committee here in Ulaanbaatar. And we expect the project to be launched early next year. We will finalize the governance, the term of references, also the partners and the countries who are joining. And we are seeing a great momentum. We are seeing financial institution coming forward. We are seeing international organizations. I think maybe Dr. Yasamin also talk about the DRIF, the Drought Resilience and Impact Fund that will also be partnered with the Riyadh Global Drought Partnership. Now there is a partnership between RGDB and IDRO, International Drought Observatory by University of Yale because now it's used you know, innovation and artificial intelligence to assess drought vulnerability and help countries develop drought resilience strategies and plans. So really, we took tangible steps toward really implementing this important global initiative. We are targeting around 73 countries, developing countries who are most vulnerable to drought globally to benefit from this initiative.

So thank you very much, Dr. Osama. On the second question, China. China had already, as you mentioned, hosted COP13 in 2017 in Ordos. And there has been a lot of effort China has been doing in order to meet the targets of this convention. I just visited China last month on my way to Mongolia. And three things that I would like to lay here. First of all, being an active member to the convention, working both on restoration but also on conservation is something that would be commended for this country, especially that the CCD is not only about restoring degraded land, it has conservation of different ecosystems that relates to land. at the heart of this convention. Secondly, the inclusion of the private sector. Last month, China has already launched its national business for land hub and the business for land initiative is coming as part of COP16 results. and we can see a lot of momentum, especially on the private sector, and I would like to invite you all to the event that will take place in the Action Dome on the 24th of August on the high level business forum, because we are trying to increase the number of the private sector that participates in this convention, and there is a number that exceeds around 700 or 800 that has been accredited to the process of the CCD between COP16 and COP17. And this is something that's very promising and interesting that we keep momentum going. The third thing about China is how the pastoralist and how the work is being done, part of our Silk Road Caravan, but also part of our work that we do with the local communities and the indigenous people is working through their traditional knowledge. And China as a country is trying to keep that up and being very active in our process. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. And I believe we've got another question. Lady in the front row, please. Go ahead.

Thank you for accepting my request. I'm representing Mongolian National Broadcaster. And I have one question for Dr. Yasmin. What is the biggest challenge today in tackling desertification, land degradation and drought? And are there any regions that have been particularly successful in addressing these challenges that could serve as a model for others? Thank you.

Thank you very much. The biggest challenge is to accelerate the implementation at speed that would help us restore the one billion by 2030. and to have more access to finance through innovative mechanisms because the usual ODA and the usual business scenario will not really be in our favor. And that's why we're expanding the convention to go beyond parties to non-state actors, to local communities, indigenous people, private sector. And the regions that each region has its specificity. So I would talk about Africa where I belong is very specific in the impact of climate change and degradation and drought, but also the solutions that come from the ground on, for example, watershed management, how They are tackling land and water nexus, how they are fighting desertification is a story to tell in this region in Asia. I would go far away, not very much far away. The kingdom itself has just declared the restoration of the one million hectare after COP16 with the kind of technology even that the kingdom is a country that has already water scarcity. Mongolia itself, how they have been trying when I was moving in different parts for my field visit, I learned a lot. I learned that the government and the authorities regulate the season of the pastoralists and how they move from one place to the other in order to ensure that there is food for the livestock and how they are trying to restore other lands. A very clear example of that Innovative finance, the Prime Minister today in the opening of the COP has already announced the Green Lab National Initiative and how every part including the banking sector, the private sector, the Business Council of Mongolia is part of that. These are all our successful examples and solutions from different parts of the world. I'm sure there are others in Europe and in GRULAC and in other in the Arab states, but that is for the sake of time, I gave very quick examples the two COP presidency, Mongolia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Executive Secretary. We've got a question from a gentleman in the second row, and then I will come to the lady also in the second row with the microphone, please. So, sir, your floor.

Good afternoon. My name is from Mongolia's National News Agency. My question is also for Dr. Yasmine. COP16 in Riyadh ended without a binding agreement on drought. What has to happen in Ulaanbaatar for COP17 to close that gap? And what can Mongolia help to ensure to close that gap?

Thank you very much. We heard this morning First of all, parties that mentioned drought and their, I say, the readiness to engage in constructive dialogue to get out a drought decision with focus on implementation, we heard that and that is a very good momentum and thanks to COP16 presidency because they did not just sit tight handed after COP16 but they started the informal process that's called Tafaal, in Arabic it means positive optimism and that has helped to build the trust and have a discussion ongoing till we reach today here in Ulaanbaatar. We heard also the COP17 President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Butmukh, when she said today we will try to reach consensus and we will understand that there is disagreement, there are different views, but the role of COP17 presidency is to build consensus and facilitate discussion till a drought decision would be governed. We hope at the level of the UNCCD Secretariat that the parties would reach consensus on a drought decision that would show the urgency of the matter, the scale, But at the other side, we are ready to provide the space for consultation, for facilitation, but we're also ready with the COP16 presidency, with the Luxembourg to provide the finance needed for drought management and converting the plan into actual implementation for the ground. And that's why I'm saying this COP is for implementation. Let's keep our finger crossed that we would have both the decision and the implementation. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I would like to ask the microphone for the lady in the second row, please. If you could raise your hand so that you could be identified, please. There we go. The microphone is coming. Please introduce yourself and the floor is yours, please.

Thank you very much. My name is Johanna Michel from the German media, Tagesspiegel background. And I have the following question to the Minister of Environment of Mongolia. How do you balance food production on the one hand and the production protection of rangelands on the other hand in Mongolia? Does Mongolia want to produce more food by itself? So I mean, do you want to increase your local production? And is it a problem to face of the protection of rangelands? So is there any contradiction? That's my question. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your question. So in terms of our country, our economic and finance sectors, first mining and then agriculture and herding. So you're asking about rangeland related food products and food production. So initiated from our president, there's a food revolution project. And under this, there's initiatives to support domestic food production and to support burgeoning small factories. And it's all, of course, all related to water and land availability. On the other hand, we have about 60 million livestock, 1.5 million hectares of land. And our total land, about 80% of it is pasture land. And so because of that, in our country, food production development is related to So of course there's issues that come with that. So land assignment, deciding which amount, what amount of it and where will be agricultural and what will be used for rangeland pasture land. And our, the herders in our country, you know, we have a herding tradition, we move for season of the year. And so because of that agriculture and herding lifestyles, there's conflict there. And so because of that, COP17 addressing soil deterioration, climate change, anthropogenic climate change, soil degradation. So we must change our approach to all of these issues. including all aspects of government, including policy and finance. So I see this conference as the beginning of a solution to these problems. And so I hope the herders that attend this conference think more carefully about how best to use our land, about division between where agricultural land should be and where livestock should be out to pasture. This sort of land division problem is one of our biggest challenges in this country. And so because of this, land and water issues and specifically deep water we must use this responsibility. The water that we use today, 90% of it goes to a lot of the agricultural uses comes from deep well water and so we must start using more grey water. There's many issues like this one. And so One of our expectations from COP17 are related to land and specific land division issues, and also regional local herders using land in a way that is corresponding with the ability of the land to provide. This is one of our leading policy issues And I think today our prime minister who attended the opening, it was included in his speech as well. So the pasture land, that's 80% of our total land. We must use this in an appropriate way. And as of 2020, it was about 76% of our land. And recent, more recently, it was about 81.9% of our land. And so this all, has started being affected by desertification and so we must renew this land. And so this is a very important issue. Thank you for your question.

Thank you very much. Minister Tsengel, I believe we've got one question from the lady in the second row, and I think we will have just time for one or two maximum more questions. So I will come to the lady first, and then I see one hand here. Okay, please go ahead, madam.

Thank you. Good afternoon to every one of you. My name is Zaya. I represent TV, which is a national TV channel based in Mongolia. And my question is for the madam executive secretary, Yasmin Foud. COP16 President Osama Fakiha. So as you already know, we have seen some major changes in the government for the past two years. Since the last COP, we have seen three different ministers for the environment and climate change in Mongolia. So what has it been, how has it been to work with a government that kept changing in the past two years? has it posed any issues for the preparation of COP? Or if not, what were the main challenges for the preparation?

I can take this question, although that I have been almost a year in the secretariat, And what you're mentioning is true and it's happening, but two things that we have seen and my colleagues have communicated that as well, that the president of Mongolia is very much interested on hosting that cup and was taking this very serious also for the life of the pastoralist and the livelihood of his people first. And the second thing is, I saw myself when things changed in the government, the current minister and I have been seeing this away from even the media interview that we're having today. Minister Sand has been day and night looking at everything prepared in this cup. And I can give so many examples of that. The day I came here a month ago in the venue and things were almost done, he was very meticulous on even how the restrooms are being designed and how things are being put together. Thanks to the government of Mongolia and thanks to Mr. Tsand and to the other ministers of environment who made that happen. First for whole of the world, all parties to the convention, but also for the Mongolian people too. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I believe we have one question here that has been waiting very patiently, madam. Please go ahead.

Okay, thank you. So I'm representing from Eagle News, it's a local media. And so I have a question about the during COP16 parties pledged 12 billion US dollar in funding and of which Saudi Arabia fulfilled is 2 billion US dollar funding commitment. But what should Mongolia focus on attract investment and implement the COP initiatives effectively for Yasmin and Osama. Thank you.

Yeah, first of all, that announcement, 12 billion came from the private sector mainly. So this is very important that the private sector should be part of the solution because as you know, The agriculture, the business, the food security, the building material, the mining, the fashion industry, they all depend on land. And they contribute, those businesses who does not practice good practices will contribute to degradation. So the important achievement, in my opinion, is not only the amount of money, but the beginning of changing of attitude of the business community to be on board. And second also, I think as important as the financial announcement is the Business for Land initiative. I think now we have 300 businesses or so globally. So we have some of the global fashion industry companies, global, uh, food security, food, food, uh, companies, uh, and global agriculture companies and others, uh, coming really to, uh, to be on board because still now the, um… About 55% of the global GDP depends on the natural capital. And this, by the way, few years ago, it was about 85%. Now because of the information technology and a lot of services that are being done, IT services that is growing in financial dimension, that decrease. But still we rely on the natural capital and especially the land as to support us in many, in many things, in the food, in the housing, in the dressing, in the water, and everything. So this is very important. Now we are seeing also more allocation. GEF, the Global Environmental Facility, now allocated their highest, maybe one third now of their allocation is allocated to land degradation and drought. And we see now more and more developmental banks are expected to make some announcement now in COP17 to come forward. What we are saying that the participation of the private sector and the investment in land restoration is not only important for the environment and for the people, but it's also important for the business itself. Because if we continue this way, the businesses themselves will have difficulties into their production, into supply chains, because all the lands are degraded. We lose about 24 billion tons of soil every year. And it takes nature's hundreds of years to create one centimeter of soil. So there is so many statistics how we are degrading land. Uh, if we all United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization say that we are losing, uh, $1 trillion because of degrading agricultural land. So there is a lot of statistic there about the impact. we cannot continue business as usual. There has to be a major shift in the way the private sector do their business. We need to shift to sustainable land management. We need to shift to more investment in restoration. We need to shift to a proactive response to drought. My country is one of the most dry countries in the world. And the way we did is by integrating innovation and technology into the strategic developmental plans of the country. And now we really seeing a lot of good results like we have reduced the energy consumption for water production significantly by 80%, the production productivity using innovation. There is a lot of innovation there to produce more crops with less water penalty, with more productivity. So we cannot do business as usual. We have to change the way we deal with land. We need to have a better understanding of our footprint on land. And as government policies as well as business practices has to be changed.

Thank you very much for these responses. And I believe this is what we have time for this afternoon. I would like to once again to thank our distinguished speakers for taking the time for taking the questions. And as you've heard, we will have an exciting program for the media attending this COP17. There will be daily briefings. We will be bringing you a lot of speakers covering various aspects and we'll definitely do our best with the team that is working on both the COP17 side and UNCCD secretariat side to keep you up to date with the developments. Once again, thank you very much. Have a good afternoon and have a successful COP17.