The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be hosted by Mongolia in its capital city, Ulaanbaatar, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.
Credit: UNCCD, Photo: iStock.
Members of the GEO-LDN Flagship Initiative are contributing to several events at the COP17 this year:
| (Side) Event Title | Date & Location | Link | Description | GEO-LDN Leads Group affiliated Person’s & Organisations that participate |
| Integrated Land Use Planning in Practice: Advancing Inclusive and Data-Driven Decision Support | 17 August 2026 (Monday) 15:00–16:30 (UTC+8) MET-04 | Official agenda. | Explore how GEF-funded projects are putting Integrated Land Use Planning (ILUP) into practice. Learn how inclusive approaches engage women, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), and local stakeholders in decision-making. Exchange lessons learned and identify opportunities to strengthen collaboration and scale successful approaches across projects. | Conservation International (CI) |
| SIDS Data4LDN | 19 August 2026 (Wednesday), 13:00 -14:30 (UTC+8), Location: SIDS Pavillion | Introduce the audience to the GEF8 funded project ‘Enhancing data and capacity development resources to support UNCCD country Parties in national reporting and targeting of efforts to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality” led by Conservation International in partnership with Apacheta, Auspatious and Kartoza. Present the recently released geospatial dataset representing land productivity dynamics at 30m spatial resolution, available for all SIDS. | Conservation International (CI) | |
| Strengthening UNCCD Reporting through Regional Support Hubs and Technical Expertise | 19 August 2026 (Wednesday), 15:00–18:00 (UTC+8) | Official Agenda. | CRIC Plenary Panel Session Learn how the UNCCD’s Support Hubs and Technical Advisors help countries strengthen reporting Explore innovative approaches to improving reporting quality and efficiency Join the discussion on challenges, lessons learned, and future improvements | Conservation International (CI) |
| From Data to Decisions: Leveraging GEF Global Activities to Strengthen UNCCD Reporting and Achieve Land Degradation Neutrality | 20 August 2026 (Thursday), 18:00–19:30 (UTC+8), MET-06 | Official Agenda. | Conservation International (CI) | |
| Trends.Earth Clinic | 20 August 2026 (Thursday), 18:30-20:00 (UTC+8), SIDS Pavillion | Q&A Clinic Office-hours format that allows the audience to interact with specialists and address questions on how to best use Trends.Earth for preparing datasets and summary tables for reporting on SDG Indicator 15.3.1. | Conservation International (CI) | |
| Challenges of Land Degradation Monitoring and Assessment in dryland areas | 18 August 2026, 2:00 – 3:20 PM, KSA Pavilion, Blue Zone | Organized by National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC), Saudi Arabia. Dryland areas typically have limited water availability and high evapotranspiration rates that impact assessment of land degradation provided in the UNCCD’s Good Practice Guidance (GPG) for SDG indicator 15.3.1. Current global methodologies, based on indicators for land productivity dynamics (LPD) and soil organic carbon stocks (SOC) in particular are ineffective in such regions due to low vegetation cover and in situ data gaps. The National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification in Saudi Arabia conducted a workshop of international experts in August 2024 that suggested the pathway for developing a monitoring framework applicable to arid and hyper arid environmental conditions. Saudi Arabia has taken the initiative to design a general framework for monitoring land degradation in arid and hyper arid areas. This side event will examine gaps and limitations in existing land degradation monitoring frameworks for dryland, arid and hyper-arid area. The discussion will focus on innovative monitoring approaches, user-centered assessment design, and future partnerships to strengthen long-term land degradation monitoring in hyper-arid zones. | National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC), Saudi Arabia. | |
| Advancing Rio Synergies Through Land Degradation Neutrality | 21 August 2026 (Friday), 10:30–12:00 (UTC+8), MET-02 | Official Agenda. | Side Event Gain insights into global progress toward Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Discover how advancing LDN can drive synergies across the Rio Conventions Learn practical strategies for cross-sector collaboration | Conservation International (CI) |
| Empowering Land Degradation Neutrality Reporting and Interventions through Earth Observation and Big Data | 21 August 2026 (Friday), 12:00–14:00 (UTC+8), China Pavilion | Side Event Explore the latest innovations in land degradation monitoring and reporting Learn from global and regional leaders about tools and data to support monitoring and reporting Engage in a discussion on country reporting challenges and capacity needs for Asia | Conservation International (CI) | |
| Leveraging land degradation neutrality monitoring and reporting for integrated land use planning and coordinated action on land | 21 August 2026, 3:00pm–4:30pm, MET-03 | Link to official agenda. | On 21 August 2026, from 15:00–16:30 in Room MET-03, the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and GEO-LDN will jointly host a side event exploring how LDN monitoring and reporting data, particularly Earth observation data, can inform integrated land use planning and coordinated action on land. Building on the 2025 Regional Dialogue Forum for Pacific Small Island Developing States, the session will highlight lessons on data-driven decision-making, inter-ministerial collaboration and knowledge exchange, while exploring practical country needs, technical and institutional barriers, and opportunities to translate monitoring data into integrated action across land degradation, climate change, biodiversity and disaster risk reduction. | GEO-LDN and UNU-EHS |
| Restoration as a Shared Solution: Delivering for Land and Biodiversity | 24 August 2026, 11:00-13:00 I MET-23 | Link to official agenda. | Organisations Participating:FAO; CBD; UNCCD; JRC; OSS; RCMRD; Landscape Alliance; SER Andreas BRINK (JRC) is a Technical Advisor for GEO-LDN and will participate in this side event. The side event will launch a joint effort to align the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring with the UNCCD PRAIS system, showing how shared data and indicators can reduce duplication and link land‑degradation neutrality with the CBD’s Target 2 for biodiversity. | JRC |
| From National Reporting to Shared Action: Strengthening Regional Cooperation across the Rio Conventions | 26 August 2026, 15:00 – 16:30 | Room MET22 | Link to official agenda. | On 26 August 2026, from 15:00–16:30 in Room MET22, the UNCCD Secretariat will host a side event on strengthening regional cooperation across the Rio Conventions, including the launch of the Support Hubs and Technical Advisors Network for the 2026 UNCCD National Reporting Process. This High-Level Event will bring together countries, regional institutions, and technical partners to explore how regional cooperation, Earth observation and big-data analytics can strengthen national reporting, reduce uncertainty and reporting burdens, and support more integrated implementation across the UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC. Dr Amadou Sall, GEO Executive Committee member and Principal of Senegal, will participate in the discussion on advancing coherence and cooperation across the Rio Conventions. | Dr Amadou Sall, GEO Executive Committee member and Principal of Senegal & Conservation International (CI) |
| GEO-LDN Co-Lead of the Working Group for Capacity Development, Prof Xiasong Li (CBAS) will participate at a series of events. | You can find the events here. | At COP17, CBAS will play an active role in advancing scientific collaboration, regional support, and capacity building for sustainable land management. Through its participation in the UNCCD Regional Support Hub network, CBAS will engage in technical exchanges, Support Hub sessions, partner-led events, and China–Mongolia cooperation activities. CBAS will host a China Pavilion side event on Earth observation and artificial intelligence for LDN reporting and interventions, organize a training seminar on Big Earth Data for sustainable land management, and present digital tools for land degradation monitoring, reporting, and decision support. These contributions will highlight CBAS’s commitment to promoting data-driven approaches and international cooperation under the UNCCD framework. | CBAS |
