Highlights and images for 21 August 2026

Human mobility refers to all forms of population movement, including internal displacement, international migration, and nomadic or seasonal travel. Pastoralists have been relocating for thousands of years, following water and weather cycles. Voluntary relocation and livestock mobility are typical methods of sustainable rangeland management, contributing to carbon sequestration and combating desertification. 

However, desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD), which means the loss of healthy land, soils, water, and critical ecosystem services, can force people to leave their homelands in search of a means to survive. In this sense, the restoration of degraded land and building drought resilience can help stabilize rural livelihoods and reduce the economic pressure that causes forced displacement. 

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

On Friday, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) addressed all aspects of human mobility. Following Thursday’s discussions on pastoralists and their mobility in the Committee of the Whole (COW), delegates discussed a draft decision on DLDD as a driver that causes migration and displacement in the COW contact group on other matters. Whether there will be progress during this COP remains to be seen, after one Party reserved its position on the entire draft decision, pending further instructions from capital. 

In the morning, the COW swiftly went through its remaining agenda items on the review of progress in the implementation of the UNCCD communication plan and the programme of work for COP 18. Here, some Parties used the opportunity to lament the continued ”blocking” of certain items from the agenda at COP 17. 

Throughout the day, contact groups met to continue text-based negotiations on a range of agenda items, including migration, private sector engagement, communication, and capacity-building, as well as procedures and technical support for the future functioning of the Science-Policy Interface. Contact group negotiations are expected to continue into the evening and throughout the day on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the venue, mayors, governors and other local and regional leaders gathered at the COP 17 Mayors Forum to adopt the Ulaanbaatar Declaration, committing to advance local action on sustainable land management and drought resilience, and calling for a stronger, more permanent role for cities and regions in the UNCCD process.