Highlights and images for 26 August 2026

Rangelands cover approximately half of the Earth’s land surface and are the backbone of food security, rural livelihoods, and regional economies. They also provide crucial ecosystem services such as regulating water availability and sequestering carbon. Approximately half are considered degraded, which is exacerbating poverty, migration, and biodiversity loss. Yet, they are neglected in global policy talks.

The 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 17) marked Wednesday as ”Land Day”, which, in addition to a Ministerial Dialogue and session of the Gender Caucus, saw a flurry of action within the negotiations themselves. 

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

At the Ministerial Dialogue dedicated to rangelands and pastoralists, many Parties shared their national efforts to support pastoralists and restore rangelands. Civil society groups called for, inter alia: recognizing and protecting mobility as a necessary adaptation strategy; securing customary land rights; and adhering to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure. 

Elsewhere in the morning, contact group negotiations had barely begun before a group of Parties requested their suspension pending consultations with the Presidency. Following some tense hours of uncertainty, negotiations resumed after lunch. The COP Plenary also met to open the previously blocked agenda item on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework. The item was sent to the Committee of the Whole (COW), which passed it to the COW contact group on other matters, where Parties were presented with a package text following delicate consultations organized by the Presidency. 

In the afternoon, at a session of the Gender Caucus, participants focused on strengthening the role of women herders and pastoralists as key stewards of rangelands, biodiversity, and resilient rural livelihoods.

After lunch, the contact groups of the COW, Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), and the Committee on Science and Technology (CST) continued discussions on draft decisions.