“Humanity is on track to reach ten billion people by 2050, just as nature’s life-support systems are reaching breaking point. Almost one million species are at risk of extinction. Three-quarters of the planet’s land has been transformed by human activity. And if greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, the world is set to overshoot the 1.5°C warming limit within decades.” (Rio Conventions Platform)

In September 2025, the Executive Secretaries of the three Rio Conventions launched the Rio Synergies Platform, stressing that climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation are not separate challenges, but “different symptoms of one planetary crisis.” As host of the twenty-third session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC-23), Panama has reiterated its support for the Rio Synergies agenda, and will launch its Nature Pledge calling for coordinated action on land, climate, and biodiversity at the meeting.

In line with the new four-year UNCCD reporting cycle, CRIC-23 provided a platform for an exchange of views on amendments to the proposed reporting process for 2026.

Discussions also reviewed progress on key UNCCD tracks, namely:

• implementation of the Convention at the national, sub-regional and regional levels, including the voluntary land degradation neutrality (LDN) targets;
• UNCCD policy frameworks on sand and dust storms and land tenure; and
• an assessment of targeted capacity-building activities, building on a Secretariat-commissioned report that seeks to offer options for developing a fully-fledged capacity-building strategy linked to the UNCCD post-2030 strategy.

Another substantive area addressed at CRIC-23 was the modalities for science-policy guidance to the Convention. The session reviewed the interim report of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework (IWG-FSF), which has been tasked with developing guidance for shaping the successor framework to the current UNCCD Strategic Framework (2018-2030).

The interim report draws on a scoping paper developed by the UNCCD Secretariat that includes: options for setting goals and targets for the new framework; an assessment of current progress indicators; and a review of funding opportunities and challenges under the current framework.

In response to a decision taken at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2024 (COP 16), that called for an annual review of progress on gender through the CRIC and COP platforms, CRIC-23 hosted a Gender Caucus for the first time.

CRIC-23 outcomes, including summaries on the Gender Caucus and the IWG-FSF discussion, will feed into draft decision text for COP 17, while the summary relating to the agenda item on science–policy guidance will be channelled through the Committee on Science and Technology, which will also meet during COP 17 in Mongolia in August 2026.

The CRIC was established in 2001, as a subsidiary body to the COP, to assist the COP in regularly reviewing implementation of the Convention. It is also an integral part of the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS).  

CRIC-23 took place from 1–5 December 2025 in Panama City, Panama. The meeting gathered around 500 delegates from 196 countries, as well as diverse representatives from civil society, Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, international organizations, scientific and technical organizations, and the private sector.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writer for this meeting was Wangu Mwangi. The Digital Editor was Ángeles Estrada. The Editor was Pam Chasek, Ph.D.