Despite two weeks of UN.-sponsored talks in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, the 197 countries that participated early Saturday did not agree on a plan to deal with the global drought, made longer and more severe by its warm climate.
The biennial talks, known as COP 16 and organized by the UN agency that deals with combating desertification and drought, sought to create strong global mandates for legal binding and require countries to fund early warning systems and build sustainable infrastructure in poor countries, especially Africa, which will be affected by the worst changes.
The United Nations Convention against Desertification was published report warned earlier this week that if global warming trends continue, nearly five billion people will be affected – including most of Europe, parts of the western US, Brazil, east Asia and central Africa – with the drying of the Earth's land by the end of the century, up from a quarter of the world's population today. The report also said that farming was particularly at risk, which could cause food insecurity for communities around the world.
This is the fourth time that UN talks aimed at getting countries to agree to do more to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change and plastic pollution have either failed to reach a consensus. reached or delivered disappointing results this year, worrying many countries, especially the most vulnerable.
Countries participating in the Riyadh talks decided to kick the can down the road to the 2026 talks, hosted by Mongolia.
“Parties need more time to agree on the best way to address the urgent issue of drought,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, head of the UNCCD, speaking at the end of the Riyadh talks.
Thiaw said the conference was “like no other” in the 30-year history of talks. “We have elevated the land and drought agenda beyond sector-specific discussions, establishing it as a cornerstone of global efforts to address interconnected challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, -food security, migration and global security. “
Longer-lasting solutions to drought – such as preventing climate change – were not a talking point.
Host Saudi Arabia has been criticized in the past for stalling progress on curbing fossil fuel emissions at other talks. The Gulf nation is one of the largest producers and exporters of oil in the world with the second largest global oil reserves.
Earlier in the conference, hosted by Saudi Arabia, a few other countries and international banks pledged $2.15 billion for drought relief. And the Arab Coordinating Group, made up of 10 development banks based in the Middle East, pledged $10 billion by 2030 to tackle land degradation, desertification and drought. The money is expected to support 80 of the most vulnerable countries to prepare for more severe drought conditions.
But the UN estimates that between 2007 and 2017, drought will cost $125 billion worldwide.
Erika Gomez, Panama's chief negotiator, said that although a decision on dealing with the drought had not been reached, significant progress had been made on other key issues.
“We have achieved several key milestones, especially in the growing attraction of civil society dialogue and the gender decision,” said Gomez. “Until the end, parties could not agree whether the new instrument to deal with drought should be legally binding or not,” said Jes Weigelt of European climate think tank TMG Research who has been monitoring the talks.
“I am afraid, the UNCCD COP 16 has suffered the same as the biodiversity and climate COPs this year. It has not delivered,” he said.
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