The UN Convention to Combat Desertification will meet in Ulaanbaatar from 17 to 28 August. With up to 40% of the planet's land degraded, pending decisions span finance, water, soils, rangelands and land security.
The guanaco population in Santa Cruz has grown from 600,000 in the 1990s to around 2 million today. Biologist Stuart Blake warns that this uncontrolled growth, driven by the lack of predators, the expansion of water sources and abandoned farms, could accelerate desertification of the Patagonian steppe and deepen the crisis in the sheep sector.
The Riyadh summit of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification placed land restoration, drought resilience and financing at the center of the agenda. More than USD 12 billion was pledged, but a binding global agreement on drought remained pending and will continue toward COP17.
The Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, launched in 1978, combined afforestation, dune stabilization, public investment and rural labor to curb desertification in northern China. Its progress is significant, but experts warn that restoration can only be sustained through monitoring, local management and political continuity.