By Magdalene Wanja - Reporter
Mongolia, 17 August 2026 - When people talk about the environmental crisis, the conversation often rises into the atmosphere about carbon emissions, rising temperatures and the changing climate. But another crisis is unfolding much closer to home. It is happening beneath our feet.
Across farms, grazing lands, forests, wetlands and drylands, the land that supports human life is steadily coming under pressure. The consequences may not always arrive with the drama of a wildfire or a devastating flood. Instead, they often appear gradually: declining soil fertility, disappearing vegetation, shrinking water resources, reduced agricultural productivity and livelihoods becoming increasingly vulnerable.
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), “Up to 40 per cent of the world's land is degraded, affecting food production, water availability, livelihoods and economic stability.”
It is against this backdrop that delegates are gathering in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD, known as COP17, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.”
The conference brings together representatives of the UNCCD's 197 Parties, alongside governments, scientists, businesses, civil society, youth, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and smallholder farmers.
The message behind the gathering is straightforward: restoring land is no longer simply an environmental ambition. It is becoming essential to protecting livelihoods, strengthening resilience and maintaining human security.
As the UNCCD has noted, “restoring land is also essential to reducing instability, preventing displacement and strengthening human and national security in vulnerable regions.”
That connection is important because a degraded landscape rarely affects nature alone.
For a farmer, exhausted soil can mean a smaller harvest. For a pastoralist, deteriorating rangelands can mean travelling farther in search of water and pasture. For families already living close to the edge, another failed season can translate into lost income, higher food costs or even displacement.
Land degradation therefore has a human face.
The global response is also shifting from simply trying to prevent environmental damage to actively repairing ecosystems that have already been degraded. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has become an important rallying point for that effort, built around the recognition that restoring damaged ecosystems is fundamental to human well-being and the resilience of the planet.
As the original UN framing puts it, “The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is designed as a rallying point, a reminder that repairing ecosystems is not charity, it is necessity.”
That necessity can be seen in ecosystems around the world. Mangroves help protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Grasslands support pastoral communities and livestock. Wetlands help regulate water systems. Forests store carbon, protect biodiversity and contribute to the livelihoods of millions of people.
Restoration, therefore, is increasingly becoming part of the frontline response to climate change.
The challenge is not simply to restore ecosystems in theory, but to find solutions that communities can afford, implement and sustain.
“Restoring Land, Restoring Hope is not only an environmental agenda, but a development and resilience priority. As drought intensifies and land degradation accelerates, the conference must drive practical, investable solutions, from restoring degraded land and soils to strengthening the land–water nexus, so that communities can thrive,” said the UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad.
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That emphasis on practical and investable solutions is critical. International commitments can establish direction, but restoration ultimately has to happen on the ground in farms, forests, watersheds, grazing lands and communities.
The urgency is perhaps best understood by looking at Mongolia itself.
The country has some of the world's largest grassland ecosystems and a long history of pastoralism, but it is also experiencing serious pressure from drought, desertification and land degradation. UNCCD estimates that nearly 77 per cent of Mongolia's land is affected by degradation.
That makes Mongolia more than a venue for COP17. It is also a living example of the challenges being discussed inside the conference halls.
The country's experience highlights another part of the land crisis that often receives less attention: rangelands. Grasslands may not command the same visual attention as tropical forests, but they support food production, livestock economies and millions of people. During COP17, rangelands and pastoralist communities are receiving particular attention, especially as 2026 marks the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
For pastoral communities, a healthy rangeland is not an abstract ecological concept. It is food, income, culture and home.
The issue is particularly significant for Africa, where millions of people depend directly on agriculture, livestock and natural resources. As droughts become more disruptive and productive land becomes harder to maintain, environmental degradation can quickly become an economic and social crisis.
For countries facing these pressures, restoration cannot be reduced to planting trees. It must also involve rebuilding soil health, protecting watersheds, improving water management, restoring grazing lands and supporting the communities that manage and depend on these ecosystems.
This is where the idea behind the conference theme becomes particularly powerful.
Restoration is ultimately about giving communities a chance to remain productive and resilient in the places they call home.
Turning that vision into reality will require more than international declarations.
It will not be measured only by speeches delivered in Ulaanbaatar or commitments written into official documents.
It will be measured in what happens on farms, in forests, across rangelands and around water sources long after delegates have returned home.