Riyadh – The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) has attracted more than $12 billion to strengthen drought resilience worldwide.

Held for the first time in Riyadh from December 2 to 13, under the theme "Our Land, Our Future", the conference witnessed global efforts to combat drought and restore degraded land received a major financial boost.

The Arab Coordination Group has committed up to $10 billion by 2030 to address critical challenges related to land degradation, desertification, and drought.

Meanwhile, the OPEC Fund and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) pledged $1 billion, each. This is in addition to $150 million provided by the Kingdom to finance the initiative.

President of IsDB and head of the Arab Coordination Group, Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, commented: "Through land restoration, combating desertification, and addressing drought, we aim to enhance resilience in the world's most vulnerable communities.”

Based on the objectives of the UNCCD, the annual investments required for the period from 2025 to 2030 are estimated at $355 billion. However, the expected investments for the same period amount to only $77 billion annually, which highlights the urgent need to raise $278 billion.

The report also underlined the lack of investments by the private sector in the areas of land reclamation and enhancing capacities to confront drought, indicating that its contributions are estimated at only 6% of the total funding required.

This gap comes despite projections by the UNCCD, which show that reclaiming more than a billion hectares of land could generate returns of up to $1.80 trillion annually.

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