World leaders gathered in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, last month for the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) to discuss the growing problem of drought and land degradation.

The two-week summit brought together politicians, scientists, and local representatives in the Middle East to promote international cooperation on land restoration, food security, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity protection.

Alarming figures indicate that 40% of the earth’s land is already degraded, impacting half of the human population and half of the global GDP, underscoring the severity of the challenge faced by communities today.

As climate change leads to harsher and more frequent droughts, global action is needed to safeguard lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems. According to experts, several milestones from the Riyadh event signal stronger momentum towards tackling the crisis.

Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UNCCD, says the financial commitments exceeding $12 billion are “pivotal” in supporting 80 of the world’s most drought-affected countries and mark a “transformative shift toward sustainable management of land and water resources.”

These initiatives “reflect a clear commitment to prioritizing sustainable drought resilience strategies,” adds Thiaw.

Along with money pledges, COP16 saw the launch of the Economics of Drought report by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), UNCCD, the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative (ELD), and their partners.

The report warned that human-driven environmental damage could expose three in four people to drought by 2050, with annual costs already topping $300 billion. It stressed the benefits of natural solutions that reduce drought risks and boost income in local communities.

For example, Chile, India, and Australia are among the countries that have seen positive results from implementing practices such as reforestation, wetland restoration, and sustainable farming.

Rodrigo Andrade Ramirez, executive secretary of the non-profit organization National Forestry Corporation, says Chile’s integrated water management approaches, which blend traditional methods with modern innovations to balance water use, promote conservation, and protect ecosystem health, have been a success case.

“Nature-based solutions have proven effective, and farms using them have achieved more stable productivity during extreme droughts than conventional methods while also supporting the region’s biodiversity,” adds Ramirez.

Carolyn Hall, chief executive officer of the Mulloon Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on landscape restoration and sustainable land management in Australia, says that practices, such as slowing down water flow, storing it within the landscape, and re-establishing the water cycles necessary for regeneration, biodiversity, and soil health, are highly effective in combating environmental degradation.

“By rebuilding the soil’s carbon sponge, we can retain water in the landscape, allowing it to seep out gradually over time- this approach enhances the landscape’s resilience to drought,” Hall adds.

According to experts involved in the Economics of Drought report, natural solutions benefit the planet and can also be financially rewarding. The report found that investing in nature can generate up to $27 in returns for every $1 spent while reducing drought-related costs by up to 30%.

Richard Thomas, a senior fellow at UNU-INWEH and scientific coordinator for the ELD Initiative, says this approach is a clear “no regret” option, as it boosts livelihoods, increases land users’ income over time, and supports both climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Inclusivity was another theme at COP16, with Osama Faqeeha, Saudi Arabia’s deputy minister of environment, water, and agriculture, announcing the creation of caucuses for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

“COP16 led to the creation of these caucuses to amplify the voices of those most affected by land degradation, ensuring their unique knowledge is woven into the fabric of ongoing land restoration and drought resilience initiatives,” he says.

In the end, Faqeeha described the summit in Riyadh as a “historic turning point”, raising global awareness of land degradation, desertification, and drought while delivering an “unprecedented array” of outcomes to address complex environmental and socioeconomic challenges.

The next UNCCD summit, COP17, will take place in Mongolia in 2026 and will focus on finalizing a drought response framework and expanding international efforts to tackle land degradation around the world.