COP17 ends without drought deal; ZERO urges Portugal to act now

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification's COP17 closed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with $1.3 billion pledged for land restoration and rangeland resilience across 23 countries, but again without agreement on an international framework for drought prevention and management. The issue, blocked mainly by the United States, was also unresolved at COP16 and is now postponed to COP18 in Egypt in 2028. Portuguese NGO ZERO called the outcome mixed and urged Portugal not to wait for global consensus, calling for the National Action Programme to Combat Desertification to be finished this year, alongside stronger drought early-warning systems and land recovery policies, given that 71% of mainland Portugal is moderately to highly susceptible to desertification.