World Leaders Head to Mongolia for a Summit on Dying Land

A major United Nations summit on damaged land is set to open August 17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It's called COP17, short for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. This is the first time the summit has ever been held in East or Central Asia. Desertification is what happens when fertile land slowly turns dry, bare, and unable to support crops or plant life, often due to overuse, drought, or climate change. The summit brings together countries to talk about how to stop and reverse that damage. Delegates from 197 countries are expected to attend, along with heads of state, government ministers, scientists, and business leaders. The event runs for two weeks, ending August 28. This year's theme is "Restoring Land. Restoring Hope." The host country isn't just a backdrop. Mongolia is dealing with the same crisis the summit is trying to solve. Roughly 77 percent of its land, an area larger than most countries, has already been damaged by land degradation, according to the UN Development Programme. That makes Mongolia a real-world example of the problem, not just a meeting site. The summit overlaps with another UN effort this year: the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Rangelands are the open grasslands used for grazing livestock. More than a billion people around the world depend on them directly for food and income, and UN officials say that work is closely tied to the fight against desertification. Past UN summits like this one have mostly led to voluntary national pledges and funding commitments for restoration projects, rather than rules countries are legally required to follow. Negotiators expect a similar outcome this time, though the final agenda will be set once the summit begins.