COP16 Observations, Impressions, and Takeaways. (As a first time COP attendee).

Veruschka Dumeni.

My mission at COP16

I am in the pool of the many who are ever disappointed by the outcomes of real meaningful action from the COPs.

But this one, I decided to give a chance.

My aim at COP16 was to bring an awareness, an understanding that land degradation, desertification firstly looks different in different climates, and because of that, context matters. That contextualized solutions are really, really important in avoiding blanketed solutions. As we have seen, there is a handful of solutions over the past 10 years or so that have been lifted as the shining solutions for most of these land degradation problems, but we see that agroforestry does not work in all climates. Some climates do not have enough water resources to support afforestation. And that it may not look like desertification at the beginning, but that bush encroachment can lead to desertification and is a result of desertification. And there I was, along with an esteemed panel, representing the context of Namibia in the topic of land degradation and desertification. And so far, people are waking up, people have woken up.

The ‘good’ (not entirely good) thing is there are some other nations that are also suffering from or seeing evidence of bush encroachment as well as alien and invasive species invasion. However, Namibia's scale of encroachment I think really stands out in its sheer extent. Particularly how hard it is to solve it at this stage of its proliferation, amidst the perfect conditions of climate change, which jeopardize restoration efforts. So we were also sending out a warning - if you do not start early enough to observe, monitor, and then manage these signs of bush encroachment and invasive species establishment, then you will find yourself in a thorny-thicket situation such as Namibia. Where it is becoming ever more expensive to deal with this problem, and not just financially, ecologically expensive too.

Many of the natural systems that would have helped us implement natural solutions are themselves also being compromised by bush encroachment, such as underground water. Never mind the conundrum that drought and irregular rainfall presents - competitor species and perennial grasses cannot compete.

I was glad to see representation of subsaharan African climate and ecological contexts, as well as drylands, savannas and grasslands included in the talks of restoration and soil health. Although, there is certainly much room ground work in comparison.

A side event we held on People's Day. Flyer credits: Gardiner Oliver

Observations and Impression

One of the primary observations at COP16 was that most organizations and smallholder farmers, pastoralists, community project representatives, and youth initiatives, along with larger organizations such as IUCN, WWF, UNDP, WFP, and other scientific institutions, were speaking the same language. This common language emphasized the need to focus on soil regeneration, encourage and enable community-led projects, and prioritize ownership of initiatives by the communities benefiting from them. Additionally, it was recognized that livestock should be part of the regenerative solution rather than being solely blamed for land degradation. As noted by Mr. Patrick Worms, a science policy advisor, "It is not the cow, it is the how." This shared understanding was evident among all attendees of the side events.

My overall observation was that individuals from different societal streams, capacities, statuses, industries, and fields of work were largely aligned with the priorities of this COP. Most NGOs, both large and small, and individuals were convinced that land degradation should be addressed through regenerative and restorative solutions that are science-based but also people-led, community-led, and indigenous knowledge-led.

Another observation was that many organizations, both big and small, are doing similar work. This is not negative; rather, it is positive because decentralized actions with localized and specific solutions are necessary for addressing the diverse conditions, climates, political situations, and cultural dynamics of different countries, regions, communities, and villages. However, there is a strong need for collaboration to avoid duplicating approaches, techniques and the wasting of resources and time (which is vital). Many lessons have already been learned by certain organizations, individuals, and institutions, but the flow of information, experiences, success and failure stories is not as rapid or deep as it should be. This is of course a great opportunity for meaningful collaboration.

Side Events and Youth Presence

The side events covered a wide range of topics, including youth in restoration, behavioral change for restoration, investing in soil health in Africa, sustainable management of drylands through soil health, community fundraising, soil and land on agricultural budgets towards promoting regenerative agricultural practices, financing soil health and land restoration for food security and resilience, global movements to scale land and soil regeneration, and sustainably managing drylands soils. The youth presence was admirable, though I attended too few of their events to have major impressions.  The events were enumerable, all delectable topics, often leaving one with the ultimate wish of being in multiple places at once. You can browse the list of topic and events here . As fittingly celebrated in this post by Dr. Leigh Ann Winowiecki, the number of some of the events which highlighted and dove into soil health, fertility and its key role in ecosystem restoration, climate mitigation and regenerative agriculture. The data collection training needed, the land degradation surveillance data needed, and the sharing thereof in usable forms, especially for small holder farmers.

Some useful and informative websites whose work is definitely worth getting to know:

https://www.herding4health.net/resources/toolkit

https://www.ifad.org/en/

https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/about-us/

https://commonland.com/what-we-do/

https://www.cifor-icraf.org/about/about-cifor-icraf/

www.eld-initiative.org

https://www.cgiar.org/how-we-work/

https://www.asabrasil.org.br/sobre-nos/historia

https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/press-releases/world-drought-atlas-reveals-systemic-nature-hazard-risks-calls-national (Global Drought Atlas downloadable, highly recommend).

https://justdiggit.org/

https://www.asabrasil.org.br/

https://www.greenorum.com/articles

And these are just a handful of the many.

Area of Disharmony

While there was a unified voice among attendees, the negotiations told a different story. Negotiations are crucial as they inform consensus on conventions, which guide member nations in implementing their climate pledges, targets, solutions and overall influence relevant industries (point of major contention). They also influence financial contributions of nations and guide the priority areas of climate funding institutions. And yet, decisive terminology on topics such as eliminating harmful subsidies, agreements on drought were met with apprehension and reluctance by some nations. This reluctance is concerning, as it undermines the urgency and collective action needed to address land degradation. This is of course typical among all COPs, and really many bureaucratic large multi-national member organizations, but it was a wakeup call for a first-time attendee. One would think that this conference would be different, and things would be obvious. Why? Because it is focused on solving problems in which nobody truly wins if we do not act to reverse land degradation and stop the causative practices. In fact, it will have human, environmental and economic costs globally, so why not boldly invest in the solutions now?

Here you can find all decisions adopted as a result of the tireless negotiations. But many, such as a decision on rangelands and on drought management, were also either thrown out or pushed for COP17, for yet another round of negotiations.

Bridging COPs and conventions

A recurring question at COP16 was how to integrate the UNCCD with other climate and biodiversity conventions. The key is integrating regenerative practices into each country's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) could bridge these gaps. By doing so, solutions to land degradation can align with broader climate goals and biodiversity conservation efforts. This integration is crucial for creating a cohesive global response to environmental challenges. The climate COP focuses more on financial pledges of nations, and especially the global north. And I think that however many dollars actually come from those financial pledges needs to be funneled through some of the approaches that have come out of the UNCCD. And some of the programs and initiatives that are already on the ground. And it needs to be through the lens of regeneration and restoration, ecology, intersectionality and science -backed techniques.

Key Takeaways

1. The conference highlighted the importance of intersectional approaches that consider social, natural, and economic impacts. Additionally, storytelling emerged as a powerful tool for behavior change, making complex issues more relatable and engaging.

2. Behavior changes and restoration efforts need to be incentivized across sectors to achieve scale. Whether with farmers, governments, youth or private sector. This requires not just financial support but also policy frameworks that encourage sustainable practices.

3. Meaningful collaboration and the use of digital innovation to share scientific data in the form of usable tools are super important for maximizing science-backed restoration impact. Researchers and scientists present were therefore agreeing on the need to translate scientific findings into accessible skill-sharing tools, which could significantly enhance on-the-ground practices.

4. While partnerships were formed, my sense was that smaller NGOs often return home with limited financial resources. It remains to be seen if financial access has improved for these organizations, but there is hope that connections made during COP16 will lead to more substantial support in the years to come.

So, here is to hoping 2025 calendars are already collecting scheduled calls, meetings and exchanges between the handfuls of exchanged business cards we all left with.   Overall, COP16 was inspiring, spirited and encouraging.