UNCCD 16th session of the Conference of the Parties

Date
02.12.24 > 13.12.24
Time
08:00 am > 08:00 pm UTC+03:00
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Registration
Registration

CGIAR will host the Food & Agriculture Pavilion, at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), from 2–13 December 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Explore the schedule and sign up for updates:

COP16 Food & Agriculture Pavilion

About UNCCD COP16

Desertification, the degradation of arable land, threatens climate adaptation, food security, and global stability. Degraded lands lose their capacity to absorb carbon emissions, worsening climate change. As fertile land diminishes, communities face conflict and displacement. UNCCD COP16 marks the Convention’s 30th anniversary and aims to address critical issues of land degradation, drought resilience, and sustainable land management.

CGIAR’s science and innovation offer solutions especially to the most vulnerable by optimizing resource use, rehabilitating degraded areas, improving water efficiency, and intensifying food production on existing arable land. Our work supports scalable solutions to stop desertification and promote sustainable land use. Join us at the Food & Agriculture Pavilion from December 3-12, or explore our other events below.

Schedule of Events

This list will be updated. All times are in Gulf Standard Time (GST). For Food & Agriculture Pavilion events please visit our dedicated website.

Key:

Official Side Event

Other Events

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:00 – 10:30	MET-02	Advancements in Soil Health and Land Restoration Monitoring	CIFOR-ICRAF
09:00 – 10:30	MET-05	Launch of the CGIAR 2030 Global Strategy for Resilient Drylands Pioneering agri-science for thriving global dryland communities	ICARDA ICRISAT
09:00 – 10:30	MET-07	Perennial Crops: A Dependable and Cost-effective Solution to Vulnerable Ecosystems in the Drylands	ICRISAT
09:00 – 10:30	MET-06	Scaling up agroecology for restoration and conservation in mosaic landscapes	The Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
11:00 – 12:30	MET-01	From Data to Action: Inclusive Multidimensional Understanding of Land, Water and Communities Fragility in MENA	IWMI
11:30 – 12:30	MET-25	Land Restoration Moonshot: Success stories	ILRI
14:00 – 14:45	MET-17	Official press conference about the Global strategy for Resilient Drylands	ICARDA ICRISAT CGIAR
15:00 – 15:45	MET-25	The global rangelands standard and the Rangelands Stewardship Council	ILRI CIFOR-ICRAF The Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
15:30 – 17:00	MET-08	Landscape Restoration as a Pathway to Peace	The Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
15:00 – 17:00	MET-23	Enabling environments for smallholder farmers to transition to socio-ecological resilient agri-food systems	Cargele Masso, CGIAR Janelle Sylvester, The Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
16:00 – 17:45	MET-25	COP Presidencey event on rangelands including announcement of a Mongolia-led global Rangelands Coalition	ILRI
18:00 – 20:00	MET-25	Fashion 4 Land event	ILRI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:00 – 10:30	MET-07	Integrated Desert Farming Systems (IDFS): Transformative Food Systems for Resilient Livelihoods	ICARDA
09:00 – 11:30	TBD	A just transition to more sustainable extensive livestock production systems
11:00 – 12:30	MET-04	Avoid, reduce, and restore degraded land the journey to a sustainable food system: a focus on local scales	CGIAR
11:00 – 12:30	MET-06	Sustainable management of soils in drylands from a soil health perspective	IWMI
13:00 – 14:30	Action Dome	High-Level Interactive Dialogue: Enabling the environment to catalyze the transformation towards sustainable, resilient, and inclusive agri-food systems	CGIAR Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR
15:00 – 17:00	MET-23	Enabling environments for smallholder farmers to transition to socio-ecological resilient agri-food systems	CGIAR The Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
15:30 – 17:30	Action Dome	VACS in action	CGIAR Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR
18:00 – 19:30	MET-03	Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture for Healthier Communities	ICRISAT

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:00 – 10:30	MET-08	The Nature Conservancy Valuing Grasslands: Critical Ecosystems for Nature, Climate and People	ILRI
13:00 – 14:30	Morocco Pavilion	Land Restoration: Innovative Mechanisms and Technique	CGIAR Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR
15:00 – 16:30	UNDP Pavilion	Natural Resources and Land Related Conflict and Environmental Justice	IWMI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-02	Data dilemmas: Bridging knowledge gaps for inclusive rangeland governance	ILRI
18:00 – 20:00	Action Dome	Shared Lands, Shared Futures: Inclusive Governance for Rangelands and Pastoralists	ILRI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
11:00 – 12:30	MET-07	Global movements to scale land and soil regeneration: The behavioral science approach	CIFOR-ICRAF
12:30 – 14:00	MET-25	Restoration of Global Rangelands for People, Nature and Human Well-being and Development	ILRI
14:00 – 15:30	MET-23	Mobility Matters: In the footsteps of pastoralists and hunter-gatherer walking around the world..	ILRI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-07	Multifunctional landscapes for building resilience and land degradation neutrality in drylands of Global South	ICRISAT
18:00 – 19:30	MET-01	Restoring Balance: Livestock Management for Ecosystem Resilience and Land Degradation Neutrality	ICRAF
18:00 – 19:30	MER-04	WWF Mapping Grassland and Savannah Hotspots: Bridging Knowledge Gaps for Nature and People	ILRI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
13:30 – 15:00	Science Pavilion	Water and Drought Resilience: Challenges and Opportunities	IWMI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
TBC	Green Zone	Sustainability Innovation Week – The Role of Policy in Sustainability Innovation: An International Perspective	CGIAR
09:00 – 10:30	MET-03	CGIAR Agricultural Innovation and Technologies For The Integration of the Three Rio Conventions	CGIAR
11:30 – 12:30	Nature Hub	Nature-based Solutions and drought	IWMI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:00 – 10:30	MET-02	Zambia Building Resilience in the Face of Drought: Lessons from Zambia’s 2023 El Niño Experience	IWMI
11:00 – 14:00	Restoration Pavilion	Building Resilience Against Transboundary Sand and Dust Storms: Lessons from Iraq and Kuwait	IWMI
11:00 – 12:30	GCC Pavilion	Building Resilience to Drought through the Arab-GWADI initiative	IWMI
13:00 – 14:30	MET-01	Desertification and Human Mobility in the Central American Dry Corridor: Integrated Strategies	TBD
13:00 – 14:30	MET-03	Leveraging Digital and Innovative Technologies for Agricultural Water Management	IWMI
13:00 – 14:30	IUCN Pavilion	Grazing for good: Pathways to sustainable grazing management	ILRI
14:00 – 15:30	Action Dome	Resilience Day – Session 4	IWMI
14:50 – 15:20	Main Stage	AI in Water Security	IWMI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-04	The Nature Conservancy The Essential Role of Nature in Drought Resilience	IWMI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-05	Building Resilient Communities through Integrated Drought Programme (Drought action catalyst launch)	IWMI
18:00 – 19:30	MET-05	World Meteorological Organization Outcomes of Drought Resilience +10 Conference: From Geneva to Riyadh and Beyond	IWMI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:30 – 10:30	MET-06	Global Collaboration for Drought Resilience: Launch of the UNCCD Community of Learning and Practice	IWMI
10:30 – 12:00	Saudi Pavilion	Smart Water Management for Building Resilience in Drought-Prone Communities	IWMI
11:00 – 12:30	MET-06	Drought Impacts on Human Health	IWMI
11:00 – 12:30	MET-01	Breaking barriers: finance, science and partnerships for rangeland restoration	IRLI
13:00 – 14:30	MET-02	Accelerating actions for healthy land in East Africa – Pathways to pastoralist prosperity, resilience and food security	ILRI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-05	Sustainable investments for large scale rangeland restoration	ILRI

Time	Location	Event	Participation
09:00 – 10:30	MET-05	Tailoring Innovative Restoration Approaches for Diverse Landscapes and Livelihoods	TBD
09:30 – 10:30	Main Stage, Green Zone	Gene Banks and Legal Frameworks: Building Resilience in Agricultural Systems	IFPRI
15:30 – 17:00	MET-08	Nature-based solutions in fragile areas of the MENA region for climate change adaptation and resilience to natural hazards and land degradation	IWMI