Land Restoration Targets Move Closer to Real Investment and Local Change

The African Development Bank reaffirmed its commitment to helping countries turn sustainable land-management priorities into transformative programmes across the Sahel, East Africa and Southern Africa.

Countries facing worsening land degradation are being encouraged to turn national restoration promises into practical investments that improve farming, protect natural resources and create stronger economic opportunities for local communities. This challenge guided a discussion held on the sidelines of the seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, known as UNCCD COP17.

Organised by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory, the event gathered government representatives, development partners and financial institutions to examine how the LDN Target Setting Programme 2.0 is helping countries move beyond written targets. The programme connects Land Degradation Neutrality commitments with integrated land-use planning, measurable priorities, stronger national leadership and projects that can attract financing.

Restored Land Can Support Stronger Communities

Land restoration is often discussed in environmental terms, though its influence reaches deeply into people's daily lives. Productive soil can increase food supplies, healthier grazing areas can support livestock, restored forests can protect water sources, and better-managed landscapes can help families withstand droughts, floods and changing rainfall patterns.

Representatives from Tunisia called for stronger coordination among government institutions and more reliable data systems, since scattered responsibilities can slow decision-making and make progress difficult to measure. Egyptian participants said restoration projects must create clear benefits for communities and expand from isolated activities into landscape-scale programmes capable of improving entire regions.

Political commitment was described as equally important. Pedro Lara Almuedo, Land Use and Climate Change Officer and Team Lead of the LDN Target Setting Programme at the UNCCD Global Mechanism, said technical work cannot produce lasting results without leaders who are prepared to support difficult decisions, align public institutions and maintain restoration efforts over time.

Local Projects Need Investment to Reach Scale

Arona Soumare, Chief Climate Change Officer at the African Development Bank, called for land degradation to be addressed through an integrated approach that connects community projects with investment programmes and national policies. Small grassroots initiatives can demonstrate successful techniques, but their wider influence remains limited when they operate separately from public planning and larger sources of finance.

"Scale matters. We need to scale up grassroots projects through integrated landscape approaches that break down silos," Soumare said. He explained that knowledge, data and capacity building must lead directly to investment opportunities supported by coordinated policies.

The African Development Bank reaffirmed its commitment to helping countries turn sustainable land-management priorities into transformative programmes across the Sahel, East Africa and Southern Africa. Soumare said multilateral development banks should do more than provide traditional loans by attracting additional capital, reducing risks for investors and supporting projects that generate ecological recovery alongside economic value.

Better Data Must Lead to Visible Results

Abdoulkarim Bello of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory stressed that collecting information has little value unless it guides decisions and produces measurable change. "The objective is not more data; it is a continuous data-to-impact chain," he said.

LDN targets become easier to implement when they identify specific locations, define measurable outcomes and connect restoration needs with realistic financing options. Integrated Land Use Planning, geospatial technology and national monitoring systems can show where degradation is most severe, reveal how land is being used and help governments prepare projects that meet the requirements of climate funds, environmental programmes and development banks.

Participants called for closer cooperation among governments, financial institutions, development organisations, civil society groups and private companies after COP17. Their message was clear: restoring land should mean more than repairing damaged ecosystems. It should protect livelihoods, strengthen food security, improve climate resilience and create lasting opportunities for people who depend on healthy landscapes.

UNCCD COP17 was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme "Restoring Land. Restoring Hope."