Timeline
13 September 2019
UNCCD COP14 was the fourteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, held in New Delhi from 2 to .
17 June 1994
The UNCCD itself was adopted in Paris on and entered into force on 26 December 1996, the only legally binding international agreement linking environment an…
26 December 1996
The UNCCD itself was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and entered into force on , the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and de…
9 September 2019
A High-Level Segment, attended by ministers and heads of state, opened on and was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who delivered…
Positions at a glance
Supporters
The proceedings followed the standard UNCCD architecture established by the Convention text. The plenary of the COP ran in parallel with the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) and the Committee on Science and Technology (CST), each producing recommendations forwarded to the plenary for adoption as numbered decisions. A High-Level Segment, attended by ministers and heads of state, opened on 9 September 2019 and was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who delivered the keynote and chaired the segment as host. Negotiations proceeded through contact groups and a Committee of the Whole, with the Global Mechanism and the Secretariat, both headquartered in Bonn, providing financial and technical support. The session concluded on 13 September with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration, titled "Investing in Land and Unlocking Opportunities," a non-binding political statement summarising the collective ambition of the roughly 197 Parties.
Opponents
Substantively, COP14 advanced the operational concept of land degradation neutrality (LDN), the Convention's flagship target enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 15.3, which commits Parties to achieve a world where land degradation is balanced by restoration by 2030. India announced it would raise its national ambition to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, up from an earlier commitment of 21 million hectares. Modi proposed the creation of a global centre for technical knowledge on land degradation. Decisions addressed drought management, sand and dust storms, land tenure, gender, and the participation of the private sector through a new business forum. The CST reviewed the work of the Science-Policy Interface, while the CRIC examined progress reports submitted by Parties against agreed indicators, including land cover, land productivity, and soil organic carbon stocks.
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In September 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the High-Level Segment of UNCCD COP14 in New Delhi and pledged that India would restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
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