Bringing a food systems perspective to UNCCD COP17

Food systems transformation and the objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) share a common foundation: healthy, productive and sustainably managed land. More than 95 percent of global food production depends on land, along with essential services such as water regulation, biodiversity and carbon storage. Advancing both agendas means reducing agriculture’s contribution to land degradation while increasing its role in restoration, supported by coherent policies and targeted investment.

At the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UNCCD in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub emphasised the need to apply a food systems perspective to land restoration, resilience and sustainable finance, highlighting how closely these issues are connected.

For the first time, food systems were embedded in the official COP17 Action Agenda, including a dedicated Food Systems and Soil Health Day.  The Hub’s Senior Programme Coordinator, Khaled Eltaweel, joined governments and partners to explore how national food systems pathways can help connect these priorities. His contributions focused on stronger policy coherence and financing that responds to national priorities and the needs of farmers and communities.

Connecting food systems and soil health

These connections were the focus of a Hub-organized side event on 27 August, “Advancing national food systems pathways through convergence for soil health and land restoration.” Organized with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH), the event examined how countries can better connect soil health and land restoration with their wider food systems priorities.

Healthy soils contribute to productive farms, resilient landscapes and rural livelihoods. Many national food systems pathways already address soil health through approaches such as agroecology, sustainable land and water management and ecosystem restoration. The discussion focused on making those links more explicit, measurable and easier to finance.

Opening the session, H.E. Tsend Sandag-Ochir, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia, put the stakes simply: “If we protect our soils, we protect our food. If we protect our food, we protect our livelihoods. If we protect our livelihoods, we protect our future.”

The Honourable Tomasi Tunabuna, Minister for Agriculture and Waterways of Fiji, brought the discussion to the country level. Fiji, he explained, is strengthening coordination, developing an agrifood investment platform and building public-private partnerships. The objective is “not another stand-alone soil agenda, but to make soil outcomes explicit within the plans and investments already guiding food systems transformation.”

This approach builds on work already underway in many countries. Nora Berrahmouni, Deputy Director of FAO’s Land and Water Division, noted that land restoration and sustainable soil management are already reflected across national priorities. “The task now is to strengthen coherence across national food systems pathways, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to mobilize investment and deliver integrated results across landscapes and livelihoods,” she said.

Eltaweel pointed to examples from Fiji and Cambodia, where the Hub’s Food Systems and Climate Action Convergence Initiative is supporting countries to connect national food systems processes with priorities ranging from rangelands and drought to climate action and investment. “Strengthening this convergence can help countries coordinate action and deliver measurable results for people, land and ecosystems, and enhance finance accessibility,” he said.

Rather than creating a separate agenda for soil health, speakers emphasized the value of making soil outcomes more visible within existing policies, programmes and investments.

Food systems across the COP17 agenda

The Hub carried this perspective into several other COP17 discussions. Drawing on experiences from national food systems pathways, these engagements highlighted how countries are strengthening links between food systems and water resilience, aligning priorities across the Rio Conventions, and exploring how finance can support regenerative agriculture and land restoration. Discussions also covered approaches to measuring food and soil health and repurposing public support.

National food systems pathways already provide a practical framework for bringing related priorities together around country needs. The Hub shared examples from its Convergence Initiative and highlighted the Joint SDG Fund Food Systems Transformation Window as a mechanism for developing investment-ready programmes, while stressing the importance of finance reaching farmers and communities.

These conversations continued in bilateral meetings, where the focus shifted from the broader COP17 agenda to opportunities for collaboration with partners and support for countries. Exchanges with CIRAD and IUCN explored closer links between food systems and the Rio Conventions, including stronger integration of biodiversity and opportunities for future country-level work.

Cambodia provided a concrete example of what that support can look like. In a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the delegation highlighted priorities for continued cooperation, including technical support for agricultural economic analysis and supply-and-demand projections for priority crops, as well as Cambodia’s engagement at COP31 in Türkiye.

The Hub also met with the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security to explore how its focus on field-ready investments for food security and land restoration could complement the Convergence Initiative’s work with governments on policy alignment and institutional coordination.

Across COP17, the Hub’s engagement showed how a food systems approach can help connect global discussions on land, climate and biodiversity with the policies, institutions and investments countries are already advancing. National food systems pathways provide a country-led framework for strengthening those links, supported by better coordination and financing that responds to country needs.