
Healthy Land and Ecosystems for People, Nature and Climate
The Riyadh Action Agenda
A global platform, mobilising ambitious, voluntary commitments and action from governments and non-state actors, to conserve and restore 1.5 billion hectares of land by 2030 – helping deliver a prosperous future for all.
Save our land, now
Healthy land, ecosystems and soils are vital for securing food production and nutrition security, addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, supporting rural livelihoods and economic prosperity. Yet, nearly half of the world’s land is degrading at record speed – already affecting half of humanity.
The stakes are high. In 2024, droughts hit hard across the globe, exacerbating food insecurity, ecosystem degradation, and human displacement, with all continents experiencing extremely dry conditions. Droughts could impact over 75% of the global population by 2050. At least 100 million hectares of healthy land is now lost each year, and around one third of agricultural land is degraded. Scarce land resources could displace up to 700 million people by 2050.
These challenges require an unprecedented global response which harnesses the collective energies of non-state actors and governments. The Riyadh Action Agenda (RAA) is being launched at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) under the leadership of the COP16 Presidency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Separate and complementary to the formal UNCCD negotiations, the Riyadh Action Agenda promotes ambitious, voluntary action and collaborative, multi-stakeholder partnerships, to contribute to the UNCCD’s goals and objectives and promote alignment across its “sister” conventions focussed on climate and nature.
Building on existing efforts, it will continue to evolve and be shaped by key actors through events and dialogues in Riyadh and beyond.
We must start now.
An Overview of the Riyadh Action Agenda
People – and the communities they live in – must be at the centre of global efforts to conserve and restore land. Indigenous Peoples manage 25% of global land and 40% of remaining natural landscapes. Traditional knowledge, and the local knowledge of farmers, ranchers, pastoralists and other front-line actors, including women and youth, play a vital role in land stewardship as well as food and nutrition security. They are already having to adapt and respond to the climate and nature crises and bear the heaviest burden of land degradation.
The Riyadh Action Agenda includes three Action Areas (land restoration, drought and water resilience, and agrifood systems) and three enablers (finance, governance, as well as science, technology and innovation) while underscoring the critical role of finance to unlock action.
ACTION AREA 1
Conserve and Restore Land
To halt and reverse land degradation and achieve the UNCCD goal of land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030, recognising that based on current trends this would require restoring 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030.
ACTION AREA 2
Enhance Drought Resilience through Water System Resilience
To meet the UNCCD goal of enhancing resilience to drought by protecting 30% of lands and inland waters, directly benefiting at least 500 million people
ACTION AREA 3
Promote Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive Agri-Food Systems
To meet the UNCCD goal of restoring 250 million hectares of degraded agricultural land by 2030 through efforts that: improve soil health; foster landscape-level approaches; repurpose public policies; and support and promote holistic, food systems-based approaches.
ENABLER 1
Mobilise Finance and Resources
To deliver the full suite of actions across land, food and drought resilience through efforts to: ramp up investable pipelines; deploy insurance at the land user level; increase insurance and guarantees to de-risk investment; increase use of instruments such as carbon markets and new resilience credits; and expand the deployment of debt solutions such as KPI-linked bonds and debt for nature swaps.
ENABLER 2
Strengthen Governance
To enhance effective management of land and water resources through: inclusive decision making processes; rights-based and landscape scale approaches; partnerships, engagement, and capacity building; adopting and addressing land, water and resource tenure for marginalised groups including women; and ensuring equitable resource allocation, transparency and knowledge sharing.
ENABLER 3
Leverage Science, Technology and Innovation
To effectively link mainstream science with diverse knowledge systems – including indigenous knowledge and citizen science – helping bridge data gaps and facilitate holistic, innovative, inclusive and context-appropriate land and ecosystem restoration actions, as well as inform capacity building and finance to support locally-led land restoration efforts.

Healthy Land and Ecosystems for People, Nature and Climate
The Riyadh Action Agenda
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dialogues at COP16
We invite everyone – from companies, financial institutions, regions, cities, academic research and educational institutions, philanthropy bodies, farming groups and agri-food businesses, to civil society groups, including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth – to contribute to the agenda with their knowledge and expertise.
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multi-stakeholder dialogues at UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh
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