The impact of COP30 on global landscapes
Photo by: YorVen - iStock
Over the last two weeks, world leaders, business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society came together, embracing the spirit of mutirão at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP30 (Belém do Pará, Brazil). While much has been discussed about negotiation outcomes, what was the lay of the land in Belém? And what does it all mean for the urgent need to course correct the degradation of the world’s landscapes? Read on for our reflections…
With the inauguration of the COP30 Action Agenda, the global community has taken an important step towards coordinated and integrated action across a broad span of interconnected global challenges, supercharging momentum for land restoration.
For the first time, the five current and future Presidencies of the three Rio Conventions (Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Armenia and Mongolia) released the Belem Joint Statement on the Rio Conventions, committing to collaborate in mobilizing non-state actors to promote synergistic action among the Global Climate Action Agenda, Riyadh Action Agenda, and CBD COP16 initiatives launched at CBD COP16. This alignment seeks advanced adaptive pathways for better food and water security, and reduced vulnerability to drought and land degradation.
100 initiatives – including 18% representation from the private sector – now formally support the Riyadh Action Agenda, demonstrating growing real-economy appetite to regenerate the earth’s landscapes and strengthen drought-resilience. Inspired by the momentum, the UNCCD COP16 Presidency is calling for 1,000 companies to commit to land restoration and regenerative practices by 2030.
So what? A critical measure of success for these budding initiatives will be the extent to which they integrate action, as well as monitoring processes across food, land, water, climate, biodiversity, energy, forestry, and other key intervention areas. Only then can we start to see real traction in advancing key global goals in an equitable way, and at scale.
There is growing interest – and tangible progress – across science, technology, innovation and finance to support resilient, regenerative agri-food systems through direct support to farmers.
The Resilient Agriculture Investment for Net-Zero Land Degradation (RAIZ) – a finance acceleration initiative towards the restoration of degraded agricultural areas globally – launched by Brazil with the backing of ten countries. RAIZ aims to help governments and investors develop national public-private financing mechanisms that unlock investments for large-scale restoration.
More than 40 organizations reported $9B+ in committed investment to advance land production, conservation, and restoration, through the COP Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes (AARL). Investments will cover more than 210 million hectares of land, reach 12 million farmers across 90+ commodities and 110+ countries by 2030.
‘AgriLLM’ the world’s first open-source Large Language Model for agriculture was introduced. The model provides a shared foundation for governments and local organizations to create digital tools, offering small-holder farmers local insights to improve knowledge and decision-making.
Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale announced its plan to reach 100 million farmers with digital advisory services – delivering science-based insights directly to farmers, to help improve decision-making, productivity, and climate resilience at scale.
So what? For these announcements to be sustained they need to build the broader socio-economic infrastructure to expand demand for sustainably produced products and services. The uptake of the presented solutions will be greatly informed by their capacity to incorporate the lived experience, knowledge, and feedback of the very frontline communities they aim to serve. There is a need for increased representation of small and mid farmers, to break from the disproportionate influence of a handful of agribusinesses, and for traceable pathways for resource delivery to achieve the expected impact.
Finance stepped up as the big unblocker to climate, nature and land solutions, with blended finance and carbon market accountability taking centre stage.
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) – the largest forest-finance mechanism ever created – has mobilized more than USD 6 billion in commitments, with the endorsement of 53 countries. This new finance model works by raising capital from public and private investors. Investment profits are awarded to countries that meet conservation goals, and financial penalties given to those who lose forests. Notably, at least 20% of the fund’s payments will flow directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition to channel finance to forest protection at scale was launched, with the objective of paying entire states, provinces, or countries for measurable reductions in deforestation – creating stable, long-term incentives for forest conservation. The Coalition includes tropical forest countries, donor nations, Indigenous groups, and major carbon market and civil society organizations.
The Open Coalition for Compliance Carbon Markets is bringing together countries to strengthen a shared understanding of what “credible” carbon markets look like by aligning measurement practices, accounting rules, and high-integrity approaches to offsets.
More than 18 million hectares – roughly twice the size of Portugal – of ecosystems have been protected, restored or better managed, supported by $4.18 billion in adaptation finance, through the Race To Resilience campaign.
So what? For the nascent market of land and nature positive investments to take off, it will be critical to reduce information asymmetries through accessible mechanisms – transforming capital stocks into sustained investment flows. There is a critical need to de-risk instruments to give the private sector and other potential funders the confidence to invest. The real challenge is not a lack of solutions or commitment, but the urgent need to build the financial and governance architecture that can support investments at scale – both by frontline land stewards and actors in the financial system.
There’s a growing shift from isolated governance technical fixes toward system-level transformation, with strong links between land rights and agricultural reform, while amplifying the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as essential land and biodiversity guardians.
44 parties signed the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and Human-Centered Climate Action, urging countries to invest in people-centered measures, such as actively promoting vibrant and sustainable social and economic development and livelihood alternatives for the peoples living in regions of forests and sensitive ecosystems to combat deforestation and land degradation of these regions.
More than 30 donors and governments exceeded their $1.7 billion Land and Forest Tenure Pledge one year early, and renewed support for $1.5–2 billion through 2030, to support Indigenous and local communities in securing their land and forest rights, and in their leadership on conservation and climate action.
The Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment – the first-ever global commitment on Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ land tenure – was launched by Brazil, Norway, and Peru, alongside the Forest and Climate Leaders' Partnership (FCLP) and the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG). With 14 endorsements, the pledge aims to collectively recognize and strengthen tenure rights across 160 million hectares.
A broad alliance, including governments and international institutions announced the Belém Declaration on Fertilisers together with a “Plan to Accelerate Solutions” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production and use by 2035. The aim is to tackle the multifaceted drivers and challenges that lead to unsustainable use, including a lack of unified standards, demand and supply-side dynamics, and farm-level capacity building.
So what? While many, including civil society activists, have hailed several of these announcements as a welcome step forward, there is also broad agreement that they must go further. Climate Action Network International (CAN) welcomed the adoption of the Just Transition mechanism “as one of the strongest rights-based outcomes in the history of the UN climate negotiations,” while also lamenting a “dangerously weak” outcome on adaptation finance, and lack of consensus on indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Water & drought resilience were present, but needed a more prominent role.
Latin America and Caribbean Water Investment Programme (ECLAC, CAF, GWP), announced a $20 billion pipeline for water security by 2030. Investments will include projects to secure drinking water supplies, modernize irrigation systems, and strengthen flood and drought resilience.
Brazil unveiled two Acceleration Plans: on Water Management and Participatory Governance; and on Access to Freshwater for Vulnerable Communities: a flagship initiative under the COP30 Action Agenda to expand safe water access, strengthen governance, and accelerate adaptation finance.
So what? Water scarcity threatens food security, with 80% of global cropland and over 50% of food production currently relying on rainfed agriculture. Given the gravity of the consequences of inaction, over the next year, there is fertile ground to give water and drought resilience a more prominent platform for solution-driven commitments and action plans.
Where do we go from here?
Negotiations did not match the level of ambition and action-driven outcomes that many expected, but not all is lost. Here’s why:
While more than 80 countries backed a proposal for a global roadmap towards the phase-out of coal, oil and gas – the “ethical” response to the climate crisis, per Brazil’s environment Minister, Mariana Silva – this wasn’t sufficient to secure even a mention of fossil fuel transition in the final deal. A roadmap for halting and reversing deforestation, a Brazilian flagship, was also notably absent from the final text.
And yet, though not matching the expectations of the developing world and civil society, a call for tripling adaptation finance by 2035 sends an important message of political will to narrow the finance gap between developing and developed countries, placing a strong onus on the latter to step up their support. We also saw greater representation of Indigenous Peoples (record number of 3,000 in attendance), and the formal inclusion of a Gender Action Plan (GAP) which acknowledges the disproportionate effects of climate change on women and points to ways to increase their influence in combating climate change.
Yes – more state-led ambition is needed. But this is not halting global action, nor should it. This year’s Action Agenda, whose architecture is expected to live on for the next five years, produced 117 Plans to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) by real-world actors. And it demonstrated the overwhelming support from civil society, regional and local governments, science, technology and innovation, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, business and financial institutions for the implementation of synergistic, collaborative solutions that accelerate the delivery of present state commitments and drive further ambition in future multilateral processes.
But what does this mean for land? And what can you do?
As a member of the COP30 Activation Group 8 (Axis 3) on Landscape Restoration & Sustainable Agriculture, members of two Plans to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) on land restoration and co-lead a third PAS, the Riyadh Action Agenda has introduced an inclusive, non-state actor-led process.
We have embarked on an intensive consultation process with diverse partners already leading real-world solutions for land to co-develop the Land & Soil Breakthroughs: a set of measurable, time-bound milestones to advance global land restoration and drought resilience goals. Modelled on the 2030 Breakthroughs, these proposed Land & Soil Breakthroughs will provide yet another entry point for aligning the many commitments made by climate, food, and land actors at COP30, effectively helping advance PAS implementation.
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This blog post was authored by the RAA Delivery team (Ambition Loop) as part of the Lay of the Land LinkedIn newsletter. Liked it?
