Drought isn't just an environmental story — it's a finance, security, and development one too.
At UNCCD COP17, our team saw this play out across every session: from new blended finance mechanisms bringing private, public, and philanthropic capital together, to governments building transversality into their drought investment plans, to best-practice guidance aimed at private sector companies with high exposure to water risk.
One thread stood out in particular: land degradation and drought are increasingly understood as drivers of migration and conflict. This reframes the response — solutions are not just about climate adaptation, but also about addressing security and stability.
Underlying all of this is a fundamental challenge: how do you price something that is undervalued when abundant, yet priceless in scarcity? There's no easy answer, but grappling with this question is essential to unlocking capital at scale for drought initiatives.
With UNEP estimating that desertification, land degradation, and drought now cost the global economy US$878 billion annually, the urgency is clear. But based on our experience at the conference, so is the determination to accelerate positive impact.
Read our full conference round-up below.