When world leaders gathered at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, they signed three landmark environmental treaties: the Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention to Combat Desertification. Collectively, these agreements became known as the “Rio Declaration”, shaping the international agenda on sustainability for decades to come. Now, more than 30 years later, Mongolia finds itself at the center of this legacy. In less than a year, Ulaanbaatar will host the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It will be the first time this pivotal global summit is held in Mongolia, and expectations are immense.
Between 7,000 and 10,000 participants are expected to arrive, including heads of state and government, ministers, environmental policymakers, agricultural officials, representatives of international organizations, leading scientists and volunteers. For two weeks, the world’s attention will be focused on Mongolia as it takes on the responsibility of shaping the international policy direction for combating desertification, drought and land degradation over the next two years.
The stakes could not be higher. Desertification is not an abstract concept for Mongolia, it is an urgent reality. More than three-quarters of the country’s territory is already degraded to some extent, with pastoral livelihoods, biodiversity and national food security all under strain. Hosting COP17 provides Mongolia with a unique platform to not only spotlight these challenges but also to lead on solutions.
Yet as the countdown ticks closer, concerns are growing about whether the country is adequately prepared. Mongolia was awarded the right to host COP17 back in the spring of 2022, during COP15 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. At that same meeting, Saudi Arabia was selected to host COP16. From the moment of its announcement, Riyadh moved swiftly to prepare. By late 2024, the kingdom had staged the largest and most ambitious conference in the convention’s history, demonstrating organizational discipline and international ambition. Mongolia, by contrast, has had even more preparation time, nearly three years since the decision was made, and twice as long as Saudi Arabia in practical terms, yet still has not finalized the basic infrastructure, facilities, or equipment needed to host such a massive gathering.
This lack of visible progress has sparked questions about whether the government is approaching its responsibilities with the seriousness required. Hosting an event of this scale is not simply a matter of scheduling meetings and delivering speeches. It requires careful planning, investment in logistics, world-class venues and seamless coordination with international partners. Failure to meet these expectations would not only reflect poorly on Mongolia’s organizational capacity but also risk squandering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen its voice on the global stage. As the host nation of COP17, Mongolia is not just expected to provide a platform, it is expected to lead. The country must prove that it can translate its role as one of the world’s most desertification-affected nations into concrete action, setting a tone that balances urgency with innovation. The question, however, remains: with the world arriving at its doorstep in less than a year, will Mongolia be ready?
Delays and budget mismanagement
The decision to hold the COP17 to the UNCCD in Mongolia was confirmed last summer, with 29.9 hectares of Ulaanbaatar’s National Garden Park designated as the official venue. Plans called for 5.6 hectares of this land to host temporary buildings and facilities for the conference, alongside parking areas and supporting engineering networks. At the time, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change pledged that construction would begin in 2025.
That commitment has not been kept. The construction season has ended, no ground has been broken, and the ministry has announced that there is neither the time nor the financial resources to proceed as planned.
The state budget for 2025 originally earmarked 50 billion MNT for the preparation of COP17 facilities. However, because the ministry failed to issue a tender and begin construction within the legal time frame, the government retracted the allocation under the Law on State Savings. As a result, the work envisioned for this year has been pushed aside entirely.
Looking ahead, the 2026 budget includes a far larger allocation, 150 billion MNT for facilities and 67 billion MNT for equipment, amounting to 217 billion MNT in total. This effectively means that Mongolia’s basic preparations for COP17 will not even begin until next year, leaving less than twelve months to deliver the largest international event the country has ever hosted.
Even more concerning are reports that 20 billion MNT of this year’s allocation, or nearly half of the original 50 billion MNT, was spent without visible results. Observers say this points to mismanagement and a troubling lack of initiative by those responsible for organizing the conference. Instead of demonstrating urgency, officials appear to have squandered both time and resources, raising questions about the country’s commitment to hosting the event at a level that reflects its global importance.
As COP17 draws closer, these delays serve as a warning sign: unless the government and responsible ministries take decisive action, Mongolia risks undermining its credibility as a host country and missing a rare opportunity to lead the international conversation on desertification, drought and land degradation.
Will the policy-empty sector handle everything?
For such a major global gathering to succeed, leadership and coordination are required at every level, beginning with the Head of State and Government and extending through the relevant ministries, development partners and donor organizations. The role of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change is particularly critical, as this ministry is directly responsible for desertification and land degradation, the very issues that lie at the heart of the conference. In countries that have previously hosted COP meetings, the environment minister has typically acted as the face and driving force of preparations, ensuring that political commitments were matched with technical and logistical readiness.
However, the situation has been far less consistent. Since the country secured the right to host COP17, the ministerial post most directly connected to the event has changed hands three times, and with each change momentum has been lost. Former minister B.Bat-Erdene limited his contribution to a single declaration that Mongolia was organizing a high-level conference in the field of nature and environment for the first time. He soon left office without moving from words to action. His successor, S.Odontuya, signed the official document at UN headquarters, an important symbolic step, but she too left her position without putting in place the foundations for hosting such a large international event. The current Minister, B.Batbaatar, has so far been occupied with routine meetings with local authorities and the exchange of letters between agencies, while the more urgent tasks of preparing venues, coordinating stakeholders, and securing financing remain unresolved.
This repeated turnover exposes a structural weakness in Mongolia’s approach to governance in the environment sector. Appointments to the ministerial post have reflected party interests and political calculations rather than professional expertise or long-term planning. Each new appointment has brought delays, disrupted continuity, and weakened the ability to build a unified management team. Coordination between ministries and agencies has suffered as a result, and no single leader has remained in place long enough to demand accountability, push through procurement, or drive progress on construction and infrastructure.
The consequences of this instability are already visible. The country has missed crucial deadlines for tenders, lost allocated funding under the Law on State Savings, and entered the final year before COP17 without the necessary facilities in place. Instead of showing urgency, the leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has appeared content to issue public statements while the timeline for hosting a global conference slips away.
What should have been an opportunity for Mongolia to demonstrate environmental leadership is at risk of being overshadowed by weak institutional commitment and lack of responsibility at the ministerial level. The credibility of Mongolia as the host of COP17 will now depend not only on how quickly it can recover lost time but also on whether its leaders can finally shift from public relations to concrete action.
COP as platform of challenges and opportunities
When Saudi Arabia hosted the 16th Conference of the Parties at the end of 2024, the event underscored the weight and potential of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Two landmark documents were adopted in Riyadh. The first was the “Riyadh Action Agenda”, which consolidated more than 100 national initiatives aimed at reversing desertification and reducing land degradation. To support its implementation, participating countries pledged 12 billion USD, and Saudi Arabia, as conference chair, committed 150 million USD of its own resources.
The second outcome was the creation of the “Global Drought Resilience Partnership”, designed to coordinate international responses to drought and climate impacts. This partnership immediately secured 2 billion USD in funding, targeting projects in eighty of the world’s most drought-affected countries. Together, these measures demonstrated the scope and scale of what a successful COP can achieve.
Today, governments across the globe are rolling out projects under these frameworks, aligning national efforts with a shared agenda. The message is clear. The Conference of the Parties is not only a venue for speeches and declarations but also a mechanism for mobilizing resources, shaping policy and advancing coordinated action on a global scale. For the host country, the responsibility is heavy but the opportunity is just as great.
As U.Tungalag, a member of the Scientific and Policy Committee of the UNCCD, explained, organizing a COP is always a formidable challenge. Yet when done well, it opens doors to new partnerships, international visibility, and large-scale investment. In her words, the COP is “a platform of challenges and opportunities”.
The question now is whether Mongolia can rise to the occasion. The world will look to Ulaanbaatar in 2026 not only for logistical readiness but also for leadership on issues that cut to the core of the country’s own environmental survival. Can Mongolia transform the burden of hosting into a chance to elevate its role in shaping global action against desertification? The answer will depend on whether it can move quickly from unfulfilled plans and political hesitation to decisive action.
High stakes as host
Mongolia’s selection as host of COP17 was strongly influenced by its status as a “frontline country” facing some of the most severe impacts of desertification. This vulnerability makes the conference’s theme and goals deeply relevant to the nation’s own struggle against land degradation. Adding to the significance, the UN has declared 2026 the “International Year of Pastures and Nomadic Pastoralists” at Mongolia’s initiative. The country has also launched major programs such as “Billion Trees”, “White Gold”, and “Sustainable Rangeland Management”, designed to counter desertification and protect pastoral livelihoods.
If Mongolia can successfully deliver COP17, the rewards could be substantial. The event could generate broad international support, both financial and policy-based, for national efforts to restore degraded land and adapt to climate pressures. But failure to organize it effectively would not only squander a historic opportunity, it would also risk reducing the event to little more than a symbolic gathering, comparable to what critics have called watered-down sessions of the Mongolian Economic Forum.
The scale of the challenge is evident from recent experience. A delegation of seventy to eighty officials from Mongolia’s ministries and agencies traveled to Saudi Arabia last year to observe preparations for COP16. One researcher who joined the trip remarked that visitors scrutinized every detail of the event, from the organization and logistics to food, transportation, and even minor services, and were quick to voice criticism. “Even in Saudi Arabia, with its immense financial and technological capacity, there were many complaints and pressing issues,” the researcher explained. “That means we must be more responsible and more careful, especially those officials who have traveled abroad under the name of learning from experience.”
COP17 will therefore be far more than an international environmental conference. For Mongolia, it represents a chance to re-establish its credibility and reputation within the global community. Success would demonstrate that the country can lead on one of the most urgent environmental issues of our time. Failure would highlight weakness, leaving questions about whether Mongolia can match its ambitions with action.
