Examine India's evolving role in global desertification governance from UNCCD COP16 to COP17.

The UNCCD, one of the three Rio Conventions with 197 Parties [2], anchors global action on desertification, land degradation and drought. India's trajectory from COP16 (Riyadh, 2024) to COP17 (Ulaanbaatar, 17–28 August 2026) [2] marks a shift from pledging restoration targets to exporting ecosystem-governance knowledge — though domestic gaps persist.

From commitments at COP16 (Riyadh)

• India's formal statement, delivered by the Union Environment Minister, reaffirmed the Bonn Challenge pledge to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, with over 22.5 million hectares already reported restored [1].
• Showcased domestic delivery models — Green India Mission, Amrit Sarovar for water retention, and the "Plant for Mother" plantation campaign [1].
• Emphasis was on scale and afforestation, and on a "whole-of-government, whole-of-society" framing of drought resilience [1].

To norm-setting at COP17 (Ulaanbaatar)

• India launched its first-ever Guide to Grasslands and Other Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs) — grasslands, savannas, scrublands, deserts — through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change [3].
• This moves India from target-declaration to methodology-sharing: standardised criteria for identifying and managing non-forest ecosystems, useful for UNCCD's land degradation neutrality monitoring.
• Timing is strategic — COP17 runs during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026 [2], in a host nation with nearly 77% degraded land [2], foregrounding pastoralist livelihoods.

Continuities and limitations

• Diplomatic continuity is clear, but tree-planting-centric metrics sit uneasily with ONE conservation, since plantations on grasslands damage them.
• Domestically, ONEs remain outside the Forest (Conservation) Act and are recorded as "wastelands"; a guide is advisory, not statutory.
• Delivery depends on state revenue and forest departments, a familiar federal coordination challenge.

India has thus graduated from a target-taker to an agenda-shaper, widening the global lens from forests to open ecosystems. Converting this guide into binding domestic classification reform — and aligning restoration accounting with ecosystem type — would let India credibly lead the land-restoration agenda it now helps write.