The 17th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP17), held in Mongolia, resulted in the postponement of the global agreement on drought until 2028, due to the lack of consensus among participating countries. The conference nevertheless managed to mobilize 1.3 billion dollars for actions to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought.
The organization Zero, specialized in sustainability, reacted to the postponement of the international agreement by warning that Portugal's urgency to act is immediate, regardless of delays at the global level. Zero's position emphasizes that the impacts of drought cannot wait for international negotiations.
This postponement comes at a time when the effects of climate change and drought are being felt increasingly intensely in various regions of the world, including Portugal, where water scarcity has been a growing concern. The lack of a binding global commitment leaves countries with fewer tools to address the problem in a coordinated manner.
