Background 
The seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) will take place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme ‘Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.’ COP17 will focus global attention on desertification, land degradation, and drought. Side events and high-level activities will help shape the Riyadh–Ulaanbaatar Action Agenda by linking evidence, implementation priorities, and partnerships. 
 
COP17 offers a timely platform to position drought in Central Asia and Pakistan as a shared development, land restoration, resilience, and cooperation priority. Recent national and regional consultations, highlighted by IWMI’s regional drought profile, show that drought in Central Asia is systemic and increasingly transboundary. It affects water allocation, irrigated agriculture, pasture systems, land degradation, desertification, ecosystem stability, food security, energy reliability, and livelihoods across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Pakistan’s experience with drought risk, preparedness, and resilience-building provides complementary evidence for this dialogue. Drought and desertification are not new or unaddressed problems in the region: Central Asia has a long history of scientific research and policy engagement with these issues, already reflected in existing cooperation such as Turkmenistan's initiative to establish a Regional Desertification Center. 
 
The side event will translate evidence and priorities from the regional drought profile, together with Pakistan’s experience, into a clear cooperation agenda for the COP17 platform. It will also create space for a high-level ministerial dialogue on drought and desertification, including Turkmenistan’s initiative to establish a Regional Desertification Center and stronger engagement by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan in shaping a common response. 

Objectives 
The side event will present drought risk evidence and priority actions from Central Asia and Pakistan, connect these findings with the COP17 agenda, and support a high-level dialogue on cooperation, early warning, knowledge exchange, desertification control, financing, and investment-oriented follow-up. Specifically, the side event will; 
- Present the main findings of the regional drought profile covering Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and Pakistan's national experience thereby ensuring that both Central Asia and Pakistan are clearly reflected in the session framing. 
- Frame drought and desertification as a transboundary land, water, and development challenge that requires stronger regional and cross-regional coordination. 
- Use COP17 to convene a high-level dialogue on drought and desertification cooperation including institutional options such as Turkmenistan’s initiative to establish a Regional Desertification Center.