Land degradation, climate change and conflict are mutually reinforcing drivers of fragility, particularly in dryland and pastoral systems. According to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, 266 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, with over 80% living in protracted crisis contexts. Conflict remains the primary driver, affecting more than half of those in crisis, while climate shocks—particularly droughts and floods—impact roughly one-third.  

At the same time, 1.4 million people are already experiencing catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), and famine has re-emerged in multiple contexts—an alarming signal of systemic failure. These dynamics are most acute in drylands, where land degradation reduces productivity and resilience, climate variability intensifies resource scarcity, and competition over land and water contributes to local and cross-border tensions. Many of these pressures also affect interconnected transboundary ecosystems and mobility corridors, underscoring the importance of regional cooperation, coordinated land restoration approaches, and shared resource governance.   

Despite this, financing and policy responses remain fragmented. Climate finance rarely reaches fragile and conflict-affected settings, while land restoration efforts are often disconnected from livelihood support, resilience-building and broader governance approaches. At the same time, growing evidence shows that integrated land restoration and resilience approaches can generate multiple dividends, including improved livelihoods, enhanced climate resilience, strengthened local cooperation, and reduced pressures linked to resource competition and displacement. 

Objective 
This session aims to position land-based solutions—particularly in drylands and pastoral systems—as a strategic entry point to address the climate–conflict–food security nexus, and to identify actionable pathways to strengthen financing for fragile and high-risk contexts, scale locally led adaptation and restoration, and reinforce the contribution of food systems and land restoration to resilience, stability and sustainable development.  

Key Messages 
- Land is a frontline of fragility: land degradation and climate shocks are increasing pressures linked to displacement, resource competition and instability.  
- Food insecurity is a systemic challenge: driven by the interaction of conflict, climate, environmental and economic shocks rather than isolated factors.  
- Drylands remain major investment gaps: despite high vulnerability, they continue to receive insufficient funding due to perceived risks and limited enabling support.  
- Locally led restoration works: evidence shows that community-driven land and food system interventions can strengthen livelihoods, improve resilience, and reduce pressures on natural resources, and contribute to social cohesion and stability. 
- Integrated approaches are essential: land restoration, climate adaptation, food systems, resilience-building and peacebuilding need to be addressed through coordinated and context-responsive approaches.  
 
Expected Outcomes 
- Clear positioning of land restoration as an investment in resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and stability in fragile dryland contexts.  
- Identification of priority actions and enabling conditions to strengthen financing for fragile and vulnerable dryland regions.  
- Strengthened collaboration between UNCCD, FAO, ODI, regional organizations and implementation partners.  
- Increased dialogue on integrated and innovative approaches for financing resilience and restoration in fragile dryland systems. 
- Foundation for continued multi-stakeholder collaboration, including follow-up initiatives, pilot activities, and knowledge-sharing platforms leading into COP31/COP32.