Global engagement · Mongolia 2026

SAWONET at UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

A photographic record of SAWONET's engagement at UNCCD COP17: conference activities, community dialogue, rangeland discussions and exchanges with fellow participants in Mongolia.

Conference dates: 17–28 August 2026
Location: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Conference theme: Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.

Explore the photo story

At the COP17 installation outside the conference venue in Ulaanbaatar. Photograph from SAWONET’s supplied event archive.

Pastoralist perspectives in a global land dialogue

SAWONET’s photographic record from Ulaanbaatar brings together conference sessions, roundtable meetings and exchanges with fellow participants. It documents the settings in which people came together to discuss land, livelihoods and resilience, alongside delegation photographs and informal connections across the venue.

The seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification took place in Mongolia from 17 to 28 August 2026. Its programme brought land restoration, drought resilience, rangelands and food systems into a shared international conversation. Read the official UNCCD programme.

Local communities and declaration dialogue

The COP17 programme included Local Communities Caucus meetings and a high-level dialogue on the place of local communities in land governance. The official agenda connected pastoralist and other community perspectives with land tenure, gender equality and drought resilience.

The United Nations session record also documents the presentation of the Local Communities’ founding declaration. Together, these discussions provide context for the community exchanges recorded in the photo story below. View the UN session record.

Rangelands, learning and connections

The archive includes programme displays and photographs from discussions on rangeland stewardship and lessons from Africa, as well as youth-centred approaches to drought and desertification. Group photographs and quieter moments between sessions complete this record of the engagement.

From the event archive

Mongolia, in photographs

A view across the plenary hall, with delegates seated beneath the conference screens.

A panel session on the COP17 stage in Ulaanbaatar.

Programme display for “Stewarding rangelands for a land degradation-neutral world: lessons from Africa”, dated 26 August 2026.

Participants gathered around the conference tables for a roundtable meeting.

Participants following a meeting with microphones, interpretation headsets and laptops at the table.

An exchange among participants during a conference meeting.

Participants seated together during a roundtable session.

A group photograph beneath the UNCCD and COP17 meeting-room signage.

A delegation group photograph in front of the UNCCD COP17 backdrop.

Conference participants together at the Ulaanbaatar 2026 backdrop.

A group of participants photographed together inside the conference venue.

An informal moment with fellow participants between conference activities.

Participants gathered in the pavilion area for conversation and networking.

A discussion in front of the display on rangeland stewardship and lessons from Africa.

Participants seated for the rangelands discussion in the pavilion area.

A programme display on youth-centred policies, data, drought and desertification in Africa.

Participants gathered for a group photograph in the plenary setting.

Photography: SAWONET event archive.

A moment from the venue

Scenes from UNCCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar

A 17-second silent view of flags moving in the wind outside the conference venue, filmed during the Mongolia engagement.

Playback is optional. The film loads on request and does not play automatically.

Rows of flags outside the conference venue beneath a blue sky