Minister Ali Shareef participates at the UNCCD COP17

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (24–26 August 2026)

Minister of Climate Change, Environment and Energy Ali Shareef participated in the High-Level Segment of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 24–26 August 2026.

The Maldives’ delegation used the platform to advocate for greater recognition of the distinct land degradation challenges faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and to call for stronger international partnerships, accessible finance, and technology transfer tailored to island realities.

Minister Ali Shareef was accompanied by Mr. Ahmed Shan, Director of Knowledge Management, Research and Assessment, and Ms. Aishath Alhan Hameed, Senior Surveyor of the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy.

Thematic Dialogues

The High-Level Segment convened ministers and senior officials from UNCCD's 197 Parties for ministerial dialogues on financial mechanisms for healthy land and drought resilience, rangelands and pastoralists, and security and migration, alongside thematic days on Finance, Water, Land and People, and Food Systems.

On Finance Day, Minister Ali Shareef emphasized that land degradation in island nations cannot be addressed through a drylands-oriented framework alone. He highlighted coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion, and the vulnerability of low-lying environments as major drivers of land degradation that remain largely unaccounted for within existing financial architecture. He highlighted the importance of recognizing coastal land degradation at the same level as the dryland desertification and urged for tailored blue-green finance solutions for SIDS.

At the Water Day Dialogue, the Minister noted that water security in Maldives is inseparable from climate security, public health, and national resilience. With no rivers or substantial surface-water reserves, the country depends on fragile groundwater lenses, rainfall harvesting, and desalination. He appealed for reliable, predictable financing and access to technology to help Small Island Developing States build resilience to water insecurity and drought.

At the High-Level Presidency Dialogue on Rio synergies and the 2026 Triple COP Year, Minister Ali Shareef noted that sea-level rise, coastal erosion, saline intrusion, and freshwater lens depletion are key degradation pathways for small island states. He welcomed efforts to advance Rio Convention synergies and called for SIDS-specific degradation pathways to be reflected in shared indicators and financing.

Minister Ali Shareef also participated in the SIDS Roundtable, "Small Island Developing States in Focus: Scaling Land Degradation Neutrality for Resilient Futures," with ministers from Fiji, Vanuatu, the Dominican Republic, and regional institutions. He highlighted Maldives' efforts to operationalize Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM), noting the pressures of urbanization, infrastructure, and economic activity on scarce land. He called for the next Strategic Framework under the UNCCD to support meaningful targets and address the evidence gap facing SIDS.

Bilateral Partnerships

On the margins of the Segment, Minister Ali Shareef held several high-level bilateral meetings to strengthen cooperation on climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, earth observation, satellite data, and land and environmental management. These included bilateral meetings with H.E. Bhupender Yadav, Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India, Dr. Osama Ibrahim Faqeeha, Deputy Minister for Environment at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and Eng. Ibrahim Alturki, Secretary-General of the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI). In further engagements, Minister met Dr. Schickling of the European Space Agency (ESA), Co-Chair of the GEO Land Degradation Neutrality (GEO-LDN) initiative, and members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CBAS), exploring satellite-based Earth observation cooperation, technical cooperation on Earth observation data, and land degradation reporting.

About UNCCD

The UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Established in 1994, it brings together 197 Parties to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought. The Maldives acceded to the Convention on 3 September 2002.