World falls short of UN drought deal at Saudi talks

UN talks in Saudi Arabia fail to produce binding protocol on drought, highlighting challenges in global negotiations.

Negotiators failed to produce an agreement on how to respond to drought at Saudi-hosted UN talks, participants have said, falling short of a hoped-for binding protocol addressing the scourge.

The 12-day meeting of parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, concluded early on Saturday morning, a day later than scheduled as parties tried to finalise a deal.

Prior to the talks, UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said the world expected negotiators "to adopt a bold decision that can help turn the tide on the most pervasive and the most disruptive environmental disaster: drought".

But addressing the plenary session before dawn, Thiaw acknowledged that "parties need more time to agree on the best way forward".

A press release on Saturday said the parties -- 196 countries and the European Union -- had "made significant progress in laying the groundwork for a future global drought regime, which they intend to complete at COP17 in Mongolia in 2026".

The Riyadh talks came after the partial failure of biodiversity talks in Colombia, the failure to reach a UN deal on plastics pollution in South Korea, and a climate finance deal that disappointed developing nations at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The outcomes have "highlighted the challenges facing global negotiations," said Tom Mitchell, executive director of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.