Combating drought and desertification
Key outcomes and commitments from UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia to address drought across land and water systems.
Managing water-related disasters and risks for resilient futures
As climate change intensifies both droughts and floods, the challenge is no longer simply to respond to disasters. It is to understand risk before crises occur and use that knowledge to shape development choices.
10 September 2026 · Source(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
UNDRR Water Day side event at UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Lorenza Contin/ UNDRR
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Ulaanbaatar, 25 August 2026 | Droughts and floods may appear to be opposite extremes, but they are often part of the same risk landscape. As climate change intensifies water-related hazards around the world, governments and communities increasingly need integrated approaches that connect disaster risk data, early warning systems and long-term planning. The need to understand and manage these risks in an integrated, evidence-based way—across time horizons and institutional boundaries—was the central message of the UNDRR Water Day side event, “Managing water-related disasters and risks for resilient futures,” held during the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The event brought together government, parliamentary, scientific, regional and development-cooperation perspectives to examine how disaster data can strengthen water resilience. Moderated by Animesh Kumar, Head of the UNDRR Bonn Office, the discussion connected lessons from past losses with present-day vulnerabilities and future risk, while keeping implementation and investment firmly in view.
Interconnected water risks require strong institutions
Opening the event, H.E. Munkhtamir Batbayar, Vice Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia, underscored how quickly climate, land and water pressures can compound. The country's average annual temperature has risen by approximately 2.5°C over the past 80 years, while drought risk has intensified across nearly the entire country. The 2023-2024 dzud, a severe winter disaster often following drought, resulted in the loss of more than 8.1 million livestock and demonstrated how climate extremes can trigger cascading impacts across livelihoods, food security, ecosystems and the economy.
8.1M livestock lost during the 2023–2024 dzud, demonstrating how cascading extremes compound.
H.E. Amira Saber, Member of the Egyptian Senate and Secretary General of the Human Rights and Social Solidarity Committee, used examples from across the Arab region to show why drought and floods cannot be understood in isolation. Recalling Morocco's transition from seven years of drought to severe flooding within weeks, she pointed to the way dry soils, degraded vegetation and reduced catchment capacity can amplify runoff when rain returns.
Her keynote also highlighted the governance dimension of water risk: laws, public budgets, parliamentary oversight, monitoring systems and cooperation across shared river basins determine whether knowledge is converted into preparedness. Risk intelligence is therefore not only a technical exercise. It depends on institutions that can sustain monitoring, disclose information, act on warnings and remain accountable over time.
Families in Kafr El-Sheikh have now been through storm seasons without flooding for the first time in decades. The
building part was simple. Knowing where to build was the hard part.
H.E. Amira Saber, Member of the Egyptian Senate
Data as the foundation for risk-informed decision-making
Setting the scene, Animesh Kumar highlighted the scale of disaster impacts and the need for a more integrated understanding of risk across temporal and spatial scales. UNDRR is strengthening the evolving disaster data ecosystem that connects monitoring of progress in implementing the Sendai Framework with the tracking of disaster impacts. The Sendai Framework Monitor generates official statistics in 176 countries, while 113 countries have established national loss and damage databases.
176 countries reporting via the Sendai Framework Monitor; 113 national loss databases established.
Building on this legacy, UNDRR, UNDP and WMO have jointly developed DELTA Resilience, combining common data standards, technical support, capacity development and open-source tools to help countries build nationally owned disaster-loss tracking systems and translate risk information into action.
From Uganda's national experience, Catherine Ahimbisibwe, Assistant Commissioner and Principal Disaster Management Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister, guided the discussion on how a robust country-owned disaster-risk data ecosystem, including forecasts and impact assessments, can support evidence-based preparedness measures at national and subnational level.
Valentin Aich, Senior Water and Climate Specialist at WMO, emphasized the need for consistent standards for observations, impact recording and post-event analysis. Of 35 national roadmaps reviewed under the Early Warnings for All initiative, 33 identified floods and 29 identified drought as priority hazards. Connecting hydrological and climate information with standardized event and impact data is essential to understanding the complete risk picture.
Anticipating future risk and directing investment
Risk is not static. Climate change, land degradation, biodiversity loss, urbanization and socioeconomic change are altering both hazards and exposure. Andrea Toreti, Senior Scientist at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, stressed the need for novel assessment and foresight tools capable of capturing these shifts, including high-impact, low-likelihood events.
Marco Riccardo Rusconi, Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), illustrated how international cooperation can help bridge the gap between risk knowledge and implementation. Through a €17 million contribution, Italy is supporting the Africa Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action System (AMHEWAS), led by the African Union Commission in partnership with UNDRR and the CIMA Foundation.
Resilience is not built through better forecasts alone. It is built when risk information becomes a routine and trusted
part of planning, financing, and investment decisions. That is how we move from understanding risk to reducing it—and
from managing disasters to managing risk.
Dr. Marco Riccardo Rusconi, Director, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS)
Bringing infrastructure and Nature together
The event also marked the official launch of the Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative (NbS4SII) by Vice Minister Batbayar. The initiative advances an integrated approach in which hard, soft, digital and natural infrastructure reinforce one another from the outset.
Natural infrastructure—including forests, grasslands, wetlands, watersheds and healthy soils—complements built systems by regulating water, reducing flood peaks, improving groundwater recharge, limiting erosion, conserving biodiversity and supporting livelihoods.
Intelligence must lead to implementation.
H.E. Mr. Munkhtamir Batbayar, Vice Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Mongolia
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