RIYADH, Dec 14: Saudi-hosted UN talks failed to produce an agreement on how to respond to drought, participants said on Saturday, falling short of hopes for a binding protocol addressing the growing scourge.
The 12-day meeting of parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), known as COP16, concluded early Saturday morning, one day later than scheduled as parties tried to hammer out 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 before dawn on Saturday, Thiaw acknowledged that "parties need more time to agree on the best way forward".
An unofficial final decision posted online said the UNCCD, which brings together 196 countries and the European Union, would "continue discussions" on drought based on progress made in Riyadh.
A press release issued on Saturday said countries "made significant progress in laying the groundwork for a future global drought regime, which they intend to complete at COP17 in Mongolia in 2026".
Droughts "fuelled by human destruction of the environment" cost the world more than $300 billion each year, the UN said in a report published on December 3, the second day of the talks in Riyadh.
Droughts are projected to affect 75 percent of the world's population by 2050, the report said. —AFP
