The Don Jones Index, 8/21/26

the DON JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 8/21/26... 14,381.39 8/14/26... 14,373.35 8/7/26... 14,377.11 6/27/13... 15,000.00 Original
*(THE DOW* JONES INDEX: 8/21/26... 52,759.21; 8/14/26...53,839.99; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)**

LESSON for FRIDAY, AUGUST 21ST, 2026 – “THE MONGOL HERD!”

“The planet is in crisis,” UNDP warns the United Nations D P (UNDP - ATTACHMENT ONE) and our response must “rise to the moment.

“Land is degrading fast. Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. The climate is growing more extreme and unpredictable.

“Our planet is on the brink of irreversible changes that will reshape the systems that sustain life: from the way we grow food and manage water, to how communities build livelihoods and prepare for an uncertain future.

The scale of these challenges demanded a response of equal ambition. That is why three major environmental conferences, or Conferences of the Parties (COPs), were scheduled for 2026 are pivotal moments. They intend to bring countries together “to advance action on three interconnected priorities: restoring land, protecting biodiversity and tackling climate change.

Prior to the annual massive UN Climate Change Conference November 9^th through 20^th in Antalya, Turkey. the UN will hold a biodiversity conference October 19^th through 30^th in Yerevan, Armenia and, on Monday, began its 2026 Convention to Combat Desertification running through August 28^th in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

“These political negotiations are essential,” the COPS believe, and must be matched by progress on the ground. We must urgently move onwards from the times of talk “into the era of action.”

In Mongolia, governments will discuss ways to combat drought and “protect herders and their pastures from land degradation in a warming world,” Climate Change News reported in its August 13^th preview (ATTACHMENT TWO) and accompanying video.

Mongolia, like much of the EU and USA, has been damaged by drought – which is currently sweeping much of the Northern hemisphere, “leaving normally green urban parks looking like dry savannah, causing crops to fail, food prices to rise and billions to be shaved off economic output.”

CCN asked and answered the following...

WHAT IS COP17?

It is the conference of parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which takes place every two years. The parties are 196 governments, which include all of the countries recognised by the UN and was conceived at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, at the same time as the other two larger "Rio trio" conventions on climate and biodiversity.

WHAT IS DESERTIFICATION?

It is the process by which land degrades and becomes more like a desert, making it harder - and sometimes impossible - to grow crops or graze livestock there – and...

WHAT HAS IT GOT TO DO WITH CLIMATE CHANGE?

The planet's climate is heating up, mainly due to humans burning fossil fuels, and drying out its land. This kills plants and exposes the soil which can then be blown away by wind and washed away by water.

Without a top layer of soil, plants struggle to grow again and the land gets closer to being a desert. So combating desertification is a way of adapting to climate change.

WHAT WILL BE NEGOTIATED AT COP17?

“The main issue is what form a new initiative to tackle drought could take. The last COP saw Africa push hard for this to be a protocol - a kind of binding sub-treaty to the UNCCD.

“But the US, Europe, Argentina and others argued that would take too long to set up, cost too much and take money away from what can be spent on the ground. They (preferred) a legally weaker alternative - a framework instead of a protocol.”

PASTORAL PROTECTION

COP 17 will also ask governments to negotiate a new policy on protecting rangelands (areas where animals graze as cover around half the Earth’s land). More visible in Mongolia than in, for example, most of the settled United States, Pastoralists are “people who herd animals on these rangelands, often moving from place to place to find fresh pasture.”

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE WATCH OUT FOR?

At the last COP 16, two years ago, host Saudi Arabia led the creation of an initiative called the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership to help 80 of the poorest nations deal with drought.

“It received $12 billion in pledges, mainly from Gulf-based development finance institutions. Saudi Arabia is expected to report back on whether these pledges have been delivered and how the money will reach those in need now.”

WHO WILL PRESIDE OVER COP17?

While the last five and the next two climate COPs have been or will be presided over by men, COP17 will be woman-led with Mongolia’s foreign minister, Battsetseg Batmunkh, as president.

This will also be the first COP for the UNCCD’s new executive director Yasmin Fouad. Before being appointed environment minister in her native Egypt, Fouad was a scientist and lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's special report on desertification.

WHAT ROLE WILL THE US PLAY?

While the US has left the UN’s climate convention, as from other environmental venues (see Attachment Thirty, below) it remains in the UNCCD and is expected to bring a delegation of officials from its departments of agriculture and state. It is also likely to resist any renewed push from Africa for a drought protocol.

The need for drought relief... especially potent this year... has the potential to worsen through winter 2026-7 due to a “historic” El Niño pattern. Forecasters believe there is a “greater than 90% chance” that a “very strong” El Niño pattern could develop in the Northern Hemisphere (including the presently stormy Great Lakes region, as described by NBC Chicago (ATTACHMENT THREE). They also noted a 69% chance of a “historic” event that would “shatter records, which date back to 1950 according to CPC data.”

As did the Climate Changers (above), NBC’s meteorological journalists asked and answered some background questions as might explain the contradictions of stormy skies and deepening droughts.

WHAT IS AN EL NIÑO PATTERN?

An El Niño weather pattern occurs when the trade winds in the Pacific Ocean weaken, allowing warmer ocean water to be pushed to the east, toward the west coast of the Americas

WHY IS CHICAGO AND OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE MIDWEST BEING HIT BY FLOODING, TORNADOES AND STORMS?

A so-called “Super El Niño” features even warmer water pushing that jet stream further to the south, which can allow warm, dry air to flood over large swaths of the United States, according to the National Weather Service.

The present wet weather will dry out and heat up, according to researchers at the University of Illinois who are predicting drier and warmer winter weather than usual, “which could mean above-average temperatures and lower-than-average snowfall, according to officials.”

South of Chicago, the Associated Press (via KY3 in Springfield, Missouri) found a reversal of raininess... as a “late summer heat wave has gripped much of the United States in a sweaty headlock and forecasters say it won’t let go anytime soon.” (August 14, ATTACHMENT FOUR)

While Illinois and Indiana float away, a heat dome effect cloaking the South and Southeast is really going to bump up the mortality from this heat wave. It’s going to be deadly because of all these factors,” listed by meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections... “(l)ong lasting, intense, and high humidity.” Outdoor workers interviewed by the station expressed feelings of exhaustion and oppression necessitating hydration; the homeless are being directed to indoor cooling stations in the communities of compassion, rounded up and locked up elsewhere.

“The heat wave is (also) coinciding with the start of the new school year in much of the country, forcing discussions about how to keep students comfortable on buses, in classrooms and even on school playground equipment,” KY3 reported. In some areas, fall sports are being pushed back or cancelled due to the risks of heatstroke.

“Nationwide, at least 58 players died from exertional heat stroke between 1992 and 2024, the latest year available, and thousands more are sickened each year, according to the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut. Most of the deaths involved younger athletes.”

In the West, drought has caused Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, to shrink to its lowest level on record, in the latest sign of the alarming crisis unfolding on the drought-stricken Colorado River.

“The reservoir's levels dropped to 3,519.91 feet on Saturday, breaking the record low of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to data from the US Bureau of Reclamation published Sunday. It is now just under 30 feet away from the point at which its dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower.” (CNN, August 17^th, ATTACHMENT FIVE)

CNN’s “most alarming scenario” would see Lake Powell reaching "deadpool" levels of below 3,370 feet. “At this point water would no longer be able to flow downstream from the dam at all.”

Neighboring Lake Mead, also sinking to a record low, has yielded up a strange crop according to CBS: “apparent human skeletal remains, including a jaw with the teeth still attached.” (August 18^th, ATTACHMENT SIX)

"We noticed that it's very low. The water looks very low compared to where it should be," Vegas policeman Noel De Leon told KLAS on Monday. "As the water goes down, the skeletons come up."

In May 2022, boaters spotted a metal barrel that ended up containing human remains. “The man in the barrel was found to have been shot and was declared a homicide victim. The remains were believed to be from the 1980s, police said. The remains have still not been identified.”

“Human remains found on May 7, 2022, in Callville Bay, just days after the body was found in the barrel, were later identified as Thomas Erndt, who had drowned in 2002, according to the medical examiner. The remains of another drowning victim, Donald Smith, who was believed to have drowned in 1974, were found in October 2022.”

Lakes Mead and Powell, which are essentially one gigantic reservoir separated by the Grand Canyon, hold just under 60% of the total water currently stored in the Colorado River basin. The unprecedented decline of these vast bodies of water, which have been shrinking for more than 20 years, drives home the perilous state of the river that feeds them.

While the coroners finger finger, toe and skullbones, a headshrinker noted in PBS, via an article in “The Conversation” contends that climate change may be making us lonelier and may even be “weakening the very social fabric that helps communities thrive.

“As extreme weather becomes more common and disruptive, the effects can impair relationships, interrupt routines and communication, and damage gathering places and the foundations of community traditions.” (August 9, ATTACHMENT SEVEN)

Manly men, on the other hand, dismiss the prospects of climate change as another obstacle to be overcome with only faggots worried about it... their reply and a reply to the reply added as Attachment Twenty Nine below.

Some of the other consequences of climate change that the weak dread include making travel unsafe, knocking out phones and power and, in rural communities, causing agricultural crop losses.

“People who are already socially isolated, including older adults and those living in rural areas or lacking reliable transportation and internet access, are often most vulnerable. Climate change and extreme weather can leave them even more isolated.”

The extremist of the extreme were identified by an AI overview as the 2003 European heatwave is widely considered the worst and deadliest heatwave in modern human history (resulting in an estimated 70,000 fatalities) – followed closely by the 2010 Russian scorcher – the severe, prolonged drought and record-high temperatures triggered massive wildfires and heavy smog, causing approximately 56,000 deaths.

And, ninety years ago, the North American Heatwave (1936) killed only 5,000 people across the United States and Canada but is blamed for the creation of the infamous Dust Bowl in the United States and Canada.

An AI Overview of the 2003 Eurofeverdream contends that it brought “the hottest weather recorded in Europe since at least 1540. A persistent high-pressure system, combined with hot continental air masses and warm Atlantic waters, trapped scorching heat over Western Europe for weeks, peaking in July and August,” topping not only the Russian summer of 2010 but the 2022 Eurosizzler.

Various authorities listed reasons for the record death toll – these including lack of preparedness, vulnerable demographics (the very young and old), lack of nighttime cooling and too many doctors on vacation.

Italy was the deadliest nation, followed by France, Spain and Germany.

Russia’s 2010 heatwave exceeded all of these according to another AI Overview which blamed the disaster on an "omega block" or "blocking high" described as a “powerful system of high pressure became locked over Western Russia, completely stalling the normal eastward movement of weather systems. This trapped hot air from Africa and the Middle East over the region for more than 40 consecutive days,” with temperatures in Moscow reaching 39°C (102° F). Russian Kalmykians and American Phoenixians might chuckle at their distress, but there were also “widespread wildfires and smog” raising carbon monoxide levels to lethality. Other unhealthy factors included drowning by inexperienced Russians diving into any available water and a food shortage due to crop destruction.

Yet another Overview (ATTACHMENT NINE) broke down the 2026 toll (so far) with Germany taking the lead this time – followed by France, then Spain and Belgium.

In the U.K. the Telegraph, however, alleges that the drought in the Thames hasn’t been as bad as an earlier dearth fifty years ago (ATTACHMENT TEN) which imposed regulations and rationing.

“On paper, 1976 was much more severe than today,” says Dr Katie Facer-Childs, of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

“But although that was longer, what we’re finding today is we’re getting to the same levels with worrying speed.”

Wildfires have destroyed an area of protected tropical forest twice the size of Wales globally since 2001, according to a study, published in the journal Global Change Biology – which was the first to assess in detail how much protected tropical forest has been lost to wildfires worldwide, and whether protected status actually reduces the risk of forests burning.

“They found that wildfire-driven destruction of protected tropical forests is not only substantial, but accelerating. The annual area burned inside protected areas has been roughly nine times higher since 2016 compared to previous years, with nearly a third of all 24-year losses occurring in 2024 alone.

“The vast majority of the destruction — around 89 per cent — occurred in the tropical Americas, particularly in Brazil, which alone accounted for almost two-thirds of global losses. Bolivia and Indonesia also recorded substantial losses.” (Downtoearth.org, August 16: ATTACHMENT ELEVEN)

Oscar Morton, Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, said: “Protected areas have undoubtedly shielded tropical forests from fire over the past two decades. But they aren’t immune to the broader climate crisis. To keep saving these ecosystems, we must tackle the root causes of increasing forest flammability — starting with climate change — and ensure fire risk is a core part of how we plan future reserves.”

Not only physical sweat and suffering but economic pain attends the endless summer.

In Europe, reported CNN (Aug. 14, ATTACHMENT TWELVE), not only the weather but the wars (Iran, primarily, but also Ukraine and other conflict zones) are “forcing drastic measures in Europe, where successive heatwaves are straining an economy already under pressure from US tariffs, Chinese competition and higher energy prices because of the Iran war.

“Romania’s state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica started disconnecting its sole operational reactor from the power grid Thursday because of record-low water levels in the Danube, crucial for cooling its equipment, the company confirmed to CNN.” France and Hungary have also had to curtail nuclear power due to low river levels and high temperatures. In Paris, extreme heat prompted the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre to close early on some days.

CNN reported that Europe’s sweltering summer could cost their economies €180 billion ($208 billion) this year, or 1% of GDP – roughly the entire expected economic growth of the European Union, according to an estimate by Netherlands-based Triodos Bank. “Lower labor productivity is likely to have the largest economic impact, alongside disruptions to agriculture, energy and transport,” the bank said in a report this month.

The pain is apparently universal... at least in the Northern Hemisphere. On Monday, the Guardian U.K. reported that temperatures in Delhi, India reached 54°C (ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN) with profils of slum dwellers simply trying to stay alive.

Over the last few years cities across the subcontinent have begun drawing up heat action plans – agreements formulated by a municipality or district administration on how to prepare for and respond to extreme heat.

Most data collated in heat planning is usually just meteorological, such as air temperatures and heatwave thresholds. The idea for the heat diaries was to “move beyond just the numbers”, Nibedita Saha, a Greenpeace India researcher who worked on the project told GUK. Some of the survival tactics include hiding out in cooler places, sleeping on roofs and those of legal inclination are filing lawsuits to compel the government to assist the poorest with rising medical and electricity costs.

In rural areas across the world, “pastoralist” from a climactic “Silk Road Caravan” has been traveling on foot and horseback from Türkiye through landscapes in the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China – converging in Ulaanbaatar, where the caravan’s final leg coincides with the opening of COP 17. (GLOBALISSUES.ORG, Monday, ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN)

“For centuries, caravans travelling the ancient Silk Road carried goods, ideas and cultures between distant civilisations. This one has carried stories of communities trying to keep up their land productive and their livelihoods intact as drought and degradation spread across drylands from Eurasia to Africa.”

Globalissues estimates the cost of land degradation and drought at USD 900 billion annually, affecting 40% of the world’s land and 3.2 billion people. “Droughts have increased by almost one-third since 2000 and generate at least USD 300 billion in annual losses, according to UN data.”

Rangelands, which cover 70% of Mongolia, also cover 54% of the Earth’s land surface, support about 2 billion people and provide nearly 70% of global livestock feed and one-sixth of the world’s food. Yet up to half are degraded, particularly in dry regions facing mounting climate pressures.

THE ECONOMICS OF WAITING

“COP17 organisers are seeking to frame restoration not just as an environmental obligation but also as an economic investment.

“The conference estimates that about USD 355 billion is needed every year to combat land degradation and drought, compared with the current investment of roughly USD 77 billion. That leaves an annual financing gap of USD 278 billion.

“The private sector currently contributes only around six percent of global finance for land restoration and drought resilience.

“Closing that gap will be central to the negotiations,” maintains Globalissues – just one among many with the same problems and intent.

Mongolia’s Prime Minister N. Uchral has called for a shift “from talk to action, from targets to implementation, and from commitments to measurable results” in what has been designated by an International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, giving pastoral communities what Globalissues calls “a prominent place in the global policy calendar.”

EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE

The Silk Road Caravan’s final journey across Mongolia will take participants from the Gobi Desert to the country’s central forests and grasslands where they are currently meeting “nomadic herder families, researchers, local authorities and pastoral cooperatives and visit restoration projects.”

UNDP.ORG (ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN) contends that land “is where many of today’s environmental challenges meet. Healthy soils store carbon, produce food, sustain biodiversity and support the livelihoods of billions of people.”

But this foundation is under growing strain. Up to 40 percent of the world's land is degraded, and the consequences are being felt through food insecurity, water scarcity, migration and economic instability – crises that will be addressed at COP 17, which focuses on “the interconnected challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, and how restoring land can build resilience and reduce vulnerability but also enhance economic stability, national security and development.”

Herders and livestock farmers will be taking centre stage as the Conference coincides with the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

Also previewing COP 17, UNCCD (ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN) collected testimonials from officials spotlighting the needs of pastoralist communities who depend directly on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.

“During the two-week conference, participants will engage in a high-level segment including ministerial dialogues, alongside multistakeholder forums and thematic discussions on science–policy integration, innovation and solutions, tools and technologies, and financing. In addition to formal negotiations, COP17 is expected to catalyze collective action on rangelands, resilience and water, as well as food systems and soil health... wherein Mongolian national initiatives linking land restoration with livelihoods and rural development, including the President-led “Billion Trees” National Campaign, initiated in 2021 and aiming to plant one billion trees by 2030.

“Mongolia has also expanded public engagement and youth participation through national dialogues and outreach activities, including the “Youth4Land” National Forum. Through the Mongolia Business Council, the COP17 Presidency has been engaging the country’s private sector in support of a Business4Land Initiative that “aims to accelerate private sector action for sustainable land management.”

INDICO.UN’s COP preview details include registration information and an overview on “multistakeholder forums and thematic discussions on science–policy integration, innovation and solutions, tools and technologies, and financing” to catalyze collective action on “rangelands, resilience and water, as well as food systems and soil health.” (ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN)

And, last Saturday, the COP17 conference opened in Ulaanbaatar with media profiles of upcoming key events including governmental input, Silk Road Caravan pastoralist demands for action, including a schedule of pre-COP and first week COP convocations. Details and some of the projected speakers were listed (UNCCD.intl, ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN)... including...

· Marioldy Sanchez Santivañez – Latin America and the Caribbean

· Ellen Otaru-Okoedion – Africa

· Amiya Prapan Chakra Borty – Asia

· Andy Morris – Western Europe

· Sopiko Babalashvili – Central and Eastern Europe

...but, notably, no Americans.

For the coming week, discussion days listed included...

· Finance Day – 24 August: Mobilizing public and private investment for land restoration and drought resilience.

· Water Day – 25 August: Strengthening drought resilience and cooperation on the land-water nexus.

· Land and People Day – 26 August: Highlighting the role of pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth in restoring and sustainably managing land.

· Food Systems and Soil Health Day – 27 August: Advancing healthy soils and sustainable food systems to strengthen food security and resilient livelihoods

And they directed media enquiries and interview requests: UNCCD Press Office: press@unccd.int

Yahoo News (Aug. 19. ATTACHMENT NINETEEN) focused on desertification; borrowing commentary from the Guardian U.K., French radio broadcaster RFI, and the U.N. regional information center's site to assess the effects of desertification on food production and water availability as countries around the world are "bracing for food price rises as a result of damage to harvests from record heat and lack of water."

The U.N.'s World Food Programme also predicted that 50 million more people could be pushed into hunger by the 'super El Niño' weather system currently developing."

On the weekend before opening, UNRIC expressed hope that the decisions, partnerships and initiatives launched therein would “strengthen international cooperation on sustainable land management, land restoration and drought resilience over the coming years,” at a time when countries “are facing increasing pressure from land degradation, water scarcity and climate change.”

Assembled dignaries, scientists and media previewed the conference and expressed hope that action would result.

“The greatest change we want to see from COP17 is a shift from talk to action, from targets to implementation, and from commitments to measurable results. Mongolia therefore calls for tangible progress at this conference,” said H.E. N. Uchral, Prime Minister of Mongolia who listed six proposed directions of the conference. (UNRIC.com ATTACHMENT TWENTY)

H.E. Battsetseg Batmunkh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and UNCCD COP17 President, said: “For Mongolia, land is inseparable from our people, our livelihoods and our future. As a country where pastoralism remains central to our society and where land degradation, drought and dzud are already placing growing pressure on communities, we know that the health of our land has direct consequences for people’s lives.

“Hosting COP17 is both a responsibility and an opportunity to bring the experience of dryland countries and pastoral communities to the centre of global discussions.”

Osama Faqeeha, Deputy Minister for Environment, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Advisor to the UNCCD COP16 Presidency, said:

“COP16 in Riyadh was a historical turning point in the global awareness and drive for action to address land degradation and drought. The world did not leave Riyadh with more promises—it left with more partners, more investment, and stronger momentum for action.

Osama referenced the Riyadh Action Agenda, which included 35 initiatives when it was launched at COP16 in Riyadh and has grown to include more than 100 initiatives today.

Opening remarks also addressed the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, the Saudis’ Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, a stronger participation of the private sector through the Business for Land Initiative and marked the conclusion of the Silk Road Caravan (above Attachment Fourteen) and expanded upon next week’s themed days (Attachment Eighteen, above) announcing “major scientific and policy publications” as follows...

· 24 August: The Economics of Rangelands Restoration

· 25 August: The Drying Planet: Drought in Numbers 2026

· 26 August: Global Land Outlook for Small Island Developing States and Global Land Outlook Central Asia Thematic Report

· 27 August: Soil Health: The Business Case for Investing in Our Foundation

COP17 will conclude on 28 August, when Parties are expected to adopt decisions that will guide the Convention’s work over the coming years and shape the next phase of global action on land restoration and drought resilience.

The Saudi handover of COP to Mongolia (reported in the Saudi Gazette, August 13 (ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE) occurred after the Kingdom chaired the final COP Bureau meeting. Their Arab News (August 17^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO) commissioned Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics to further explore the financial aspects and aspirations of the COPsters... the Saudis having committed more than $12 billion to support land restoration and drought resilience and appealed other member to also pony up their shekels, Euros, yen, pounds, even... for what it was worth... dollars.

With the global cost of desertification, land degradation and drought being about $900 billion every year – with drought alone costing at least $300 billion annually, Hammond estimates that each American dollar invested in land restoration “can generate returns of up to $35” with a $10 return for every dollar put into drought resilience in terms of improved ecosystem services and livelihoods.

Pastoralists are essential in efforts to combat rangeland degradation and implement the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) reported the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s IISD; these land stewards being front and center as the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) opened in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE)

“In the morning, pastoralists from 100 countries representing over 500,000 people – whose day-to-day activities prevent soil erosion, enhance carbon storage, and maintain biodiversity – paraded to meet with UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, where they handed over a Global Pastoralist Declaration highlighting their priorities,” the ENB report conveyed.

During the opening ceremony, Mongolia’s Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral urged participants to transform the meeting into a platform for solutions and turn commitments into tangible results/actions; UNCCD Executive Secretary Fouad urged Parties to make COP 17 about repairing ecosystems and restoring livelihoods, resilience, and hope in the multilateral system and then the In the morning, pastoralists from 100 countries representing over 500,000 people – whose day-to-day activities prevent soil erosion, enhance carbon storage, and maintain biodiversity – paraded to meet with UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, where they handed over a Global Pastoralist Declaration highlighting their priorities.

But tensions arose from the traditional COP malcontents once it was time to adopt the agenda. “The Russian Federation opposed an agenda item on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework on the grounds that their experts were blocked from participating in its meetings. The US objected to three agenda items: synergies with other conventions and international organizations; gender; and civil society.” President Battsetseg quieted the dissenters by deferring the four items to some later date.

In the afternoon, according to the ENB, “the Committee of the Whole (COW) and the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) met to begin discussions. In the COW, the Secretariat introduced the programme and budget for the biennium 2027-2028, including three budget scenarios, which ranged from zero nominal growth to a nearly 30% increase to include three additional Secretariat positions,” (said agenda item being sent to the budget contact group) and CRIC, Executive Secretary Fouad challenged Parties to use the session “as an opportunity to reflect, accelerate action, and overcome bottlenecks.” UNCCD (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR) did impart to observers that “meaningful progress” was made, “though uneven and backsliding in some quarters.”

India’s Manorama Yearbook (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE) promised that, during the two-week conference, “participants will engage in a high-level segment including ministerial dialogues, alongside multistakeholder forums and thematic discussions on science – policy integration, innovation and solutions, tools and technologies, and financing.”

They ambled back into the past, beginning with the adopton of COP in Paris, 1994 and the first Conference of the Parties (COP 1) held in Rome, Italy in October 1997. Also from India, the “Down to Earth” grouping boiled down the desertification strategy of COP 17 to a single demand, “enough declarations, turn land pledges into money and action.” (Aug. 17, ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX)

But they also contended that, since the world has enough declarations on land degradation, “what it lacks is finance and the institutional machinery to act on them.”

DROUGHT DEAL RETURNS

The most politically difficult issue before the conference is the global drought protocol left unresolved at COP16 in Riyadh, where countries failed to agree on a legally binding deal to tackle drought. Some parties, including the African Group, pushed for a binding protocol, Down to Earth recalled, “while others favoured a non-binding drought framework.

“Negotiations were pushed to COP17, making Ulaanbaatar the next test of whether governments can bridge the divisions that stalled the deal in Saudi Arabia.”

Fouad (Attachment Two Above) urged parties to build consensus on the drought framework – telling the delegates that “…the role of COP17 presidency is to build consensus and facilitate discussion till a drought decision would be gavelled,” adding that the UNCCD secretariat hoped parties would reach an outcome that reflected both the urgency and scale of the drought crisis.

Fouad said the aim now was not only to secure a decision but to ensure it could be implemented. Speaking on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Group in the opening plenary, India said the convention was meeting “at a moment when the world for which this convention was designed is changing faster than the systems established to protect it and restore it,” and called on COP17 to agree on a drought decision that could “secure an ambitious, balanced, practical and durable outcome that responds to the needs of all regions.”

The figures also highlight the financing gap confronting the convention. Fouad said the priority at COP17 was to accelerate implementation of the target to restore 1 billion hectares by 2030, while expanding access to finance through innovative mechanisms.

Outgoing COP16 presidency, Osama Ibrahim Faqeeha, said drought currently affects about 1.8 billion people, mostly in low- and lower-middle-income developing countries.

“Today we are 8 billion people and by 2050 it is expected we will exceed 10 billion people. We have 2 billion hectares of degraded land or at least between 1.5 to 2 billion; the figures depend on reporting because 40 per cent of the countries are not reporting their land degradation.”

“The task is huge. We cannot continue business as usual,” Faqeeha added.

The numbers also highlighted the financing gap confronting the convention, Fouad said – opining that the priority at COP17 must be to accelerate implementation of the target to restore 1 billion hectares by 2030, while expanding access to finance through what she called “innovative mechanisms”.

Allafrica.com (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN) listed seven key issues that Fouad wanted to be addressed by the COP – these being...

1. Turning drought management from crisis response to resilience...

2. Closing the $278 billion annual land-finance gap (her estimate being that $355 billion is required annually to combat land degradation and drought, but current investment is only around $77 billion)...

3. Putting rangelands and pastoralists at the centre...

4. Land restoration and the future of food security...

5. Linking land, climate and biodiversity action...

6. Bringing science, technology and local knowledge into implementation and, finally, asking...

7. Can COP17 deliver implementation rather than another set of commitments?

From the developed world came answers... from LeMonde of France (ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT) whose interview with geographer Jean-Daniel Cesaro on the links between desertification, climate change and biodiversity loss was blocked by a Paywall which the more curious and wealthy can access here.

Another aspect of the environmental whole was raised by the Germans at DW and Americans at MSN who asked: Is caring about the climate unmanly?

Real men, according to Tamsin Walker, (DW, ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE) view environmental considerations as an attack upon their hegemony as masters and providers and Amanda Clayton, a University of California political scientist found during her research on the topic: "the gender gap grows as a function of country wealth."

“Men tend to decrease their concern about climate change as countries become wealthier," Clayton said. "The growing gender gap is actually men's growing skepticism."

One reason seems to be a fear of the perceived costs — financial and cultural — of transitioning to a clean energy future. Costs that feel especially threatening to men raised with the traditional expectations of being the provider. Which is where politics comes in, because she also found that as countries get wealthier, climate change becomes politicized.

"And when climate change becomes a political issue on the right, we see political and industry elites starting to promote climate skeptical beliefs," Clayton said.

Linkage between climate change concerns and “perceived threats to masculinity” can apply to to jobs in the fossil fuel sector which, the DW/MSN mashup advised, is more male-dominated. “In short, burning oil, gas and coal can become part of an identity sometimes referred to as petro-masculinity...” which the merchers of EVs, for example, are attempting to exploit by making electricity seem masculine.

In the war between the genders, President Donald Trump is an unapologetic manly man who promoted a policy of the penis in his Presidency 2.0 by pulling out of 31 UN bodies he considered gay, Communist or just a waste of time and money as well as the Paris Climate Agreement – contending that limitations of global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius amounted to an attack on the United States itself.

Climatechangenews.com (Jan. 8, 2026 – ATTACHMENT THIRTY) reported that among the organizations that POTUS deemed hostile, unmanly and/or uneconomical included advocacies for endangered species, solar energy and “green” policies among the unholy thirty one... SecState Marco Rubio standing tall in his dismissal of “globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests," and adding that more departures would be coming.

"The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity," Rubio stated.

As has often been the case, legal beagles raised questions about Trump's move to exit, through an executive order, the UNFCCC – ratified by the Senate in 1992. It’ll be just another job for the Supremes.

A chorus of Communists ranging from wokesta Wopke Hoekstra of the EU Climate Commission to COP30 CEO Ana Toni to Gina McCarthy (the first White House National Climate Advisor under Sleepy Joe Biden) to Concerned Scientist Delta Merner brayed their opposition - former US climate envoy John Kerry soliciting support from Republicans and patriots by calling Trump's decision "a gift to China.”

Still, the regime either could not or would not prevent individual Americans from tripping out to Mongolia – the US still being one of the 197 COP member parties. (AI Overview, ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE) Perhaps the President was distracted from clamping down by the drudgery of dealing with July’s heatwave – which averaged 76.9°F – the highest average ever recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), going back to 1895 and breaking the previous record (shared by July 1936, during the Dust Bowl, and July 2012.)

Time (August 11, ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO) reported that POTUS had a remedy for that, too... reducing NOAA’s workforce in 2025, and subsequently proposing more steep cuts to the agency’s funding, “hampering its ability to monitor weather conditions, analyze patterns, and provide forecasts.”

That NOAA “must now respond to increasingly severe weather events—like hurricane season and wildfire season—with reduced resources” was apparently considering a small price to pay for Presidential prestige and power apparently disrespected by the July climate report.

“A leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs, eliminates unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, terminates nonessential grant programs, and ends activities that do not warrant a Federal role, will provide better value to the American public,” its budget summary stated.

Trump, however, could not prevent un-American bad actors like the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and WHO (World Health Organization) – the former warning that periods of extreme heat “will become more frequent, intense, ‌and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet;” the latter declaring that: “Extended periods of high day and nighttime temperature conditions create cumulative stress on the human body, increasing the risk of illness and death from heat exposure.”

Time also cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s claim that the heat dome effects are “more likely to impact people with chronic medical conditions, children, and adults over 65,” or... as the Regime follows the teaching of an older, goneaway foe... the “useless eaters”

The budget cuts are even popping balloons in states like Kansas – three quarters of the yearly flotilla that collect upper-atmosphere temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind information to support forecasting of random factors like... oh... tornadoes...

“Kansans deserve transparency about what’s happening, why it’s happening and what’s being done to fix it,” Rep. Sharice Davids said in a statement. “Kansans deserve confidence that the systems meant to keep them safe are fully operational during tornado season and meteorologists deserve the reliable data they need to do their jobs.”

But Time also suggested that, as NOAA faces an uncertain funding future, such tools as the Chinese “Fenghe” – an open-source large language model (LLM) for meteorological services – could become increasingly important to its efforts to maintain forecasting capacity for an increasingly hot planet.

If we can trust the Chinese...

Reports from COP17 will be issued on a daily basis, according to the AI Overview (ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE); including, where applicable, objections by members like the United States (denouncing items like gender integration, civil society roles, and “cross-convention synergies”) which, like the Russian resistance, has been can-kicked to next week, the week after or, perhaps, never..

Monday’s highlights and images concerned what ENB.IISD.org called “a wide array on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.” (August 17^th, ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR)

In their opening statements, regions stressed: the importance of enabling greater financial flows for strengthening efforts to address desertification, land degradation, and drought; the importance of science for informed decision-making; and the interlinkages between sustainable land management and building community resilience.

During the first meeting of the CRIC, Executive Secretary Fouad emphasized that Parties are facing a decisive moment for implementation of the 2018-2030 Strategic Framework, and challenged Parties to use the session as an opportunity to reflect, accelerate action, and overcome bottlenecks.

On Tuesday, the second day of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) featured a full slate of formal and informal meetings, side events, and consultations and, as discussions on drought and the science and technology agenda heated up, an afternoon thunderstorm did little to mitigate the intensity of the day. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE)

The Russian Federation opposed including the work programme of the Science-Policy Interface (SPI) on the agenda – opposing the participation of the Ukrainian expert on the SPI.

Following a morning panel discussion, Parties stressed the importance of capacity-building for the effective implementation of the Convention. Many called for a demand-driven approach that takes into account national priorities, and for adequate and predictable financial and technical resources. The Global Environment Facility and the Global Mechanism presented reports and engaged in a panel discussion on resource mobilization in the afternoon.

IN THE RAIN

Around the venue, as participants dodged the afternoon rain, the hardy were able to experience traditional Mongolian music, watch Mongolian crafts people at work, marvel at the artwork and sculptures, and grab a coffee as they walked between meetings and a wide range of side events.

During Wednesday’s sessions the sound of rain on the roofs of the meeting rooms often drowned out the speakers in both the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) and the Committee on Science and Technology (CST).

After lunch, the Committee of the Whole (COW) discussed migration, land tenure, and private sector engagement. On migration, most agreed that desertification, land degradation, and drought is a major driver of displacement. However, Mongolia and several others pointed out that traditional migration of pastoralists allows them to sustainably use rangelands and water resources, noting mobility is an adaptation strategy. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX)

After one more downpour during the evening contact groups, the skies started to clear and just before sunset a rainbow appeared over the venue. In many cultures, rainbows are a positive omen that hard times are ending and better days are coming. Hopefully, this bodes well for the work underway in the contact groups.

On Thursday, as the sun returned to Mongolia, panelists nonetheless addressed rangeland drought with individual and community presentations; Anders Oskal, Association of World Reindeer Herders, presented the Global Pastoralist and Indigenous Pastoralists’ Call for Action, COW presented a Global Implementation Initiative for Sand and Dust Storms, a Sand and Dust Storms Toolbox and a Rangelands Flagship Initiative with its three components of knowledge, investment, and institutions.

And today, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) addressed all aspects of “human mobility” (which refers to all forms of population movement, including internal displacement, international migration, and nomadic or seasonal travel).

Elsewhere in the venue, mayors, governors and other local and regional leaders gathered at the COP 17 Mayors Forum to adopt the Ulaanbaatar Declaration, committing to advance local action on sustainable land management and drought resilience, and calling for a stronger, more permanent role for cities and regions in the UNCCD process.

A “Geography By Geoff” video, now available here depicted some of the reasons why Mongolia is Earth's most extreme country. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE)

“From brutal winters and vast open steppes to the world's lowest population density and a centuries-old nomadic culture, Mongolia is one of the planet's most extreme and fascinating countries.”

The Diplomat (February 28, ATTACHMENT FORTY) advised that January 27, marked the 39th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Mongolia – first established in 1987 amid the waning years of the Cold War. For nearly four decades, this bilateral bond has served as the cornerstone of Mongolia’s landmark “Third Neighbor” doctrine – “a deliberate, sovereignty-centered strategy to diversify its foreign relations beyond its two immediate (and hungry!) neighbors, Russia and China.”

Today, against the backdrop of intensifying great power competition, the Mongolia-U.S. strategic partnership stands at a defining inflection point and, the Diplomat reports, not all is rosy in Mongolia-U.S. relations. On February 2, the United States suspended immigrant visas for Mongolian citizens, including it in a list “high-risk countries” whose nationals are supposedly prone to “unlawfully utilize welfare in the United States or become a public charge.”

Against the backdrop of what the Diplomat called “evolving great power dynamics” (and others might call simple bigotry), China and Russia are deepening their economic engagement with Mongolia, epitomized by two high-profile diplomatic missions in February 2026. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Ulaanbaatar to reaffirm Beijing’s longstanding policy priorities for Mongolia, while Mongolian Parliament Speaker Uchral Nyam-Osor undertook a concurrent working visit to Moscow focused on advancing energy cooperation and expanding bilateral economic ties.

Diplomatter Sumiya Chuluunbaatar conducted an exclusive interview with Richard L. Buangan, the U.S. ambassador to Mongolia since November 2022, who has described Mongolians as “warm, hospitable, and direct” – qualities, he says, that align with the best of American straightforwardness. Beyond this genuine personal rapport, his insights on Mongolia-U.S. revealed a partnership “with tangible, meaningful wins in defense, development, and education, yet one that still faces steep structural hurdles to deliver on its full economic and strategic potential for both nations.”

How this diplomat hasn’t been sacked is perhaps something that The Diplomat has not considered.

Buangan framed 2026 as an “extraordinary year” for both nations, tying the 39th diplomatic anniversary to two historic national commemorations: the United States’ 250th independence anniversary, branded “Freedom 250,” and the 820th anniversary of the founding of the Mongol Empire.

He also listed “tangible investments” including the $462 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Water Compact, scheduled for completion in March 2026. The project, which includes a $112 million co-investment from the Government of Mongolia, will increase Ulaanbaatar’s clean water supply by up to 80 percent, directly addressing a chronic crisis driven by explosive rural-to-urban migration in the Mongolian capital.

“That’s a physical symbol of America’s long-term commitment to the U.S.-Mongolia partnership,” Buangan emphasized – also citing Mongolian contributors to UN peacekeeping operations; an exchange... unless Trumped... between Mongolian and American students; cooperation on critical mineral extactions... including copper, lithium and rare earth elements critical to American AI development.

Until the February icing of Mongolian/American relations, Buangan had hailed the U.S.-Mongolia partnership as “a quiet yet profoundly powerful testament to what sovereign nations can build when they collaborate on the bedrock of shared democratic values, mutually beneficial economic cooperation, and unflinching respect for one another’s territorial integrity and strategic autonomy.”

On Wednesday, The Week, via Yahoo, reported that the main goal of the Mongolia conference is to "put pledges made two years ago into action through projects in the developing world," according to the Guardian U.K. (ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE) citing also RFI (Attachment Nineteen above) and Cesaro in Le Monde (Attachment Twenty Eight above)

Wednesday’s New York Times (ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO) speculated that, while President Trump will serve out his term until Jan. 2029 (health permitting), his agenda might suffer should the House (let alone the Senate) flip in November.

The big headline from Tuesday’s primary was how Democrats shocked the establishment by nominating a democratic socialist for Senate, though it wasn’t just Democrats who defied expectations yesterday. Republican voters shrugged off some of President Trump’s preferred candidates in Florida and beyond.

While Trump doesn’t dive into the asses in their primaries, moderate... aka reasonable... Democrat Alexander Vindman was defeated in the Florida Senate primary by Angie Nixon (another Democratic Socialist) who was outspent 15 to 1.

More POTUSful endorsements shriveled. Representative Cory Mills of Florida had been investigated by the police in Washington last year, in connection with a report of an assault on a woman. He wasn’t charged. Another woman got a protective order against him, also last year.

“That didn’t stop Trump from endorsing Mills in February. Last night, though, Mills lost to Ryan Elijah, a former local TV anchor — the latest example of how Republican voters are backing away from candidates who have courted controversy. (Another Trump-endorsed candidate, Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee, lost a primary this month after drawing criticism for anti-Muslim remarks.)”

Trump also suffered losses in Wyoming and legacy candidate Darline Graham’s primary is now in doubt after a dismal debate performance but has remained upbeat – probably because Nixon is certainly a more beatable challenger to Republican nominee Ashley Moody in November.

At home in America, the mood was blue and lunatic asy when highly paid, hardly working ABC lateniter Jimmy Kimmel designated Rosie O’Donnel as the guest host of the week.

Rosie, whose anti-Americanism resulted in her moving to Ireland, closed out her four day stint by gifting President Trump with a rendition of the classic “Danny Boy” with some of the lyrics... well, most of them... uh... altered. (Entertainment Weekly: ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE and the Daily Beast: ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE.A)

The White House had no comment. Nor did the Mongolians who, as the week’s American primaries and COP conferences ended, presented their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2030, aligning with global commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. (August 19^th, Aazinform (Kazakhstan), ATTACHMENT FORTY FOUR)

“The new strategy emphasizes turning global pledges into concrete results.” One seemingly environmentally friendly (if human deadly) factor has turned out to have a strange attraction.

“Crude oil and natural gas supplies have been disrupted worldwide by the United States-Israel war on Iran,” (Al Jazeera, Aug. 19: ATTACHMENT FORTY FIVE), but one energy sector appears to be cashing in – coal.

This week, South Africa’s thermal coal producer Thungela Resources said it had doubled its half-year profits as the war has forced more countries to buy the fuel – which is still much cheaper than oil... and is more readily available.

“Although abundant and relatively cheap to produce, coal is considered one of the dirtiest fossil fuels,” the Jazzies contend.

“Mining it causes water pollution, and burning it releases enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming.”

They also blamed (or credited) the restoration of the black rocks on the on-again off-again status of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on gas and oil facilities from Qatar to Iranian ally Oman to the UAE and Saudis.

Since the war began, several Asian countries have announced plans to increase coal-fired electricity generation.

“Japan has lifted restrictions on older, high-emission coal plants to cope with the energy shocks while South Korea has delayed the shutdown of coal-powered plants it promised to wind down by 2040.

“In Bangladesh, the government at first imposed power cuts, closed universities and rationed fuel sales for vehicles before announcing it had ramped up coal-powered electricity generation.

“Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam have also increased coal-powered electricity generation to preserve dwindling gas reserves.

“In Pakistan, data from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority showed that by July, electricity generated from imported coal had risen by 90 percent compared with the same period the previous year.”

Analysts noted that upticks in some places are still being offset by long-term declines in coal use in places like Europe but thee EU has also coaled up (coked up?) since the war began with purchases by Germany and Italy from top exporters South Africa, Indonesia, Australia and Russia.

In 2021, more than 40 countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, promised to scale back coal use at the COP26 global climate summit. However, the Middle East crisis has upset those plans largely because many countries do not have sufficient renewable energy-generating capacity to fall back on, according to Nick Hedley, an energy transition analyst at South Africa-based Zero Carbon Analytics.

So, despite the inconsistencies of the fossil fuel industry, the overall effects still are making the Earth hotter and hotter and hotter.

“Cole Porter had it right. It is too darn hot,” the Economist sweated the summer out (July 16, ATTACHMENT FORTY SIX). On July 14th the surface temperature of Earth’s tropical and mid-latitude oceans was higher than on any other July 14th in modern records. The same was true for every other day in July, and for almost all of the days in June, too. Europe has gone through three heatwaves since May, and though the continent is better prepared for such things than it used to be, tens of thousands will have died as a result.

America’s Fourth of July celebrations took place under a sweltering “heat dome”. Typhoons have battered the Chinese coast; two hurricanes visiting Hawaii. “Fires are spreading far and wide,” and the Economist says “worse is to come” due to El Niño and unexpected reduction in an obscure but fundamental aspect of Earth: its albedo.

“The albedo is the fraction of incoming sunlight that a surface or a planet reflects back whence it came. High albedos, whether they are created by white roofs or ice-covered seas, keep things cool; by contrast, when albedos are low, the incoming energy stays here on Earth, raising the planet’s surface temperatures,” the Economist states – meaning that the oceans are growing hotter and cooling clouds are being chased away, to paraphrase Chuck (not Sergio) Mangione.

WHY CAN’T YOU BEHAVE?

Remedies ranging from curbing methane emissions to phasing out fluorinated gases in cooling systems to making air conditioning more efficient, cheap and widespread (“which saves lives and fits well with other policy goals, like making clean electricity cheap to produce and consume” but has drawn criticism for its own energy consumption.

“The more warming quickens, the sooner it may reach a point where, to quote Cole Porter again, anything goes.”

The Guardian U.K. (Aug. 20, ATTACHMENT FORTY SEVEN) now calls present day heating and flooding “the age of climate whiplash.”

And this is “as good as it’s going to get,” warns Hayley Fowler, a professor at Newcastle University. “It will only get hotter.”

Predictions for 2050 include temperatures of 40C in Cambridge; Somerset and Dorset reaching 45C. TV weatherpeople advise staying indoors and drinking plenty of fluids... “(e)xcept there will not be as much fluid to drink,” wrote GUK’s Aditya Chakrabortty.

“Britain is world-renowned for its soft steady drizzle, but over the next couple of decades, our summers will turn arid while winters are more likely to bring a regular deluge of rain, breaking our riverbanks and flooding our homes.

“Climate whiplash”, scientists call this: lurching from bone-dry to soaked to the bone. Pleading for water half the year, then terrified of its power the other half. This is not “climate change” as it used to be shown on official graphs, running on smooth lines pointing upwards; this is breakdown.

Britain’s new PM, Andy Burnham, is strikingly eloquent on many subjects “but keeps stumm on the climate crisis, apart from his promises to be “pragmatic” on fossil fuels. Elsewhere, the columnists dust off their standby paragraphs fulminating about the Englishman’s right to wash his own SUV, and the public information ads chide us to turn off taps, as if more mindful toothbrushing is a climate-adaptation strategy. All is business as usual – even while the business model is broken.”

Dr. Jonathan Paul, an earth scientist at Royal Holloway University of London foreseea battles for who gets water between farmers and datacenters. The GUK Labourite officials and their pop toys in the rest of the media blame, of course, bad ol’ Maggie Thatcher for enriching the “spivs and cowboys” and promoting surge pricing – “which means charging you and me more for our water when we most need it. Never let a good crisis go to waste, after all.”

GUK concluded by contending that this crisis has been imposed on us from above – by “successive bungling governments and rapacious companies.” It will not be fixed from above, by either a Labour government paralysed with fear of the electorate or financiers out to make one last buck.

Finally, what about the winter of 2026/7? Will it be sunny and mild, or will the bouncy bouncy turn back the tide to an equally extreme outcome.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been forecasting the seasons since 1818 and, the summer heat and fires notwithstanding, predicts the winter will bring us all “snow, sleet and surprises” with areas of repeating storms, raw rain, and heavy, wet snow, alternating with milder stretches interrupted by quick cold snaps.

Geographically, the Almanac predicts...

A WET AND STORMY SOUTHERN TIER

“El Niño is expected to remain an important influence through the heart of the season, favoring wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the southern United States.

QUICK COLD SNAPS ACROSS THE NORTH

“Across much of the West, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes, temperatures should average near normal overall. However, that does not mean winter will be mild – the FA predicts sudden snow squalls, blustery winds, and bursts of bitter cold with frequent swings between thawing and freezing, creating rapidly changing road and field conditions.

A TRICKY WINTER FOR THE NORTHEAST

“Coastal communities could receive more rain or mixed precipitation, while inland areas may be hit by several rounds of heavy, wet snow—particularly during January and February.

A CHANGEABLE SEASON IN THE NORTHWEST

The Pacific Northwest may experience a more changeable and somewhat less dependable snow season while the the northern Plains and Upper Midwest could turn drier at times, especially when the southern storm track becomes dominant. Even so, brief but intense periods of cold, wind, and snow will remain possible.

The Almanac reports 80-85% accuracy on regional outlooks. Independent reviews put actual accuracy somewhat lower, but still meaningfully above chance.

IN the NEWS: AUGUST 14^TH to AUGUST 20^TH, 2026

Friday, August 14, 2026

Dow: 53,732.41

A meteor falls out of the sky and breaks up – raining chunks of debris over Oregon, Idaho and Washington State where the American wildfires continue raging and toxic smoke from their even larger, more numerous Canadian cousins drifts across the Rockies.

The long, hot, and, in other places, wet summer rolls on. Flash flooding in Indiana washes out roads, bridges, levees and people while, in Hawaii, Hurricane Lala is expected to pass over erupting Kiluaua volcano. The result: steam! Climate proves deadly for a six year old girl in Memphis who dies in a hot day care van, and left-behind K-9s in hot patrol cars.

After numerous sailors on the U.S.S. aircraft carrier Lincoln complain of bad food, worse filth and over 200 days without shore leave, President Trump sneers: “it’s not enough!” while WarSec Hegseck appeals to their manliness. (Female parents with incontinent infants retort: “No washing machines!”) So the Lincoln will be replaced by the Washington... some day... which raises the question of why there are no more American battleships afloat (to go along with the munitions shortage that MAGA also denies).

Making conditions worse, genocidal Israeli settlers playing at being Nazis are slaughtering Palestinian civilians in the West Bank while the U.S. – alternately denouncing and colluding with PM Bibi – is said to be losing support from allies like South Korea and NATO so, with too much peace at hand, Presidet Bonespur says what we need is another war – this time with Oman. “War is Hell!” he tells disbelievers.

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Dow: Closed

Iran complicates the food shortage on the Lincoln by bombing supply ships in the Straits of Hormuz, so Trump has a simple solution: make them an American territory, like Puerto Rico. Iran says the Straits will remain Iranian, and closed, and bombs ships bound for the U.A.E. as the wars in the MidEast continue.

Midwesterners in the US are calling the flash floods the worst since 1913. Indiana has its seventh straight day of rain and a new problem arises: scammers robbing the afflicted and looters swooping through their evacuated homes and businesses.

While Colombians are still picking up after their 6.6 EQ in and around the drug district of Cali, an even larger 7.7 shakeroo rocks the Indonesian island of Flores. Dozens reported killed, the toll expected to run into the hundreds, even thousands, but the fear of tsunamis goes unrealized.

A long weekend of fun and accolades see Disney appointing more new Hall of Famers than the NFL and MLB combined; featuring retired CEO Bob Iger. The Mouse House in Vegas announces a summer flood of sequels, prequels, spinoffs and even a few small budget newbies. Get ready for a Christmas duel between remakes of “Dune” and “Doomsday”, preceded by Princess Diaries 3, Zootopia 3, Frozen 3; new Indy Jones, Star Wars, Starfighter, Ghost Rider... cartoons Bluey and Simpsons and Disney will set sale on its luxury cruise ship “Believe” (which promises an “immersive experience” – great, but hopefully not Titanic).

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Dow: Closed

It’s Talkshow Sunday and CBS takes on the Lincoln logorrhea... as the squishy 60 day cease fire comes to its end. Retired Admiral Mike Mullen says there are other long deployment morale problems, advising that “...at war, there are always adjustments.” He adds that long deployments affect alertness and Mullen says he has concerns about the families. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Az) blames Trump and his creatures, saying that “this administration did not plan for this war,” and opining that the easy victory in Venezuela made us overconfident and even accusing some of the President’s curiosities making fun of American soldiers and sailors as “expendable.”

The Roundtable tackles the Congressional generation gap played out as insurgent (and failed Presidential candidate) Seth Moulton challenges, but trails, elderly Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (supported by old folks Warren and the Bern) for the September 1 primary.

Jay O’Brien of ABC News cites the old, dead and dying (Graham, Mitchy) and says many Dems are coasting on reputation, not the future while Republicans avoiding the Lincoln issue. Liberal Donna Brazile says that future (i.e. 2028) calls the change to S. Carolina as first to vote is a bid for the black vote.

On Trump’s strange decoy trip, Dan Lamothe of the WashPost blames Israel for bad intelligence on the assassination attempt; old rightist Ramesh Ponneru says Massachusetts is an outlier among northeast Dems who are trending young.

Face the Nation polls find economy bad 60 – 40% and unfair 73-9%, Ky Gov. Andy Beshear denounces socialism but wants gumment investment in housing, saying he is a pro-business ass. Porky Dan Bacon (R-Nb) blames Biden for inflation. 60 Minuts profiles PTSD veterans going to Mexico to eat mushrooms while The Hill host Chris Stirewalt says all polls except Marquette’s are sloppy or corrupt.

Monday, August 17, 2026,

Dow: 53,459.78

It’s National Princess Week and Disney wraps up its convention with more new films announced.

Not on the list for filming – SNAP cuts that lead to hungry kids and closings of rural grocers. POTUS is moving on to declaring war on Oman and shifting support from So to NoKo- saying “I understand him (dictator Kim) and he understands me.” The President also celebrates a legal ruling greenlighting his crypto as bank-worthy (Sen. Warren calls it “brazen”). CBS polling says 69% call the e-con-me negative with a 73 – 9% conviction that America is unequal. “The safety net is collapsing,” mediots say.

Wholly collapsed is the Iranian cease-fire that has reached its 60 day expiration deadline with both sides in the war calling for unconditional surrender. Iran offers a $30K bounty on dead Americans; Trump replies by threatening to blow up former ally Oman for trying to negotiate a deal nobody wants. POTUS simply says he’s “not in a hurry” and says he’ll end support to South Korea to cut a deal with NoKo (who, in addition to renting or giving its troops to Russia, claims to have 72 nukes ready to go). “I understand him (Dictator Kim) and he understands me.”

Moscow takes time out from Ukraine to bomb NATO member Romania – technically an act of war. But Trump lets it slide...

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Dow: 53,343.40

As the Mongolian climate summit begins, Mother Nature declares war on all and everybody with the floods in Illinois and Indiana sweeping towns, cars and people away while New Orleans endures a humid 117°. The heat and fires continue in the West and also in Europe where the Danube... like the Colorado... is drying up and the U.K. bans barbecues. “This is what Hell might look like,” reporters say.

It’s another primary day in four states – notably Alaska and Florida (where a Congressional committee is investigating Gov. DeSantis ally Michael Caruso for sex crimes. Also on the carpet is Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Ca) while a Penn State fraternity is accused of selling cocaine and drafting pledges to prepare the packaging as part of their initiation. A customer might or might be the clown-masked teenaged maniac haunting the streets of Philadelphia, attacking women and asking them: “Are you ready to die?” as “Tomb Raider” graverobbers arrested for robbing tombs in 8 states and Harvard is fined $55M because its morgue manager sold body parts.

Amidst the SS Lincoln controversy, the USS Benefield loses power and has to be towed to the Philippines as opposed to relieving the exhausted sailors, now pinning hopes on the SS Washington to come to Hormuz and give them relief. But military spokespeople say 1,200 ships have passed through Hormuz, so if Iranian attacks continue, he’ll bomb some allies (Oman) and sanction trading partners (like China?) to kick off an “Economic D-Day).

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Dow: 53,483.05

Another Democratic Socialist, Angela Nixon, wins the Senate primary, defeating centrist Alex Vindman who spent 20X more money. She’ll will face Trumply Ashley Moody in deep red Florida where temperatures reach 122° in Tampa and support for Israel is at issue. Nixon (no relation to Him) spocks on, calling for health and prosperity as supporters chant: “Chomp the Oligarchy.” Election conspiracy theorists votes absentee and then does a TACO on proposed 50% Canadian tariffs.

What weatherpeople call a “summer on steroids” has too much water flooding Ohio and Indiana; too little makes for rationing in the Colorado basin. Phoenix is “only” 111° but heat deaths exceed 80 for the year so far with as many as 587 suspected while Southern drought raises fear of a new “Dust Bowl”.

Other disasters are human and economic – U.S. hiker killed by lightning on Mt. Etna, Italy; over 100 killed in African gold mine collapse, racketeer sued in freak badminton death of elderly baller, two die in midair crash between small plane and police chopper in Hershey, PA; two more at Toledo recycling plant (terror ruled out);

Investigators say sudden death of actress Hayden Panetierre at 36 being considered suspicious in that she was a known alcohol and opioid abuser whose ex boyfriend with her was previously jailed for domestic abuse.

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Dow: 52,759.21

US National Debt tops $40T sending stocks down over 700. Some of the effects will include higher borrowing costs, higher inflation and discretionary cutbacks to government services (ie SNAP to starve the poor children and medical care to finish the job). Also, and alarming to conservative Republicans and patriotic lobbies, delays or outright cancellations of funds for more munitions – as even supporters do not believe the President’s denials.

The wars, of course, go on despite claims that 1,200 ships have passed through the Straits of Hormuz despite Iranian threats of destruction and Trump’s counter threats of “economic D-Day” (despite failure to take out a few million easy targets at Khameini Sr. memorial gathering). There’s Ukraine and Russia (with mercenaries from N. Korea – who claim to have 72 nukes and Trump praises Kim and kills funding for SoKo – which joins Oman and Canada and Greenland as targets of Donniely affection as POTUS brushes aside old allies and pimps his crypto business, golden ballroom, triumphal arch and renamed Kennedy Center.

Mother Nature ends the week as she began – flooding and tornadoes around Illinois and Indiana, wildfires in the West potentiated by brutal heat now stretching east to Florida and further on to Europe while the delegates to Cop 17 (above) issue warnings that the economic and political overclasses ignore. Seven states fined for being too lenient to the SNAPsters, angry right-wing MAGAnauts shrug: “let them die.”

While stocks slumped over the war and the numbers, the Don posted a slight gain – largely based on a favorable balance of trade both affected and afflicted by tariff policies. With the new 50% bouncy levy on Canada, who knows what will happen next???

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%) THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

VALUE (ORIG.)**

CHANGE (to JAN – JUNE 2026) from 100%

JULY 17

Reconfigured

AUG. 7

LAST WEEK

THIS WEEK

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13*

% UP – DOWN

Wages (hrly. Per cap)

1350

8/14/26

-0.053%

8/26

1,909.78

70.89%

1,353.92

1,353.20

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 37.62

Median Inc. (yearly)

600

8/14/26

+0.007%

8/28/26

1,474.31

40.75%

600.80

601.46

602.17

602.45

602.49

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 68,129 161 199 204

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

600

8/14/26

+2.44%

8/26

555.52

614.28

629.26

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.1

Official (DC – in mi)

300

8/14/26

-2.96%

8/28/26

216.73

299.92

309.27

309.23

309.19

318.34

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,098 099 6,895

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

300

8/14/26

+1.000%

8/28/26

259.80

299.62

284.26

284.22

284.18

283.90

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 13,895 897 14,038

Workforce Participation

Number

Percent

300

8/14/26

-0.0086%

-0.0894%

8/28/26

295.81

299.98

298.74

298.59

298.26

297.99

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ In 162,151 137 2,120 Out 106,084 127 357 Total: 268,235 264 477

60.451 439 385

WP % (ycharts)*

150

8/14/26

-0.485%

8/26

149.25

149.27

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 61.50 nc

OUTGO

(15%)

Total Inflation

1050

8/14/26

+0.1%

8/26

901.77

1050

1052.10

1051.05

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -0.4 +.1

Food

300

8/14/26

+0.1%

8/26

257.37

300

299.40

299.19

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.2 +.1

Gasoline

300

8/14/26

-2.9%

8/26

181.96

300

320.10

329.38

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -9.7 -2.9

Medical Costs

300

8/14/26

+0.6%

8/26

267.14

300

300.30

298.50

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -0.1 +0.6

Shelter

300

8/14/26

+0.1%

8/26

238.38

300

299.70

299.40

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.1 +0.1

WEALTH

(6%)

Dow Jones Index

300

8/14/26

-2.007%

8/28/26

400.18

299.80

295.37

307.79

306.83

300.67

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 53,885.10 53,839.99 52,759.21

Home (Sales)

(Valuation)

150

8/14/26

-0.73%

-2.09%

8/28/26

137.08

155.60

154.17

152.61

158.23

152.61

158.23

151.49

154.93

150.38

151.69

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 4.09 06 Valuations (K): 440.6 431.4

Millionaires (New Cat,)

150

8/14/26

+0.049%

8/28/26

137.72

150.15

150.32

159.50

159.58

159.66

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 24,385 397 411

Paupers (New Category)

150

8/14/26

+0.028%

8/28/26

134.69

149.92

149.82

149.71

149.67

149.63

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 36,014 024 035

GOVERNMENT

(10%)

Revenue (trilns.)

300

8/14/26

+0.108%

8/28/26

485.69

300.85

301.77

302.04

302.37

302.70

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5,573 579 587

Expenditures (tr.)

300

8/14/26

+0.069%

8/28/26

287.16

299.59

298.86

298.40

298.19

297.98

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,253 258 263

National Debt (tr.)

450

8/14/26

+0.188%

8/28/26

344.44

448.90

446.23

442.59

441.68

440.85

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 39,832 907 40.053

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

8/14/26

+0.181%

8/28/26

352.67

448.15

445.20

443.20

442.40

441.60

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 113,877 4.083 4,356

TRADE

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

8/14/26

-0.063%

8/28/26

252.18

295.57

293.90

293.83

293.65

293.46

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 9,564 570 595

Exports (in billions)

150

8/14/26

-0.94%

8/26

197.73

145.70

142.32

140.98

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 314.7

Imports (in billions))

150

8/14/26

-1.88%

8/26

130.49

145.32

148.05

150.83

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 388.0

Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)

150

8/14/26

-5.87%

8/26

182.61

108.06

114.40

121.12

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 73.3

SOCIAL INDICES

(40%)

Events of the Week

ACTS of MAN

(15%)

World Affairs

450

8/14/26

-0.3%

8/28/26

466.24

448.20

448.65

446.86

445.51

444.17

Harry and Meghan announce they are moving back to London and she will seek acting jobs. Royal partisans debate pro and con. “Tons” of nuclear materiel discovered in Syria. Kenyan air crash kills six Americans and Ecuadorian spy chief while there, on the ground, over a hundred die in gold mine cave-in.

War and terrorism

300

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

280.07

298.80

298.22

297.03

296.73

296.44

US backtracks on Israeli support after genocidal settlers run wild against West Bank Palestinians. ISIS convert foiled in plot to bomb NY state capitol, but anti-Semite in Gotham attacks synagogue, In the MidEast, the 60 day ceasefire with Iran ends as sick and tired sailors on the SS. Lincoln finally going home after over 200 days without shore leave (fightin’ President Trump denounces them as faggots; threatens to bomb Oman but TACO’s on war with Canada)... Ukraine and Russia continue missile and drone drops.

Politics

450

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

450.15

448.20

447.75

447.30

446.85

446.40

President Trump, still angry over his name drop, orders the JFK Center shut for two years and pivots from support of “ungrateful” SoKo to “Understandable” NoKo. 2024 Green candidate Jill Stein arrested for assault in St. Louis making law and order week tripartisan. Democrats, according to ABC roundtabler Donna Brazile, are moving first 2028 primary to South Caroline to recapture their sliding black support; Congress debates “Sunshine Protection Act” for year round Daylight Savings Time but goes on vacation without resolution.

Economics

450

8/14/26

8/28/26

426.64

450.00

449.55

447.31

USA national debt tops the $40T ceiling, meaning higher interest rates, cuts to gumment services (like SNAP) to military preparedness. “The longer you ignore it the rougher it gets,” say cheapskates. President Trump hosts crypto czars and promotes a Clarity Act that bars public officials (but not their families) from profiteering. Bankruptcies include Rebel Creamery,

Crime

150

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

201.34

149.55

149.40

149.55

149.70

Debate intensifies over Flock surveillance cameras bringing up the old “freedom versus safety” arguments. “Nowhere is safe!” Americans declaim after thirteen shot at the U. of Kentucky, five shot by unknown suspects at Virginia State University and nine mass shootings overall include Chicago and Hartford, CT. Penn State frat initiates pledges by having them process cocaine. Library book thieves arrested in Mesa, Az, tomb raiders in 8 states & bodysnatching Harvard morgue manager. Online mastermind of 764 gang Kyle Spitz gets 77 years for promoting child sex abuse.

ACTS of GOD

Environment/Weather

450

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

275.85

447.30

446.85

445.05

444.60

444.16

The long, hot, wet (in some places, wettest since 1913) and fiery (in other places like Reno, Nevada) summer continues. Steamy meeting betweek Kilouea volcano and Hurricane Lala. Climate change COP begins as 6 year old girl in Memphis dies in hot daycare van (above);

Disasters

450

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

463.08

450.00

449.55

450.00

449.55

449.10

Colombian 6.6 EQ toll tops 280 larger 7.7 Indonesian quake kills only 30 but both tolls expected to rise. Stingy stingrays join sharks in hunting California surfers. Vietnam Airlines (!) plane in near miss at Minnesota airport but deadly crashes between small plane and military in Hershey, PA, angry birds attack Irish plane where passenger is sucked out broken window (vengeful bird-hating mailman responds by attacking a wild peacock in Pasadena - maybe as a protest against NBC programming?). 69 year old dies in badminton accident; family sues racketeers.

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX

15%

Science, Tech, Education

600

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

617.97

600.00

599.40

598.80

598.20

Space X launches two rockets 28 minutes apart, but space telescope falling back to earth. Family of Robin Williams protests exploitation by AI merchers.

Equality (econ/social)

600

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

675.06

603.00

603.61

603.01

602.41

Critics condemn brutality at ICE detention centers. Nolan Wells conspiracy attorneys Crump and Sharpton call on Kash Patel to take over investigation from racist Mississippi. WNBA nominates eight to its Hall of Fame as angry right-wing MAGAnauts celebrate cutting off SNAP and starving unwanted children.

Health

600

8/14/26

8/28/26

440.46

595.06

593.25

“60 Minutes” profiles PTSD vets going to Mexico to eat mushrooms, Researchers working on blood tests for heart disease by lowering the Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP) and developing new vaxxes to cure melanoma (positing chaos for the vaxxing denialists., Child measles vaxxing keeps falling from 95% to 92%. Recalls include killer infant car seats, salmonellic dog food and other blindness-causing comestibles. FDA does, however, greenlight robodocs whose blood draws called 95% safe.

Freedom and Justice

450

8/14/26

-0.1%

8/28/26

477.76

449.55

448.20

448.65

448.20

In the courts, Sebastian Mangione says he had no contact with United Healthcare but other insurance denials meant “the parasites had it coming.” Sex crimes prosecutions for priests and politicians (for example, LaGrange GA councilman Clay Boddie for public indecency upon other bodies), multiple trillion-plus META lawsuits for addicting children. Mobs rally to support Lindsey Clancy for killing children – blame mental illness as she insists her kids are still alive.

CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS

Diversive incidents***

Cultural

Sporting

Transitional

600

8/14/26

+0.1%

8/28/26

595.85

450.45

452.25

452.70

453.15

Football season begins at NFL, NCAA and local high schools. NCAA poll ranks Ohio State as preseason favorite. MLB Milwaukee Brewers sink Seattle Mariners by record 22-0.

Hollywood rolling out more sequels, prequels and remakes with a few new celebrity flicks like Tom Cruise in “Digger” (opening Oct. 2) and Reagan/Gorbachev tribute “The Brink of War”. There’s a new “Star Wars”, “Starfighter” and “Indiana Jones”; “Romy and Michelle”, Lilo/Stich and “Coco” sequels, three-peats for “Princess Diaries”, “Frozen” (Anna gets married, fans enjoy theatre air conditioning as much as the movie), “Incredibles” and “Zootopia”, upgrades from TV for “Father Knows Best”, “Bluey” and “Simpsons”. Disney’s latest theme park attraction: “Villains Land”. Subbing for Trump-hating Jimmy Kimmel, really Trump-hating Rosie O’D starts the week explaining why she moved to Ireland – ends it by singing a “Donny Boy” parody (see below). Eagles’ “Greatest Hits’ tops chart as band starts Vegas staycation with Glenn Frey’s son sitting in for deceased father; Jonas Bros. lock down MSG and Dolly Parton, still fighting health problems, proposes “virtual” AI generated concerts,

RIP: actress Hayden Panatierre, fiddlin’ 109 year old grandma Violet Hensley, MLB pitcher Tommy John, ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, beardless Z. Z. Top drummer Frank Beard. R(etire) IP: Apple’s Tim Cook who says he wants to be remembered as “a good and decent man.”

Miscellaneous incidents

450

8/14/26

+0.2%

8/28/26

555.05

450.90

452.25

453.15

454.06

Lucky landlord finds left-behind Picasso after eviction. Birds blamed (but not arrested) for strike causing Ryan Air passenger to be sucked out window but bird hater does exact revenge against a peacock in Pasadena. In other animaltronic news: 2000 beagles released from medical testing cages, World’s Ugliest Dog trophy 2026 goes to Jinny Lu the pug in pearls while Vogue dedicates a parody Dogue issue to the K-9s; Rossi, the lost wrong way tortoise who swam to Wales, returned to Texas gulf.

*** Diversive value raised from 3 to 4% 8/1/26

The Don Jones Index for the week of August 14th through August 20th, 2026 was UP 8.87 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action againth parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM UNDP

THE PLANET IS IN CRISIS.

Our response must rise to the moment.

Across the world, the signs of environmental crises are becoming harder to ignore.

Land is degrading fast. Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. The climate is growing more extreme and unpredictable.

Our planet is on the brink of irreversible changes that will reshape the systems that sustain life: from the way we grow food and manage water, to how communities build livelihoods and prepare for an uncertain future.

The scale of these challenges demands a response of equal ambition. That is why the three major environmental conferences, or Conferences of the Parties (COPs), taking place in 2026 are pivotal moments. They bring countries together to advance action on three interconnected priorities: restoring land, protecting biodiversity and tackling climate change.

These political negotiations are essential and must be matched by progress on the ground. We must urgently move into the era of action. Here’s a closer look at how these meetings can help us rise to the moment.

Restoring land

COP17

UN Convention to Combat Desertification

17–28 August

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Learn more

Protecting biodiversity

COP17

UN Biodiversity Conference

19–30 October

Yerevan, Armenia

Learn more

Tackling climate change

COP31

UN Climate Change Conference

9–20 November

Antalya, Türkiye

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS

WILL THE WORLD’S DRYING LANDS GET RELIEF FROM COP17 IN MONGOLIA?

Governments will discuss ways to combat drought and protect herders and their pastures from land degradation in a warming world

Aug 13, 2026

Contents

· What is COP17?

· What is desertification?

· What has it got to do with climate change?

· What will be negotiated at COP17?

· What will happen when?

· What else should we watch out for?

· Who will preside over COP17?

· What are the negotiating dynamics?

· What role will the US play?

Starting on Monday, about 10,000 government negotiators, scientists, journalists and campaigners will gather at a purpose-built venue in a national park in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar to discuss how to stop land turning into desert as the world warms.

Drought is currently sweeping much of the Northern hemisphere, leaving normally green urban parks looking like dry savannah, causing crops to fail, food prices to rise and billions to be shaved off economic output.

On Wednesday, Britain's prime minister chaired an emergency meeting of the government's Cobra committee. These are usually reserved for wars, terrorist attacks, riots and pandemics - but this one was on the extreme heat and drought the UK has been suffering since May.

With many countries facing far worse with fewer resources than the UK, the issues to be discussed at the UN's COP17 summit in Mongolia - often overlooked - should be nearer the top of policy-makers minds.

But what is COP17? What will be decided and announced there over the next two weeks? How does it relate to climate change and how will it help restore the lands on which we all rely for our food, water and other essential resources? Climate Home News explains all below.

What is COP17?

It is the conference of parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The parties are 196 governments, which includes all of the countries recognised by the UN.

The convention was conceived at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, at the same time as the other two larger "Rio trio" conventions on climate and biodiversity.

While the climate convention's COP takes place every year, the UNCCD COP happens only once every two years. COP17 will be its seventeenth gathering.

Negotiators at COP16 in Riyadh (Photo: IISD/ENB | Anastasia Rodopoulou)

What is desertification?

It is the process by which land degrades and becomes more like a desert, making it harder - and sometimes impossible - to grow crops or graze livestock there.

Climate change and other human activities - like excessive irrigation which depletes ground water - are making this process worse, causing poverty, hunger, health problems, forced migration and loss of species.

It's a widespread problem. The UN estimates that half a billion people live within areas that have experienced desertification since the 1980s and that two-fifths of the world's land is degraded.

What has it got to do with climate change?

Without a top layer of soil, plants struggle to grow again and the land gets closer to being a desert. So combating desertification is a way of adapting to climate change.

It is also a way of lessening the pace of climate change, as land degradation releases carbon dioxide previously stored in healthy soils and plants.

WHAT WILL BE NEGOTIATED AT COP17?

The main issue is what form a new initiative to tackle drought could take. The last COP saw Africa push hard for this to be a protocol - a kind of binding sub-treaty to the UNCCD.

But the US, Europe, Argentina and others argued that would take too long to set up, cost too much and take money away from what can be spent on the ground. They prefer a legally weaker alternative - a framework instead of a protocol.

Negotiations went late into the last night of talks in Riyadh, with the Saudis hosting informal consultations, but eventually governments had to agree to disagree and pick up talks again in Ulaanbaatar.

As Earth dries out, countries fail to reach drought agreement

Governments will also negotiate a new policy on protecting rangelands and pastoralists from degradation. Rangelands are areas where animals graze. They cover around half the Earth’s land and include almost everything other than forest, deserts, farms, glaciers and cities. Pastoralists are people who herd animals on these rangelands, often moving from place to place to find fresh pasture.

COP17 host country Mongolia has a lot of both - and pushed successfully for the UN to declare 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. It is keen to agree a decision at COP17 bringing those issues more to the forefront of the UNCCD.

Negotiators will also debate the UNCCD's post-2030 strategic framework, which they hope to adopt at COP18 in 2028. Campaign groups like the World Wildlife Fund want a stronger focus on biodiversity and nature-positive food systems.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN?

The COP will formally open with a ceremony on Monday August 17, followed by opening statements by governments and the adoption of the agenda.

Negotiations will begin, mostly behind closed doors for two weeks until the closing plenaries on Friday August 28.

While talks rumble on in the background, the second week will see senior government representatives including ministers get involved, with a “high-level segment” running from August 24-26.

They will discuss issues like drought resilience, finance and pastoralist communities. This is likely to be when any announcements - of new funding, for instance - are made.

On Monday August 24, there will also be an open dialogue between government officials and civil society members. Here, local practitioners are likely to share stories of how they are helping their communities reverse land degradation. UNCCD prides itself on being a bottom-up convention.

Unlike climate COPs, which often end a day or two over time, UNCCD COPs usually finish on the evening of their last day and - while they have gone late into the night - have never run into the next day.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE WATCH OUT FOR?

At the last COP two years ago, host Saudi Arabia led the creation of an initiative called the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership to help 80 of the poorest nations deal with drought.

It received $12 billion in pledges, mainly from Gulf-based development finance institutions. Saudi Arabia is expected to report back on whether these pledges have been delivered and how the money will reach those in need now.

There are also hopes that governments will announce financial support for Mongolia's Rangelands Flagship Initiative, which aims to mobilise investment in projects to fight land degradation.

WHO WILL PRESIDE OVER COP17?

While the last five and the next two climate COPs have been or will be presided over by men, COP17 will be woman-led with Mongolia’s foreign minister, Battsetseg Batmunkh, as president.

Although Saudi Arabia's UNCCD COP presidency is ending, the Gulf power house will likely continue to be influential. It has supported the COP financially as part of the Riyadh-Ulaanbaatar action agenda and will be following up on initiatives announced two years ago.

While Saudi Arabia is often blamed for obstructing progress at climate talks, as a desert nation it is generally thought to have played a constructive role at UNCCD COPs.

WHAT ARE THE NEGOTIATING DYNAMICS?

The UNCCD has six main negotiating groups: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Northern Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, and developed donor countries. Governments can also speak in their own capacities.

While divisions between the Global North and Global South do exist at UNCCD COPs, they are not as stark as at climate COPs. The Global South’s umbrella group - the G77 and China - usually only speaks on finance issues, on which developing countries tend to be united.

Civil society groups are present but not as vocal or as confrontational as at climate COPs. There are generally no protests and campaigners tend to try to hold governments accountable more quietly. There are likely to be far fewer journalists than at climate COPs too.

WHAT ROLE WILL THE US PLAY?

While the US has left the UN’s climate convention, it remains in the UNCCD and is expected to bring a delegation of officials from its departments of agriculture and state. It is likely to resist any renewed push from Africa for a drought protocol.

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM NBC CHICAGO

‘HISTORIC' EL NIÑO COULD BE UNFOLDING, EXPERTS SAY, AS PATTERN STRENGTHENS

Chances are continuing to grow for a historic El Niño pattern this fall and winter, officials say

By NBC Chicago Staff • Published August 13, 2026 • Updated on August 13, 2026 at 4:50 pm

There’s now a 96% chance of an El Niño developing through winter 2026-27, according to the latest report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Weather forecasters are growing more confident that a “historic” El Niño could unfold in coming months, which could have big impacts on the Chicago area’s weather.

According to the latest updates from the Climate Prediction Center, forecasters now believe there is a “greater than 90% chance” that a “very strong” El Niño pattern could develop in the Northern Hemisphere, and that it could persist through the coming fall and winter.

What’s more, forecasters now believe there is a 69% chance of a “historic” event that would shatter records, which date back to 1950 according to CPC data. Some experts have begun calling this year’s event a potential “Super El Niño,” and it could have massive impacts on weather across the entire hemisphere.

What could such a pattern mean for the Chicago area, and what exactly is going on in the Pacific Ocean? Here’s what you need to know.

What is an El Niño pattern?

An El Niño weather pattern occurs when the trade winds in the Pacific Ocean weaken, allowing warmer ocean water to be pushed to the east, toward the west coast of the Americas.

Those warmer waters can push the Pacific jet stream further south, which ultimately can have big impacts on North America, including the Chicago area.

Why are the same suburbs being hit by tornadoes and storms? Meteorologist explains

What is causing the stronger-than-normal event?

Climate change and warming oceans are likely at least partially to blame for the strength of this year’s developing pattern, and while there’s no guarantee that pattern will persist, confidence is growing that it will indeed have impacts on weather patterns in the United States.

What impacts could a “Super El Niño” have on the Chicago area?

Even the strongest of El Niño patterns isn’t guaranteed to impact weather in all parts of the United States, according to experts.

That caveat aside, strong El Niño events do have a chance to have significant impacts on the Chicago area’s weather, especially during the fall and winter months, according to researchers at the University of Illinois.

During those events, the Chicago area typically sees drier and warmer weather than usual, which could mean above-average temperatures and lower-than-average snowfall, according to officials.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM AP VIA KY3, SPRINGFIELD MO.

OPPRESSIVE HEAT, HIGH HUMIDITY GRIP MUCH OF THE US AS STUDENTS START A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Published: Aug. 14, 2026 at 12:27 PM EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A late summer heat wave has gripped much of the United States in a sweaty headlock and forecasters say it won’t let go anytime soon.

Roughly 97 million people from the central Plains to the Southeast face heat advisories. Dangerous temperatures are expected in more than a dozen states in the Southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Some places could hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius), forecasters said. But the combination of soaring temperatures and high humidity could make it feel as hot as 115 F (46 C) in portions of the Southeast.

That heat dome effect is created by high-pressure systems sitting above a region, trapping heat and humidity closer to the ground.

And there will be little nighttime relief, with overnight lows predicted to remain in the 70s in many places, forecasters said.

“The nighttime lows are not going to get below about 80 Fahrenheit for a lot of urban areas,” said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections. “So that’s really going to bump up the mortality from this heat wave. It’s going to be deadly because of all these factors: Long lasting, intense, and high humidity.”

People were urged to stay indoors when possible and keep hydrated.

Early days of the heat wave force workers to cope with risks

In Little Rock, Madi Ramos wore a large straw hat as she shoveled an irrigation ditch outside the state Capitol building on Thursday morning when temperatures had already reached 90 F (32 C).

“This heat is stronger than last year’s,” said Ramos, 21, who works with her stepfather at a landscaping company.

The forecast comes after July became the hottest month on record in the contiguous United States. Extreme heat events are increased and exacerbated by climate change, which comes from the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal.

During a July heat wave, Ramos said she felt nauseous and had to pause for a break. One of her colleagues took three days off after falling ill from heat.

Ramos said she usually drinks seven to eight bottles of water that she sometimes mixes with electrolyte packets during her 12-hour outdoor shifts. She’s preparing for this week’s heat wave by wearing breathable clothing.

But sometimes the heat can be too much and, Ramos said, the company encourages her to take breaks.

“When I feel I can’t take it anymore, I take a break and then I come back,” Ramos said in Spanish.

COMMUNITIES OFFER RESIDENTS PLACES TO COOL OFF OR STAY HYDRATED

When the heat gets oppressive, communities across the country typically offer public libraries, community centers and senior centers as air-conditioned places to cool down. Other places try to make sure residents are hydrated.

Donna Schillinger expected dozens of visitors to WayStation, a resource center in Rogers, Arkansas, as the heat wave lingers. The center had already provided bags filled with food and bottled water to nearly two dozen people by Thursday afternoon. Schillinger, the executive director of nonprofit Micah 6:8, said the center typically sees six people per day for to-go bags.

“Everybody is commenting about how hot it is outside,” Schillinger said. “I mean it’s just crazy hot.”

HEAT ARRIVES WITH A NEW SCHOOL YEAR AND SPORTS ACTIVITIES IN FULL SWING

The heat wave is coinciding with the start of the new school year in much of the country, forcing discussions about how to keep students comfortable on buses, in classrooms and even on school playground equipment.

In some school districts, parents are urged to send bottled water to school with their students. One Central Arkansas district implemented a policy this year mandating that students remain indoors, including during recess, when the heat index reaches 95 F (35 C).

Young athletes and professionals preparing for a new football season also are having to take precautions against overheating.

In South Carolina, where an extreme heat warning was in place, two school districts canceled a series of football scrimmages involving more than a dozen high schools Friday evening due to the forecast.

Nationwide, at least 58 players died from exertional heat stroke between 1992 and 2024, the latest year available, and thousands more are sickened each year, according to the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut. Most of the deaths involved younger athletes.

The institute is named after the Minnesota Vikings player who died of heat stroke in 2001, prompting changes in safety protocols.

SWELTERING HEAT IS ONGOING IN EUROPE

Hot weather is taking its toll abroad as well.

The United Kingdom recorded its hottest day of the year Thursday, coming during an excessively dry stretch that saw multiple fires break out as an intense stretch of sizzling weather continued to grip Europe.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM CNN

‘UNCHARTED TERRITORY’: SECOND-LARGEST RESERVOIR IN US PLUNGES TO A RECORD LOW

By Laura Paddison, CNN

Mon, August 17, 2026 at 4:59 PM EDT

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, provides water and electricity to millions in the West. It has now has shrunk to its lowest level on record, in the latest sign of the alarming crisis unfolding on the drought-stricken Colorado River.

The reservoir's levels dropped to 3,519.91 feet on Saturday, breaking the record low of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to data from the US Bureau of Reclamation published Sunday. It is now just under 30 feet away from the point at which its dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower.

The record comes nine days after downstream Lake Mead, the US's biggest reservoir, dropped to its lowest level since it was first filled nine decades ago. "We are in uncharted territory," said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

Known as the lifeblood of the Southwest, the Colorado River starts in the Rocky Mountains, fed by melting snowpack, and ends in the Gulf of California in Mexico. It provides water to roughly 40 million people and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland across seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

Climate change-fueled drought and increases in temperature, combined with years of heavy water use, have caused the crucial waterway to shrink by roughly 20% since 2000. And Mead and Powell have been heavily affected.

Spanning parts of Arizona and Utah, Lake Powell formed behind the Glen Canyon Dam, which was constructed in the 1950s. The vast reservoir started filling in 1963 and took 17 years to reach its full pool level of 3,700 feet above sea level.

It's often referred to as a water "bank account" that can be used in dry years to send supplies downstream to cities, farms and businesses.

The reservoir's level has always fluctuated. Every year, between May and July, it's boosted by runoff from melting snow. It then decreases over the rest of the year, leaving distinctive "bathtub ring" formations along its rocky shoreline.

However, this year, as with many recent years, Powell has suffered from a dearth of snow — last winter was one of the driest and warmest on record for the western US.

A major concern is the impact on energy generation. The force of the Colorado River turns the Glen Canyon Dam's eight huge turbines, producing enough electricity each year to power nearly 500,000 households. It's relied on by Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.

The reservoir could now be barreling toward "minimum power pool" — at 3,490 feet — when water levels will be too low to spin the turbines and generate electricity.

This "scary threshold" will be reached this year unless "extraordinary measures" are taken, said Brad Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. These include reductions in water releases from Lake Powell and upstream, he added.

The most alarming scenario would see Lake Powell reaching "deadpool" levels of below 3,370 feet. At this point water would no longer be able to flow downstream from the dam at all.

It's very hard to imagine this, Utah State's Schmidt said. "I would expect draconian steps to decrease water use to prevent this from occurring. But who knows?"

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation said it and the Department of the Interior remained "committed to reducing the collective risk of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead falling below critical elevations to protect critical infrastructure to continue to meet the water and hydropower needs of the basin."

Experts don't currently believe there is a risk of people's taps running dry; the Colorado River is a slow-moving crisis and many water managers have taken steps to prepare.

Cities like Phoenix and Tucson "are extremely aware that they are first in line for cuts," and have taken steps to ensure they have the back-up supplies to meet demand, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. But while cities can pay for alternative water supplies, this might be less feasible for Tribes and smaller communities along the Colorado River, she added.

Powell's record low comes as the seven states that share the Colorado River's water wait to find out what cuts will be imposed. After years of fraught negotiations between the states failed to yield a deal, federal authorities have stepped in and are expected to publish a plan in the coming days specifying the exact reductions required of states through 2028.

There is some hope that the El Niño climate pattern, which tends to bring more frequent rain and snow to the Southwest, could help. But experts are clear it will take more than one very wet winter to pull the Colorado River out of crisis.

"Even record snowpack this winter will not be enough to get us out of the danger zone," Porter said.

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM CBS

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN LAKE MEAD AS WATER LEVELS REACH RECORD LOW

By Mark Osborne

Tue, August 18, 2026 at 12:08 PM EDT

Apparent human skeletal remains, including a jaw with the teeth still attached, were found at Lake Mead on Sunday, officials said, as water levels sink to new lows amid a drought and scorching heat in the West.

"On Aug. 16, the Lake Mead Interagency Communications Center received a report of potential human remains at Boulder Beach," the National Park Service said in a statement. "National Park Service rangers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene. The incident remains under investigation, and no additional information is available at this time."

The bones were discovered by a woman and her friend and his daughter on the shoreline of Boulder Beach, which is located on the western side of the lake within Nevada state lines.

"We just went to the lake to, you know, have fun for a little bit. My friend was playing with the rocks in the lake, and then he grabbed the jaw," Dianelis Molina Cruz told Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS. "And when he looked, he saw the teeth and everything."

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told KLAS it responded to the location alongside the Clark County Coroner's Office, but they were not investigating the incident.

The reason the remains were found now can quite likely be chalked up to the concerning drop in water levels at the lake.

"We noticed that it's very low. The water looks very low compared to where it should be," Noel De Leon told KLAS on Monday. "As the water goes down, the skeletons come up."

Water levels have reached historic lows at Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir in the United States. On Monday, the water level dipped to 1,039.77 feet above sea level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, well below the previous record low set in July 2022.

At the time the water levels dipped in the summer of 2022, several discoveries of human remains garnered national media attention. In May 2022, boaters spotted a metal barrel that ended up containing human remains. A shirt and belt were still visible on the remains, according to the couple who found it.

The body was found near Hemenway Harbor, which is just a couple of miles south of Boulder Beach.

The man in the barrel was found to have been shot and was declared a homicide victim. The remains were believed to be from the 1980s, police said. The remains have still not been identified, though police released a composite image of what he may have looked like in November 2023.

The barrel was just one of a number of discoveries of remains in Lake Mead that year. On three dates in July and August 2022, human remains were found in the Boulder Beach area. Those were later identified as the same person, Claude Russell Pensinger, who disappeared in July 1998, according to the Clark County medical examiner. His cause of death was not determined.

Human remains found on May 7, 2022, in Callville Bay, just days after the body was found in the barrel, were later identified as Thomas Erndt, who had drowned in 2002, according to the medical examiner. The remains of another drowning victim, Donald Smith, who was believed to have drowned in 1974, were found in October 2022.

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM PBS

CLIMATE CHANGE MAY BE MAKING US LONELIER. HOW HEAT WAVES AND EXTREME WEATHER DISRUPT SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

Health Aug 9, 2026 2:23 PM EDT

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors.

They're also evidence of how climate change isn't just changing the environments we all live in, but also impeding our ability to connect with one another.

Around the world, social connection is increasingly recognized as essential to individual and collective well-being. It keeps our brains active and can lower stress levels. During emergencies, social ties can also save lives. Relationships are conduits for timely information sharing, mutual aid and collective action. When temperatures soar, friends and neighbors share heat warnings, check on older adults or other community members who may need help, and coordinate community cooling shelters when formal systems are overwhelmed.

Yet, the effects of climate change may be weakening the very social fabric that helps communities thrive.

As extreme weather becomes more common and disruptive, the effects can impair relationships, interrupt routines and communication, and damage gathering places and the foundations of community traditions.

As an assistant professor of social work at the University of Tennessee, I study converging social and environmental crises, including social disconnection and extreme weather. I've found that one of climate change's most overlooked impacts may be its ability to worsen the continuing loneliness epidemic.

Studies show the amount of time Americans spent interacting with friends and family in person was declining even before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down a lot of social interaction starting in 2020. My team's recent research in rural Appalachia has found several ways that extreme weather is further hindering social activities.

EXTREME WEATHER KEEPS PEOPLE APART

Extreme heat has dominated global headlines this summer. When outdoor temperatures become dangerous, people retreat indoors to stay in air conditioning or near electric fans. This can come with a social cost.

"I don't remember it being this hot growing up," one 28-year-old social worker told my research team. "People don't want to leave their house if it's that hot. People don't want to go to community events and be out in the community."

Severe storms and flooding can make travel unsafe or impossible, preventing people from leaving their homes, reaching family or attending social gatherings. These disruptions can erode the everyday interactions that help people feel connected.

Power outages sever communication

Extreme weather can also cut off the communication channels that help people stay connected. Severe storms, flooding, winter weather and extreme heat are all associated with power outages, which can leave residents without electricity, sometimes for weeks.

Electricity failures are often coupled with internet and cellular service interruptions, hindering communication via text messaging, phone calls, social media and email at precisely the time it's needed most.

As one 74-year-old rural resident explained to my team: "We're so isolated. We do not have any cellphone service other than through Wi-Fi. So when the power's out, we have no cellphone service … without your phone, you really lose all your connections."

THE LOSS OF SHARED PLACES AND TRADITIONS

Another way climate change can weaken social connection is by altering places and traditions that hold cultural and community significance.

I witnessed this firsthand when Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hit my hometown of Cherry Valley, New York, in 2011. After floodwaters broke the dike, a treasured community place known as "the reservoir" – a small lake where families swam and picnicked – was emptied, leaving our rural community without one of its few gathering spaces.

In my team's Appalachian study, residents described how an extreme drought paired with prolonged heat affected places where people gather, share traditions and maintain connections across generations.

Water levels in lakes and rivers dropped too low for recreation, wildfires swept through the Wayne National Forest, and crop losses meant fewer of the region's beloved pawpaw fruit when the annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival arrived.

A 68-year-old resident told us: "I look around and it's just absolutely horrible. Our streams have gone dry. I had a friend drop off some pawpaws the other night and pitiful … nothing like what normally drops. It's really bad and I suspect this is going to continue. We've got to figure something out."

This kind of degradation of cherished places and traditions can threaten shared experiences that help communities stay connected.

THESE DISASTERS OFTEN OVERLAP

These fractures of social connection often overlap as communities face increasingly frequent co-occurring weather events. A severe storm, for instance, may trigger flooding and power outages during a heat wave, disrupting transportation and communication during dangerously hot temperatures.

Over time, frequent and consecutive weather hazards can weaken relationships by limiting mobility and social engagement.

People who are already socially isolated, including older adults and those living in rural areas or lacking reliable transportation and internet access, are often most vulnerable. Climate change and extreme weather can leave them even more isolated.

KEEPING SOCIAL CONNECTION AMID DISASTERS

As global temperatures rise, driven in large part by the burning of fossil fuels, climate change increasingly affects daily life. Social connection is crucial, both for responding to extreme weather and for working together to help the entire community adapt to a changing climate.

One promising way forward is for cities and counties to invest in community hubs, such as public libraries, or create new gathering spaces across communities.

These spaces can bolster social connection year-round by hosting inclusive lifelong learning activities while also serving as cooling shelters and climate resilience hubs, providing resources to help residents prepare for disasters, phone-charging stations when power goes out elsewhere, and an internet connection.

In an era of accelerating climate disruption, social connection may be a community's greatest asset, and yet one of its most fragile resources to protect.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM AI OVERVIEW

WHAT WAS THE WORST HEATWAVE IN HUMAN HISTORY?

The 2003 European heatwave is widely considered the worst and deadliest heatwave in modern human history. Exceptionally high temperatures-surpassing 40 °C (104 °F) in many areas-engulfed the continent during July and August 2003, resulting in an estimated 70,000 fatalities, with France suffering the highest death toll.

Other Historically Devastating Heatwaves

· Russian Heatwave (2010):

A severe, prolonged drought and record-high temperatures triggered massive wildfires and heavy smog, causing approximately 56,000 deaths.

· European Drought and Heat (1540): Historical reconstructions suggest an extraordinary 11-month megadrought and heatwave across central Europe that may have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, though exact ancient death tolls remain difficult to verify.

Sky HISTORY TV channel +1

· North American Heatwave (1936): Part of the Dust Bowl era, this brutal summer killed roughly 5,000 people across the United States and Canada amid widespread crop failure.

Wikipedia +1

· Chinese Heatwave (1743): Contemporary accounts report temperatures reaching 44.4 °C (111.9 °F) in Beijing, leading to an estimated 11,000 deaths.

The 2003 European heat wave is widely considered the deadliest heat wave in human history, resulting in an estimated 72,000 fatalities across the continent. While the World Health Organization also highlights other catastrophic events—such as the 2010 Russian heat wave that claimed 56,000 lives—the 2003 European crisis remains the benchmark for extreme heat disasters due to its massive scale and profound societal impact. [1, 2, 3]

THE 2003 EUROPEAN HEAT WAVE: A CLOSER LOOK

The summer of 2003 brought the hottest weather recorded in Europe since at least 1540. A persistent high-pressure system, combined with hot continental air masses and warm Atlantic waters, trapped scorching heat over Western Europe for weeks, peaking in July and August. [1]

[ Deadliest Heat Waves in Modern History ]

┌─────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┐

│ Event │ Estimated Deaths │

├─────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────┤

│ 2003 European Heat Wave │ ~72,000 │

│ 2022 European Summer Heat │ ~61,600 │

│ 2010 Russian Heat Wave │ ~56,000 │

│ 1901 Eastern U.S. Heat Wave │ ~9,500 │

└─────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────┘

Why Was It So Deadly?

· Lack of Preparedness: Unlike regions accustomed to tropical weather, Western Europe historically enjoyed a temperate maritime climate. Air conditioning was rare in homes, hospitals, and retirement facilities. [, 2, 3]

· Vulnerable Demographics: The vast majority of victims were elderly citizens, the chronically ill, or socially isolated individuals. [1, 2]

· The "Nighttime Effect": Temperatures remained exceptionally high during the nights, preventing human bodies from cooling down and recovering from daytime stress. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

· Institutional Lag: The disaster struck in August, a traditional holiday month in Europe when many doctors were on vacation and family members were away, leaving elderly relatives unattended. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Country-by-Country Impact

· Italy: Suffered the highest overall toll, with approximately 20,000 deaths.

· France: Sustained around 15,000 to 19,000 fatalities. Paris was the epicenter of the French crisis; hospital emergency rooms overflowed, and temporary refrigerated tents had to be used as mortuaries because city facilities ran out of space.

· Spain & Germany: Experienced 13,000 and 9,500 deaths respectively.

· Portugal: Recorded an all-time peak temperature of 47.3°C (117.1°F). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Environmental and Economic Toll

Beyond the human cost, the heat wave triggered severe environmental damage. Alpine glaciers shrank by roughly 10%. Unprecedented droughts and wildfires scorched forests across Portugal and Spain, while widespread crop failures cost the European agricultural sector an estimated 13.1 billion euros. Furthermore, low river levels and high water temperatures forced France to shut down several nuclear power plants because they could no longer safely cool their reactors. [1, 2, 3]

The Legacy of 2003

The 2003 disaster served as a massive wake-up call for global public health. It prompted European governments to build robust heat health action plans, including early warning networks, mandatory cooling centers in municipal buildings, and active tracking systems for vulnerable citizens during summer spikes. [1, 2, 3]

If you would like to explore this topic further, please tell me if you want to know about how scientists attribute heat waves to climate change, or if you want to compare 2003 to more recent record-breaking European summers. [1, 2, 3]

AI Mode Conversation: What was the worst heatwave in human history? Describe the 2010 Russian heat wave

What was the worst heatwave in human history? Describe the 2010 Russian heat wave

The 2003 European heatwave and the 2010 Russian heatwave share the record for the worst heatwaves in human history based on mortality, with the Guinness World Records officially recognizing the 2010 Russian event as the deadliest single heatwave ever recorded. Both events resulted in catastrophic loss of life, with the 2003 European heatwave claiming roughly 70,000 lives across the continent and the 2010 Russian heatwave causing approximately 55,000 to 56,000 excess deaths nationwide. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The 2010 Russian Heatwave

From late June through mid-August 2010, Western Russia experienced the most intense, prolonged, and destructive heatwave in its recorded history. Temperatures in regions accustomed to mild summers soared 8°C to 12°C (14°F to 22°F) above normal seasonal averages. [1, 2, 3]

1. Meteorological Cause

The disaster was triggered by a massive atmospheric phenomenon known as an "omega block" or "blocking high". A powerful system of high pressure became locked over Western Russia, completely stalling the normal eastward movement of weather systems. This trapped hot air from Africa and the Middle East over the region for more than 40 consecutive days, preventing cooler air masses or rain from entering. [1, 2, 3, 4]

2. Temperature Extremes

· Moscow: The capital city repeatedly smashed records, peaking at an all-time high of 39°C (102°F).

· National Record: The highest temperature ever reliably recorded in Russia occurred during this event on July 11, 2010, when the mercury hit 44.0°C (111.2°F) in the southern Republic of Kalmykia. [1, 2]

3. Widespread Wildfires and Smog [1]

The extreme heat combined with a severe drought to transform forests and dried peat bogs into tinderboxes. Hundreds of wildfires broke out across Western Russia, enveloping Moscow and surrounding provinces in a thick, toxic blanket of yellow smog. Carbon monoxide levels in major cities rose to six times the maximum permissible limit, drastically reducing visibility and making the air highly hazardous to breathe. [1, 2, 3, 4]

4. The Human and Health Toll

The compounding factors of persistent extreme daytime heat, a lack of overnight cooling, and suffocating air pollution created a severe public health crisis. [1]

· Excess Mortality: The majority of the 55,000–56,000 fatalities occurred due to heatstroke, acute respiratory failure, and cardiovascular complications aggravated by the smog. In Moscow alone, the daily death rate temporarily doubled from its baseline. [1, 3]

· Spike in Drownings: Desperate to cool down, thousands of citizens flocked to local rivers and lakes. A combination of unsupervised swimming and heavy alcohol consumption unfortunately led to more than 1,200 drowning deaths in June alone. [1, 2]

5. Economic and Agricultural Impact

The heatwave triggered Russia's worst drought in roughly 40 years. It destroyed over 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of crops, which constituted about 20% of the country’s total wheat harvest. The devastating agricultural failure forced the Russian government to issue an immediate ban on grain exports, which temporarily disrupted global food prices. Total economic damage from the disaster was estimated at $15 billion USD, translating to a loss of roughly 1% to 1.4% of Russia's GDP. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM AI OVERVIEW

HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED IN HEATWAVE 2026?

Tens of thousands of people have died from heat-related and excess mortality causes during the record-breaking 2026 European heatwaves. Early summer estimates cite nearly 12,000 heat-related deaths in Germany alone, over 5,700 in France, and thousands more across the UK, Spain, Italy, and Belgium.

Country Breakdown (Estimates and Excess Deaths)

· Germany: Nearly 12,000 heat deaths reported by health institutes mid-summer.

· France: Over 5,700 fatalities estimated during early summer heat spikes.

· Spain: Approximately 3,000 deaths tied to extreme temperatures.

· Belgium & Netherlands: Around 1,700 to 2,000 excess deaths recorded locally.

· United Kingdom

Thousands of excess deaths and record A&E strain during persistent heat peaks.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM TELEGRAPH U.K.

THIS SUMMER ISN’T AS BAD AS THE DROUGHT OF 1976

The River Thames was exceptionally low during the 1976 drought

By Matt Oliver, Theo Horch and Jonathan Leake

After the driest July on record and an August that has so far scarcely been better, the drought gripping more than 70 per cent of England is inviting comparisons to 1976.
That year, months of persistent hot weather and sparse rainfall left rivers, groundwater and reservoir resources dangerously parched. In response, some local water boards switched off household supplies and forced people to fill buckets at street standpipes.
Catherine Fish was only five at the time but remembers “lots of ladybirds”, as well as signs her school handed out to take home and put in the lavatory: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
Things are thankfully not that bad now – partly thanks to resilience measures the Government introduced following the drought that year.

It’s how quickly these events occur that is worrying scientists.
“On paper, 1976 was much more severe than today,” says Dr Katie Facer-Childs, of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
“But although that was longer, what we’re finding today is we’re getting to the same levels with worrying speed.”

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM DOWNTOEARTH.ORG

WILDFIRES HAVE DESTROYED AN AREA OF PROTECTED TROPICAL FOREST TWICE THE SIZE OF WALES GLOBALLY SINCE 2001, STUDY REVEALS

The vast majority of the destruction — around 89 per cent — occurred in the tropical Americas, particularly in Brazil

Published on: 16 Aug 2026, 7:12 am

· More than four million hectares of protected tropical forest — an area twice the size of Wales — has been destroyed by wildfires since 2001, according to the most detailed global assessment of its kind

· The rate of destruction inside protected areas is around nine times higher since 2016

· Protected status does reduce the chances of wildfires in most of the regions studied, but does not shield forests from the worldwide trend of worsening wildfire activity

· Researchers from the University of Sheffield say protected area planning must now factor in future wildfire risk if these measures are to remain effective as the impact of climate change intensifies

Over four million hectares of protected tropical forest — an area double the size of Wales — have been lost to wildfires since 2001.

Accelerating at an alarming rate, this destruction threatens sanctuaries once thought safe, according to a new University of Sheffield study.

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, is the first to assess in detail how much protected tropical forest has been lost to wildfires worldwide, and whether protected status actually reduces the risk of forests burning.

Researchers combined satellite wildfire data with maps of more than 9,700 protected areas across the tropics, tracking forest losses between 2001 and 2024.

They found that wildfire-driven destruction of protected tropical forests is not only substantial, but accelerating. The annual area burned inside protected areas has been roughly nine times higher since 2016 compared to previous years, with nearly a third of all 24-year losses occurring in 2024 alone.

The vast majority of the destruction — around 89 per cent — occurred in the tropical Americas, particularly in Brazil, which alone accounted for almost two-thirds of global losses. Bolivia and Indonesia also recorded substantial losses.

To test whether protection actually makes a difference, the researchers compared protected forest plots with very similar unprotected plots nearby, matched for factors known to influence wildfire risk, such as temperature, rainfall, how many people live in the area, and how much forest surrounds it. This allowed them to isolate the effect of protection itself, rather than other factors that might explain why some forests burn and others don’t.

The results were mixed but broadly encouraging: protected areas were less likely to burn than comparable unprotected forest in around half of all plots studied in the Americas, rising to around seven in ten plots in Africa. However, when the researchers looked at how wildfire activity has changed over time, they found protected and unprotected forests were following almost identical trends, meaning that as wildfire activity worsens across a region, protected areas are being swept up in that increase just as much as unprotected land.

Christopher Bousfield, Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, said: “Protected areas help reduce wildfire risk, but they offer no guarantee of safety as climate change intensifies. Because most tropical fires are human-caused, safeguarding these forests requires active collaboration with local communities and landowners to prevent both deliberate land-clearing fires and accidental escapes into protected regions.”

The researchers emphasise that protected areas are still one of our best tools for saving tropical forests, wildlife, and stored carbon. However, rather than treating wildfires as a separate issue, park planners must now build fire prevention directly into their conservation plans — especially as climate change and extreme weather events like El Niño make fires more frequent and intense.

The study draws on high-resolution satellite data capable of detecting forest loss at a 30-metre resolution, allowing researchers to distinguish stand destroying from smaller, lower-intensity fires that can damage and degrade but do not necessarily destroy forest. Because of this, the researchers say their figures are likely to be a conservative estimate of the true scale of fire damage in protected tropical forest

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM CNN

EUROPE’S ECONOMY FACES A ONE-TWO PUNCH FROM EXTREME WEATHER AND WAR

By Hanna Ziady, Anna Cooban Aug 14, 2026

London —

Nuclear power plants idled. Crops harvested at 3 a.m. Iconic tourist attractions shuttered early.

Soaring temperatures are forcing drastic measures in Europe, where successive heatwaves are straining an economy already under pressure from US tariffs, Chinese competition and higher energy prices because of the Iran war.

Romania’s state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica started disconnecting its sole operational reactor from the power grid Thursday because of record-low water levels in the Danube, crucial for cooling its equipment, the company confirmed to CNN. The country has declared a state of energy emergency throughout August and asked businesses and households to voluntarily reduce consumption, Reuters reported.

Elsewhere, France and Hungary have had to curtail nuclear power due to low river levels and high temperatures. Drought conditions are also fueling devastating, costly wildfires and reducing crop yields, threatening to push up food prices.

Europe’s sweltering summer could cost the economy €180 billion ($208 billion) this year, or 1% of GDP – roughly the entire expected economic growth of the European Union, according to an estimate by Netherlands-based Triodos Bank. “Lower labor productivity is likely to have the largest economic impact, alongside disruptions to agriculture, energy and transport,” the bank said in a report this month.

Swaths of Europe are enduring their fifth heatwave of the year this week, with parts of Britain, France, Spain and Italy under extreme heat warnings. The latest scorcher comes after Western Europe recorded its hottest June and July on record, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitor. In Paris, extreme heat prompted the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre to close early on some days.

While some analysts doubt the heat will have a sizeable impact on economic growth this year, pointing to improved business confidence in July and increased GDP in the first half, hot weather is not the only economic threat.

Europeans also face the prospect of hikes to their energy bills this winter, as natural gas prices climb. The price of benchmark natural gas futures traded near their highest levels since the start of the Iran war this week, and almost twice as high as the same time last year.

The war in the Middle East has made cargoes more scarce and, in turn, more expensive, raising the prospects of another energy crunch. Blistering heat has also raised demand for air conditioning, driving up natural gas consumption at a time when stores need to be refilled ahead of winter.

“The EU natural gas market is vulnerable looking ahead to peak winter demand,” Kieran Tompkins, senior climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics wrote in a note earlier this month. “Storage levels are the lowest for this point in the year for over a decade.”

DRY RIVERS, OVERNIGHT FARMING

The Danube is not the only critical European waterway drying out as a result of a prolonged drought.

In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, record-low water levels in the Rhine – an important transport route for industrial goods such as steel and chemicals – could shave 0.3 percentage points off the country’s GDP growth this year, according to economists at pan-European bank ING. That would be a heavy blow for an economy growing at less than 1% a year.

BASF, the German chemicals giant, said it may be unable to fulfil orders of some chemical compounds because the Rhine’s low water levels have restricted the supply of certain key raw materials.

“We are… shifting volumes to alternative modes of transport such as trucks and rail,” the company told CNN, noting that it was also using a greater number of vessels specifically designed to navigate shallow waters. A number of German states have temporarily suspended Sunday driving bans for trucks in an emergency effort to mitigate supply chain disruption.

The European Commission said earlier this year that EU member states should be investing about €70 billion ($81 billion) per year to 2050 in climate adaptation — spending that could boost economies but will also pile pressure on strained government budgets.

Some companies have already started adapting in innovative ways. In England, a notoriously rainy part of the world, family-owned Rookery Farm is harvesting its crop at 3 a.m. to ensure it has sufficient moisture content.

“Harvest is no longer just about dodging the rain – we’re now adapting to crops that can become too dry, meaning more night-time harvesting to meet the quality standards our customers require,” farmer Eleanor Gilbert said in a video posted to Instagram.

HIGH ENERGY PRICES AHEAD

As Europe grapples with successive heatwaves, it also faces the prospects of a winter energy crunch. Gas storage levels across the EU were 59% full on Tuesday, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe — well below the average for this time of year and on par with levels seen during summer 2021, when Russia had begun restricting exports to the continent.

“I’m really concerned,” Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said of the EU’s ability to replenish diminished stocks.

“There have been very few cargoes… exiting the Strait of Hormuz. All of them are going to Asia,” she told CNN.

Summer is primetime in Europe for stocking up on gas before the colder winter months, when prices are often considerably higher. Yet the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively shut, choking off one fifth of the world’s supply of liquefied natural gas — a liquid form of the fuel carried by tankers.

Remaining cargoes, such as those from the United States, are also more likely to head for Asia than Europe, say analysts, because demand there is particularly strong and buyers are stumping up more.

But this is “not a ’22 crisis,” said Christoph Halser, senior analyst of gas and LNG research at Rystad Energy, referring to that year’s historic price spikes in Europe following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since then, the continent has greatly reduced its imports of Moscow’s gas — the bulk of which arrived via pipelines — as well as reduced its overall consumption.

“Gas demand in Europe today is roughly 20% lower than, let’s say, in 2021,” Halser told CNN.

Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president of gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie, is also confident that Europe will avoid a dire scenario of energy shortages and blackouts.

The risk of shortages are “overstated” he said, adding that the region has the means to “buy itself out” of any such predicament.

Still, prices are unnervingly elevated.

The price of Europe’s benchmark natural gas contract settled at €61 ($70) per megawatt hour on Wednesday, well above the €32 ($37) logged on the same day in 2025, according to Intercontinental Exchange data.

During the winter, “Europe should be really worried about a situation where the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t open because this could certainly result in prices being extremely high,” Di Odoardo said.

Elina Baudier Kim contributed reporting from Paris.

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM GUK

COPING WITH 54C HEAT: DELHI SLUM DIARIES DETAIL LIVING IN EXTREME TEMPERATURES

With heatwaves now recognised as disasters, personal testimonies are key to a new project that looks to protect those living in the most cramped districts of India’s capital

Mon 17 Aug 2026 00.00 EDT

Every summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. She washes the floor of her one-room home several times so it cools a little for her four children to sleep on. Last summer, the family saved enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evaporation as a cheaper alternative to air conditioning.

The family uses the appliance cautiously to save on energy costs. But even when it is on, Gulshan, who does not use a surname, has to dampen everyone’s clothes before sleeping. The 39-year-old and her children now have rashes and one has a skin infection from the wet cloth against their skin.

This summer, Gulshan started jotting down these coping strategies in a garmi khata, or heat registry. “I feel relieved that at least somebody might read my family’s experiences,” she says.

They are one of 40 households in Sunder Nagri, a slum in north-east Delhi, documenting their experiences of surviving the city’s increasingly longer and more frequent heatwaves.

Over the last few years, cities across India have begun drawing up heat action plans – agreements formulated by a municipality or district administration on how to prepare for and respond to extreme heat.

While some incorporate data such as satellite-derived land surface temperatures to identify heat hotspots, there are still significant gaps in information on people, making it difficult to understand how heat is experienced differently across communities.

Aravind Unni, an urban planner and researcher in Delhi, says: “Experiences of heat are vastly different depending on geography, income, occupation, gender, caste, class.

“While we have some meteorological data on heat, what’s absolutely missing is people, community – what they feel, what they experience.”

Most data collated in heat planning is usually just meteorological, such as air temperatures and heatwave thresholds.. The idea for the heat diaries was to “move beyond just the numbers”, says Nibedita Saha, a Greenpeace India researcher who worked on the project.

Aakiz Farooq, a senior campaigner at the group, says the team contemplated how best to encapsulate experiences and thought: “What if they become their own storytellers, they write their own evidence, they write their own testimonies?”

Arshi, 19, who lives in one room with five other family members, is a distance-learning student at Delhi University. She also works at home making decorative tassels for trucks.

She makes about 150 rupees (£1.17) working with her mother and sister for a day. “Sometimes I go to the college library just to sit in the air-conditioned space for a while. But I have to come back home so I can help my sister and mother,” she says. These experiences are part of Arshi’s diary.

The diaries, which ask about daily routines, work, home, mood and families, are intended to serve as comprehensive journals of residents’ daily lives.

Arshi’s small brick house is extremely humid, and while the temperatures are lower after rain, the combination of heat and humidity means everyone is sweating profusely.

The ambient air temperature insideis 29.3C (85F), but with relative humidity at 84.6%, the “feels-like” temperature is 36.3C (97F).

Raja, a 21-year-old street vendor, experiences temperatures as high as 45C during peak summer months as he sells vegetables from his pushcart. The fresh produce spoils quickly, leading to losses, and he has noticed a drastic drop in numbers of people on the street, which also reduces his income.

Every night, he returns to a home with limited ventilation and no cooling source beyond a ceiling fan. As the gap between day and night temperatures narrows year after year in Delhi, people in homes such as Raja’s get no respite, even after the sun sets. “I started sleeping out on the roof in May so I could feel some air,” he says.

Workers such as Raja, Unni says, could be better protected by public policy if the state knew of their experiences at a micro-level and establish systems to provide compensation.

When Sunder Nagri’s residents set out to map heat indices within their neighbourhood, they found that some streets, including where Raja sells vegetables, reflected temperatures on the ground of more than 54C (129F). The residents are attempting to find pragmatic solutions, such as shade, water sources or increased greenery.

This summer, satellite analysis found striking differences across Delhi. For instance, an analysis by the news magazine India Today found an average land-surface temperature of nearly 44C in the south-west district of Mahipalpur, by the airport, compared with about 37C just 2 miles (3km) away in the leafy, upmarket suburb of Vasant Kunj.

Unni feels the diaries and community heat mapping can help form urban resilience policy, but says a big stumbling block is that “Indian cities do not have the administrative capacity or infrastructure to have decentralised action”.

The diaries have now been submitted to India’s National Human Rights Commission, urging it to recognise extreme heat as a human rights issue and recommend measures to protect people.

Farooq says the team also plans to share the testimonies with ministries, policymakers and MPs to push for more targeted measures to protect people from extreme heat.

He says they are also working to develop the testimonies into evidence of impacts and injuries that could be used for lawsuits to increase accountability, given the supreme court’s 2024 ruling that protection from the most adverse impacts of the climate crisis forms part of the right to life.

On 4 August, India’s government added heatwaves to the list of nationally notified disasters, allowing states to access emergency relief funds.

Unni and Farooq say it “would be ideal” if the decision meant funds could support local action guided by community participation.

Arshi also feels more hopeful after the new guidelines. “Even if the government sees something as small as our rising medical and electricity costs and tries to help with that, it would feel like a win for me. At least they would have seen what we are going through,” she says.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM GLOBALISSUES.ORG

AS MONGOLIA HOSTS COP17, PASTORALISTS DEMAND SPACE TO MOVE, SURVIVE AND RESTORE

by Kizito Makoye (dar es salaam, tanzania)

Monday, August 17, 2026

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, August 17 (IPS) - After moving more than 6,000 km across Eurasia, the Silk Road Caravan has reached Mongolia with stories from pastoralists whose livelihoods are increasingly threatened by drought, degraded land and shrinking access to grazing areas.

Since leaving Türkiye in May, the thud of horse hooves has echoed through landscapes in the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China. Along the way, its riders met pastoralists adapting to a harsher climate and deteriorating rangelands. Now their experiences have converged in Ulaanbaatar, where the caravan’s final leg coincides with the opening of COP17 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Governments, scientists, financial institutions, businesses and civil society have gathered there to address the pressures on the world’s drylands.

The journey has brought an old question into the spotlight: can global efforts to restore rangelands succeed without the knowledge of the people who have managed them for generations?

For centuries, caravans travelling the ancient Silk Road carried goods, ideas and cultures between distant civilisations. This one has carried stories of communities trying to keep up their land productive and their livelihoods intact as drought and degradation spread across drylands from Eurasia to Africa.

Its arrival on the eve of COP17 highlights the conference’s challenge of turning commitments to land restoration into action on the ground.

LAND DEGRADATION

Land degradation and drought cost the global economy USD 900 billion annually and affect 40% of the world’s land and 3.2 billion people. Droughts have increased by almost one-third since 2000 and generate at least USD 300 billion in annual losses, according to UN data.

For Tanzania’s pastoralist communities, Neema Seki, an Indigenous women and youth advocate connected to the Pastoralist Women’s Council, urged world leaders in Ulaanbaatar to guarantee land security for pastoral communities.

“The most rapidly changing aspect is access to land. This by implication affects everything else in pastoral livelihoods. Without land tenure security, livestock health is impacted, mobility is affected, and family food security is affected,” she told IPS.

Her warning is central to the COP17 debate as land degradation increasingly threatens pastoralist women’s rights, livelihoods and mobility.

“In a pastoralist setting, women play a significant role that is oftentimes not stated. If livestock health deteriorates, women are mostly responsible for feeding them, bringing water from far distances to water the ailing or weak livestock,” Seki said.

She added that restrictions on pastoral livelihoods can also create a gendered burden that national climate and conservation policies rarely capture.

“Another aspect is a reality that when the pastoral livelihoods are dismantled by restrictions on access to resources, women oftentimes remain in the land to suffer while men are able to go into cities to look for work while women remain with children at home.”

That experience is echoed thousands of kilometres away in Niger, where Abarchi Harouna, a pastoralist leader with the association Nodde Nooto and co-chair of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists for West and Central Africa, argues that mobility itself is an environmental management tool.

“Mobility is essential to pastoralism because it allows livestock keepers to search for water, pasture and salt wherever they are available,” Harouna told IPS.

For nomadic pastoralists such as Tanzania’s Maasai, restricting traditional migration corridors directly affects livelihoods.

“When governments restrict access to traditional routes and water points, nomadic pastoralists are deprived of pasture, water and salt,” he said.

“This can lead to a pastoral crisis, with significant livestock deaths and even conflicts between farmers and herders.”

RELEVANCE IN MONGOLIA

Similar pressures are evident in Mongolia, where pastoralism is key to the economy, yet nearly 77 percent of the country’s land suffers from degradation. Rangelands cover about 70 percent of its territory and support the livelihoods of roughly one-third of the population, leaving pastoral communities exposed to climate shocks.

Rangelands cover 54% of the Earth’s land surface, support about 2 billion people and provide nearly 70% of global livestock feed and one-sixth of the world’s food. Yet up to half are degraded, particularly in dry regions facing mounting climate pressures.

Harouna challenges a persistent narrative that pastoralism itself is responsible for land degradation.

“Livestock keepers are never responsible for land degradation. This narrative is incorrect. Livestock mobility ensures the health of pastures.”

He points instead to the ecological functions performed by mobile herds.

“Animals carry the seeds of grasses and woody plants from one place to another, thereby enriching biological diversity.”

Manure, he said, fertilises soils, while trampling can loosen compacted ground.

“The knowledge of livestock keepers helps governments and all stakeholders restore degraded land and improve resilience to climate change.

For Seki, a similar knowledge system exists in Tanzania but is increasingly undermined by government policies.

“One of the greatest traditional knowledge practices by pastoralists which is being wrongly discouraged by government policies is pastoral mobility,” she said.

The implications extend to a younger generation that, despite the pressures, has not necessarily abandoned pastoralism.

“Young pastoralists still see pastoralism as the best livelihood system. They are, however, daily confronting the ugliness caused by state-restrictive policies and the climate crisis,” Seki said.

THE ECONOMICS OF WAITING

COP17 organisers are seeking to frame restoration not just as an environmental obligation but also as an economic investment.

The conference estimates that about USD 355 billion is needed every year to combat land degradation and drought, compared with the current investment of roughly USD 77 billion. That leaves an annual financing gap of USD 278 billion.

The private sector currently contributes only around six percent of global finance for land restoration and drought resilience.

Closing that gap will be central to the negotiations.

The conference will explore ways of reducing investment risks and encouraging businesses, financial institutions and governments to finance regenerative landscapes. An initiative linked to the COP has recorded commitments of more than USD 9 billion across more than 210 million hectares.

The argument for investment is strengthened by the potential returns: every dollar invested in drought resilience can generate returns of up to USD 10, while some nature-based solutions can generate benefits many times their cost.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad has described the challenge bluntly: “The world does not lack solutions; the challenge is taking them to scale.”

FROM COMMITMENTS TO MEASURABLE RESULTS

Mongolia’s Prime Minister N. Uchral has called for a shift “from talk to action, from targets to implementation, and from commitments to measurable results”.

The conference comes at a time when multilateral cooperation faces pressure and the world’s environmental crises grow increasingly interconnected. Land degradation affects food production. Drought intensifies water insecurity. Loss of vegetation contributes to biodiversity decline. Livelihood losses can drive migration and deepen competition over scarce resources.

As the first of the three Rio Convention COPs being held in 2026, COP17 offers an opportunity to connect land policy with negotiations on biodiversity and climate change later in the year.

It is also taking place during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, giving pastoral communities a prominent place in the global policy calendar.

Seki argues that women and young people should be recognised as custodians of knowledge and resources.

“Women and young people play a great role in the pastoral system. This role extends to forest stewardship and resource management.”

Yet, she said, traditional knowledge often gets sidelined.

“Both women and young people are discouraged by state policies and conservation policies from using traditional knowledge for ecology and nature sustainability.”

COP17’s agenda includes a proposed policy framework on rangelands and pastoralists and the launch of a Rangelands Flagship Initiative aimed at attracting long-term investment into sustainable rangeland management and pastoral livelihoods.

For Harouna, restrictions on livestock mobility potentially affect agriculture, pastoral production and the environment. He warns that declining soil fertility could trigger dismal crop yields, while degraded grazing areas could foster invasive pests, consequently affecting livestock and reducing milk and meat supplies.

EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE

The Silk Road Caravan’s final journey across Mongolia will take participants from the Gobi Desert to the country’s central forests and grasslands. They are expected to meet nomadic herder families, researchers, local authorities and pastoral cooperatives and visit restoration projects.

The challenge for delegates is to ensure the caravan’s lessons continue beyond the conference.

For dryland communities in Tanzania, Niger and Mongolia, restoration can determine whether livestock survive, families remain on their land, food production continues and ecosystems endure.

As the conference opens under the theme “Restoring Land. Restoring Hope”, its success may depend on whether the afflicted communities living on vulnerable landscapes receive the space, resources and recognition they need to restore and manage them.

IPS UN Bureau Report

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM UNDP.ORG

RESTORING LAND

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

17–28 August

Land is where many of today’s environmental challenges meet. Healthy soils store carbon, produce food, sustain biodiversity and support the livelihoods of billions of people.

Yet this foundation is under growing strain. Up to 40 percent of the world's land is degraded, and the consequences are being felt through food insecurity, water scarcity, migration and economic instability.

Addressing land degradation is not only about restoring ecosystems. It is about protecting livelihoods and ensuring that communities facing increasing environmental pressures have the tools and resources they need to steward the land sustainably.

That challenge is at the centre of discussions from 17 to 28 August, when governments, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, youth and the private sector gather in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for COP17 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Conference focuses on the interconnected challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, and how restoring land can build resilience and reduce vulnerability but also enhance economic stability, national security and development.

Mongolia’s own experience reflects the growing strain on the world’s natural ecosystems: nearly 77 percent of the country's territory has been affected by degradation. But just as striking as the scale of the challenge is the opportunity it presents. Restoring 150 million hectares of degraded land (an area roughly the size of Canada) could generate up to US$40 billion additional annual income for smallholder farmers while helping feed 200 million people.

Unlocking this kind of potential will require investment. As host of COP17, Mongolia is advancing the Steppe Action Agenda, a global initiative to mobilize more than $1 billion to support integrated action across landscapes. But turning restoration ambitions into reality will depend on closing a significant financing gap and ensuring that resources reach the communities and landscapes most in need.

Over the past decade, countries have committed to restoring 1 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030, and more than 70 countries have developed or are developing national drought plans. COP17 is a key moment to reach even higher and move quickly from planning to action, with finance for land restoration and drought resilience among the issues shaping the agenda.

Beyond drought resilience and land restoration, COP17 shines a spotlight on communities that most depend on healthy land. Herders and livestock farmers are taking centre stage as the Conference coincides with the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Rangelands sustain more than 500 million people and cover around half of the Earth’s land surface. Roughly half are already degraded or at risk.

As part of its mandate, the Convention addresses the links between land degradation and social challenges, including gender equality, youth engagement and migration. COP17 advances this commitment to a more inclusive approach to land governance, becoming the first UNCCD Conference to include both an Indigenous Peoples Caucus and a Local Communities Caucus.

Looking beyond the current decade, one of the key goals of COP17 is to shape the Convention’s future strategic framework, the roadmap that will define how global efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought continue after 2030.

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM UNCCD

The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be hosted by Mongolia in its capital city, Ulaanbaatar, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.

COP17 is expected to bring together delegates from UNCCD’s 197 Parties, alongside leaders from government, business and civil society, as well as scientists, youth, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and smallholder farmers. They will convene to forge solutions to the interconnected challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, recognizing that restoring land is also essential to reducing instability, preventing displacement and strengthening human and national security in vulnerable regions.

“Land is our most vital infrastructure — underpinning food security, water, livelihoods and stability. When land fails, insecurity rises — through lost livelihoods, forced displacement and increased competition over scarce resources. With UNCCD COP17, Mongolia is offering the world a powerful message: Restoring Land, Restoring Hope is not only an environmental agenda, but a development and resilience priority. As drought intensifies and land degradation accelerates, the conference must drive practical, investable solutions — from restoring degraded land and soils to strengthening the land–water nexus — so that communities can thrive,” said UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad.

Land degradation is already affecting up to 40 per cent of the world’s land, with far-reaching impacts on food production, water availability, livelihoods and economic stability. COP17 offers a pivotal moment for countries and partners to strengthen implementation and mobilize greater investment in drought resilience and sustainable land management.

With a vast territory of 1.56 million square kilometers, Mongolia is among the countries most affected by desertification and land degradation, with nearly 77 per cent of its land already degraded. Hosting UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar will place international focus on land restoration priorities, including approaches that safeguard livelihoods, food security and ecosystems in dryland regions.

COP17 is taking place during the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026(, declared by the United Nations General Assembly and championed by Mongolia. This presents a major opportunity to accelerate action on the sustainable management, restoration and conservation of rangelands, while spotlighting the needs of pastoralist communities who depend directly on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.

Rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s land surface, support the direct livelihoods of around 500 million people and provide one-sixth of the world’s nutrition needs, yet remain among the planet’s most overlooked and increasingly degraded ecosystems.

During the two-week conference, participants will engage in a high-level segment including ministerial dialogues, alongside multistakeholder forums and thematic discussions on science–policy integration, innovation and solutions, tools and technologies, and financing. In addition to formal negotiations, COP17 is expected to catalyze collective action on rangelands, resilience and water, as well as food systems and soil health.

In preparation for COP17, Mongolia has launched national initiatives linking land restoration with livelihoods and rural development, including the President-led “Billion Trees” National Campaign, initiated in 2021 and aiming to plant one billion trees by 2030. Mongolia has also expanded public engagement and youth participation through national dialogues and outreach activities, including the “Youth4Land” National Forum. Through the Mongolia Business Council, the COP17 Presidency has been engaging the country’s private sector in support of UNCCD’s Business4Land Initiative that aims to accelerate private sector action for sustainable land management.

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM INDICO.UN

17–28 Aug 2026

National Garden Park

Asia/Ulaanbaatar timezone

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

The participation to the sessions of the UNCCD COP17 is by invitation only. Registration is now open!

Event menu

· Overview

· Registration

· UNCCD COP17 webpage

· Host Country webpage

· Visa Information

o COP17 E-Visa Portal

o Visa information for holders of Official and Diplomatic passports

o Visa Application Form

· Hotel Information

o Hotel Booking Portal

· Data Privacy Notice

· Code of conduct

Contact

· accreditation@unccd.int

· cso@unccd.int

· press@unccd.int

The 17th session of the Convention’s Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be hosted by Mongolia in its capital city, Ulaanbaatar, from 17 to 28 August 2026 under the theme Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.

VISA
National Passport Visa Information COP17 E-Visa portal	Diplomatic and Official Passport Visa Information Visa Application Form
Contacts support@immigration.gov.mn consul@mfa.gov.mn visasection@immigration.gov.mn +976 51 262626
NOTICE: Please be informed that the Mongolian e-visa can only be issued to the following travel documents: national passport, official passport, and diplomatic passport. Kindly note that Mongolia is currently not a State Party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. Therefore, Mongolian e-visa cannot be issued to holders of a Refugee Travel Document.
ACCOMMODATION
Information Hotel Booking Portal hotel@unccdcop17.org

Conference information

Date/Time

Starts 17 Aug 2026, 08:00

Ends 28 Aug 2026, 18:00

All times are in Asia/UlaanbaatarAsia/Ulaanbaatar

In-Person

National Garden Park, Ulan Bator(Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia

Address: Khoroo 26, Bayanzurkh District, City: Ulaanbaatar Zip code: 13313

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM UNCCD.INTL

UNCCD COP17 OPENS IN ULAANBAATAR: LAND RESTORATION AND DROUGHT RESILIENCE TAKE CENTRE STAGE

· 16 August 2026

· Media advisory

Media representatives are invited to cover the opening day of UNCCD COP17, taking place from 17–28 August 2026 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The conference brings together representatives of 197 Parties, international organizations, financial institutions, businesses, scientists and civil society to accelerate action on land restoration and drought resilience.

Over the next two weeks, governments will negotiate key decisions on drought resilience, rangelands and pastoralists, sustainable agriculture and soils, resource mobilization and private-sector engagement, while working to mobilize greater investment and strengthen implementation on the ground.

KEY EVENTS FOR MEDIA

· IYRP and Silk Road Caravan Bring Pastoralist Declaration to COP17

When: 08:00—08:30
Where: Blue Zone Entrance

Pastoralists and herders from the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) and the Silk Road Caravan campaign to walk on the boulevard carrying the pastoralist declarations (global, women and youth) to the COP17 Plenary Hall. Accompanying them are the Prime Minister, UNCCD Executive Secretary, and the ministers of Environment and Climate Change (MECC), Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry (MoFALI) and Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth (CSTY).

· COP17 Opening Ceremony

When: 09:00–09:40
Where: Plenary Hall

The official opening ceremony will mark the start of UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar.

Photo and video: Accredited photographers and camera crews will be permitted access to designated areas. Movement inside the Plenary Hall will be regulated, and media are requested to follow instructions from UNCCD media staff.

· Opening Plenary – First Meeting of COP17

When: 09:40–13:00
Where: Plenary Hall

The first meeting of COP17 will include the formal opening of the session, election of the COP17 President, statements by the incoming COP17 President and UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, as well as statements by regional and interest groups and civil society.

Photo and video: Access will be facilitated in designated areas. Movement within the Plenary Hall will be regulated.

Photographers and Videographers (with professional cameras) – Opening Ceremony

Photographers and videographers using professional cameras are requested to meet the Communications team in the press conference room no later than 08:35.

They will then be escorted to a designated cordoned-off area, where they will wait until the media team guides them to the stage to capture photographs and footage of key moments during the Opening Ceremony.

For safety and to ensure the smooth running of the ceremony, media representatives are requested to follow the instructions of the media and security teams at all times. Access to the Plenary Hall may be revoked if these instructions are not followed.

Broadcast and Recorded Footage

The opening ceremony can be viewed and recorded from the media rooms.

Media outlets may also obtain a recorded copy of the ceremony from the Master Control Room. Please bring your own hard drive and contact:

Munkh-erdene Yadamsuren
Email: munkh@iscm.mn
Phone: +976 8811 9391

· Opening Press Conference

When: 13:15–14:00
Where: Press Conference Room

Speakers:

· H.E. Sandag-Ochir Tsend, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia and Chair of the National Organizing Committee of COP17

· Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

· H.E. Battsetseg Batmunkh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and President Designate of UNCCD COP17

· Dr. Osama Faqeeha, Deputy Minister for Environment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Advisor to the UNCCD COP16 Presidency

The press conference will outline the priorities and expectations for COP17, including Mongolia’s vision for the conference, the transition from the COP16 Presidency to COP17, and the key issues governments will address over the coming two weeks.

· Civil Society Key Messages and Priorities for COP17

When: 14:30-15:00
Where: Press Conference Room

UNCCD civil society representatives from five regions will present civil society priorities and key messages for COP17.

Speakers:

· Marioldy Sanchez Santivañez – Latin America and the Caribbean

· Ellen Otaru-Okoedion – Africa

· Amiya Prapan Chakra Borty – Asia

· Andy Morris – Western Europe

· Sopiko Babalashvili – Central and Eastern Europe

The discussion will highlight civil society perspectives and priorities as negotiations begin at COP17.

LOOKING AHEAD: COP17 THEMATIC DAYS

Four thematic days during the conference’s second week will connect negotiations with high-level dialogue and practical action:

· Finance Day – 24 August: Mobilizing public and private investment for land restoration and drought resilience.

· Water Day – 25 August: Strengthening drought resilience and cooperation on the land-water nexus.

· Land and People Day – 26 August: Highlighting the role of pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth in restoring and sustainably managing land.

· Food Systems and Soil Health Day – 27 August: Advancing healthy soils and sustainable food systems to strengthen food security and resilient livelihoods.

UPCOMING REPORT LAUNCHES

· 24 August: The Economics of Rangelands Restoration

· 25 August: The Drying Planet: Drought in Numbers 2026

· 26 August: Global Land Outlook for Small Island Developing States

· 26 August: Global Land Outlook Central Asia Thematic Report

· 27 August: Soil Health: The Business Case for Investing in Our Foundation

MEDIA ACCREDITATION AND ACCESS

Accredited journalists may access open COP17 sessions and media events with a valid conference badge.

Photographers and camera crews will be able to cover designated official events, including the opening ceremony and plenary. For security and operational reasons, access and movement within meeting rooms will be regulated. Media representatives are requested to remain in designated areas and follow instructions from UNCCD media staff and conference security.

The registration desk will be open on Monday, 17 August, from 07:00 to 18:30.

Media registration: https://indico.un.org/event/1022232/

Additional meetings and side events will take place throughout the day. Journalists are encouraged to consult the official COP17 programme for the complete schedule.

MEDIA RESOURCES

· COP17 programme

· UNCCD COP17 website

· Host country website

· UN WebTV – Live broadcast of key plenary sessions with live interpretation in all six UN languages

· UNCCD COP17 Visual Assets and Branding Resources

· Earth Negotiations Bulletin – daily coverage, photographs and analysis

For media enquiries and interview requests: UNCCD Press Office: press@unccd.int

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM YAHOO

HOW IS COP17 TAKING ON THE DESERTIFICATION FIGHT?

By Justin Klawans, The Week US

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 1:22 PM EDT

· The United Nations Conference of the Parties in Mongolia is focusing on desertification and plans to allocate over $12 billion to vulnerable countries to combat drought and land degradation.

The United Nations' 17th Conference of the Parties in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, has once again brought together an array of countries to battle climate change. But this COP edition is focused on a unique element of the shifting environment: desertification. As more fertile land degrades into dry, barren desert, the meeting is workshopping climate solutions using its key anti-desertification treaty, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

What did the commentators say?

While the U.N. is working on a cohesive plan to fight desertification, the main goal of the Mongolia conference is to "put pledges made two years ago into action through projects in the developing world," said The Guardian. A plan like this will involve "allocating more than $12 billion to vulnerable countries to help them deal with drought and land degradation," specifically in countries that don't have many resources to fight climate change.

The "biannual talks on desertification have taken on far greater importance in the wake of recent heatwaves and wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere, Europe and Asia," said French radio broadcaster RFI. The $12 billion pledge is also "small compared to the needs — about $2.6 trillion by 2030," which would be required to "repair degraded land, halt desertification, protect against drought and restore soils." There's also a push to focus more on the UNCCD, which has been "garnering the least attention" of three environmental treaties signed in the 1990s, said The Guardian.

The need for additional funding appears dire, as "up to 40% of the world's land is currently degraded," said the U.N. regional information center's site. Beyond desertification causing environmental damage, it can also "reduce food production and water availability, undermine livelihoods and increase economic and social vulnerability." The "choice of Mongolia as host for COP17 brings particular significance to this year's conference," as the U.N. estimates that at least 77% of the country's land is degraded, making "sustainable management a pressing national concern."

Solutions are being worked on in Mongolia as countries around the world are "bracing for food price rises as a result of damage to harvests from record heat and lack of water," said The Guardian. The U.N.'s World Food Programme also "predicts that 50 million more people could be pushed into hunger by the 'super El Niño' weather system currently developing." Better implementation of anti-desertification funds will be needed, as "initiatives to restore land and prevent drought have up to now been poorly funded and badly managed."

What next?

Many are hoping that the conference will help propel the UNCCD more into the foreground. It is currently the only one of three U.N. environmental treaties from the 1990s in which the U.S. "remains a full party" and is "one of the last multilateral arenas for environmental diplomacy," said Jean-Daniel Cesaro, a member of the French Scientific Committee on Desertification, to Le Monde. It is "crucial to keep it alive and maintain dialogue and reflection on these issues, which are essential to our future."

COP17 is slated to run until Aug. 28. Major funding announcements are "generally made at climate COPs, even when they are closely linked to land management," said Cesaro. The rest of the conference should be used to "remind everyone that science remains, above all, a space for dialogue in a world that more than ever needs healthy land and living ecosystems to face climate change."

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM UNRIC.COM

UN LAND CONFERENCE OPENS IN MONGOLIA TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL ACTION ON RESTORATION AND RESILIENCE

Over the next two weeks, governments, financial institutions, businesses, scientists and civil society will work to advance practical solutions, forge new partnerships and mobilize investment for land restoration and drought resilience, while Parties negotiate decisions on drought, rangelands, agricultural lands and soils, resource mobilization, private-sector engagement and the Convention’s future strategic direction.

The decisions, partnerships and initiatives launched at UNCCD COP17 are expected to strengthen international cooperation on sustainable land management, land restoration and drought resilience over the coming years, at a time when countries are facing increasing pressure from land degradation, water scarcity and climate change.

Land degradation and drought are estimated to cost the global economy nearly USD 900 billion every year and already affect up to 40 per cent of the world’s land and 3.2 billion people. Droughts have increased by almost one-third since 2000 and now generate at least USD 300 billion in annual losses.

As the first of the three Rio Convention COPs taking place in 2026, ahead of the biodiversity and climate conferences, COP17 provides an opportunity to strengthen cooperation across the Rio Conventions and accelerate practical action on land degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, food and water security and water resilience.

H.E. N. Uchral, Prime Minister of Mongolia, said: “The greatest change we want to see from COP17 is a shift from talk to action, from targets to implementation, and from commitments to measurable results. Mongolia therefore calls for tangible progress at this conference.

First, let us address land, climate and biodiversity not as separate issues, but as interconnected challenges. Second, let us increase investment in land restoration and take cooperation between governments, international financial institutions and the private sector to a new level.

Third, let us make drought resilience not only an environmental policy issue, but a core part of development policy. Fourth, let us place the knowledge and participation of rangeland users, herders and local communities at the centre of global land management policy.

Fifth, let us turn science, technology and innovation into practical solutions and real investment. Sixth, let us work together to create the enabling conditions to turn commitments into measurable results.”

UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad said: “Land degradation and drought are no longer distant environmental concerns. They are already affecting the food we produce, the water we depend on, the resilience of our economies and the ability of communities to build secure futures. Healthy land is the foundation of healthy food systems, resilient economies and stable societies.

“COP17 must therefore be a COP of implementation. The world does not lack solutions; the challenge is taking them to scale. Ulaanbaatar must mobilize the political leadership, investment and partnerships needed to move from commitments to measurable results on the ground. Restoring land is not simply an environmental obligation—it is an investment in people, stability and resilience.

“At a time when multilateralism is being tested, COP17 is also an opportunity to show that countries can work together to deliver practical solutions that improve people’s lives. Our measure of success will not simply be the decisions we adopt, but the change those decisions unlock for communities, economies and landscapes around the world and ability to mainstream land in new development sectors to prevent its future degradation.”

“Hosting COP17 is both a responsibility and an opportunity to bring the experience of dryland countries and pastoral communities to the centre of global discussions. Mongolia will work with all Parties to make Ulaanbaatar a place where countries come together around practical solutions for healthier land, more resilient rangelands and a more secure future for the people who depend on them.”

H.E. Sandag-Ochir Tsend, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia and Chair of the National Committee for the Organization of UNCCD COP17, said:

“Mongolia has completed its preparations to host UNCCD COP17 and stands ready to welcome delegates and guests from around the world.

Desertification, land degradation and climate change are interconnected global challenges with far-reaching impacts not only on the environment, but also on food security, economic stability and livelihoods. COP17 will therefore provide a vital platform for strengthening international cooperation and advancing practical solutions.

As the host country, Mongolia will promote constructive, consensus-based dialogue and work to ensure the inclusive participation of all Parties and stakeholders.

The outcomes of COP17 must go beyond negotiated decisions and translate into concrete action, greater investment and stronger partnerships to halt and reverse land degradation, safeguard rangelands and soils, restore degraded land and combat desertification. Achieving this will require the active engagement of governments, the private sector, international organizations and financial institutions.

I am confident that COP17 will mark an important step towards stronger international cooperation and accelerated global action to address desertification, land degradation and drought.”

For host country Mongolia, these issues are part of everyday life. Nearly 77 per cent of the country’s land is degraded, while pastoralism supports the livelihoods of one in three Mongolians. In 2023 and 2024, severe summer drought followed by devastating dzud winters resulted in the loss of more than seven million livestock, highlighting the growing vulnerability of dryland communities and the urgent need to strengthen resilience.

STRENGTHENING DROUGHT RESILIENCE

Building on the progress made at COP16 in Riyadh, governments at COP17 will continue discussions on a global policy framework on drought while strengthening the practical tools, partnerships and financing mechanisms needed to help countries turn drought plans into action. Parties will discuss measures to strengthen preparedness, early warning systems, vulnerability assessments and international cooperation.

More than 70 countries have now developed national drought plans, compared with only three in 2013, reflecting growing recognition that drought must be managed proactively rather than only once it becomes a humanitarian and economic crisis.

Every dollar invested in drought resilience can generate returns of up to USD 10, while some nature-based solutions deliver benefits of up to 27 times their cost.

COP17 will also feature new tools and partnerships to help countries strengthen drought preparedness and resilience, including announcements related to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the Drought Resilience Investment Facility and the International Drought Resilience Observatory as well as other related programmes and projects.

CLOSING THE MULTIBILLION FINANCE GAP

Mobilizing greater public and private investment for land restoration and drought resilience will be one of the defining priorities of COP17.

An estimated USD 355 billion is needed every year to combat land degradation and drought, yet current investment stands at only around USD 77 billion, leaving an annual financing gap of USD 278 billion.

Despite depending heavily on healthy land and reliable water supplies, the private sector currently provides only around six per cent of global land restoration and drought resilience finance. Public resources alone are unlikely to close the gap, highlighting the need to strengthen collaboration between governments, development banks, businesses and investors.

COP17 will explore how to unlock new sources of finance, strengthen incentives for sustainable land management, reduce investment risks and better align public and private investment with land restoration and drought resilience goals through discussions and examining new tools to leverage the existing pledges at the regional and national levels. The conference will illustrate progress on initiatives such as Business4Land, which aims to strengthen private sector engagement and partnerships for land restoration and drought resilience.

The Business for Land Forum on 24 August will bring together governments, businesses and investors to accelerate private-sector action and investment in regenerative landscapes. Participating organizations in the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes have already committed more than USD 9 billion across over 210 million hectares, while new policy recommendations aimed at unlocking further investment will be presented at COP17.

RANGELANDS TAKE CENTRE STAGE

Held during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, COP17 will place one of the world’s largest yet most overlooked ecosystems at the centre of international discussions.

Rangelands cover 54 per cent of the Earth’s land surface and support the livelihoods of around two billion people, including approximately 500 million pastoralists who have stewarded them for millennia. Rangelands produce one-sixth of the world’s food and provide around 70 per cent of livestock feed. Far more than grazing lands, they are strategic ecosystems that underpin food security, biodiversity, climate resilience and livelihoods across the world’s drylands. Yet up to half of the world’s rangelands are already degraded or at risk, with 78 per cent locatedin drylands where increasing drought, climate change and unsustainable land use are placing growing pressure on ecosystems and communities.

Governments are expected to consider a new policy framework on rangelands and pastoralists and launch the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, a global partnership designed to increase long-term investment in sustainable rangeland management and strengthen pastoral livelihoods.

The opening of COP17 also marks the conclusion of the UNCCD Silk Road Caravan, a multi-country journey across Eurasia that brought together governments, scientists, pastoralists, local communities and young people to exchange knowledge and showcase practical approaches to land restoration, sustainable rangeland management and drought resilience. Travelling along the historic Silk Road, the Caravan visited restoration projects and pastoral communities, highlighting practical solutions and the experiences of people restoring degraded land. Its arrival in Mongolia ahead of COP17 symbolically connects local action with the global negotiations beginning in Ulaanbaatar and marks one of the flagship initiatives of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

FROM RIYADH TO ULAANBAATAR

COP17 builds on the outcomes of COP16 in Riyadh and the work undertaken since then to strengthen international cooperation on drought resilience, sustainable land management, financing and private-sector engagement.

Osama Faqeeha, Deputy Minister for Environment, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Advisor to the UNCCD COP16 Presidency, said:

We saw the Riyadh Action Agenda, which included 35 initiatives when it was launched at COP16 in Riyadh, has grown to include more than 100 initiatives currently. We witnessed stronger commitment to proactively face drought through the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, and a stronger participation of the private sector through the Business for Land Initiative.

Through these partnerships, we have built a global coalition that is mobilizing governments, financial institutions, civil society, and the private sector to turn ambition into implementation. As we pass the Presidency to Mongolia, we will continue to work with COP17 Presidency and all other partners to maintain and amplify the global momentum that was achieved in COP16 to create a better future.”

Beyond the drought and rangelands agenda, governments will also consider the Convention’s future strategic framework, scientific guidance on agricultural lands and soils, greater participation by Indigenous Peoples, local communities, youth and civil society, stronger cooperation with the biodiversity and climate conventions, and ways to accelerate action under the Convention

FROM NEGOTIATIONS TO ACTION

Alongside the formal negotiations, the COP17 Action Agenda will bring together governments, international partners, financial institutions, businesses, scientists, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, local communities, women and youth to showcase practical solutions, launch new initiatives and forge partnerships that can help scale up action on the ground.

Four thematic days during the conference’s second week will connect negotiations with high-level dialogue and practical action:

· Finance Day (24 August): Mobilizing public and private investment for land restoration and drought resilience.

· Water Day (25 August): Strengthening drought resilience and cooperation on the land-water nexus.

· Land and People Day (26 August): Highlighting the role of pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth in restoring and sustainably managing land.

· Food Systems and Soil Health Day (27 August): Advancing healthy soils and sustainable food systems to strengthen food security and resilient livelihoods.

The conference’s high-level segment will feature ministerial dialogues and special events on drought resilience, sustainable rangelands, financing for land restoration, food systems and soil health, migration and security, sand and dust storms, and private-sector engagement.

COP17 will also host the first formal convenings of the UNCCD Indigenous Peoples Caucus and the Local Communities Caucus, alongside the Business4Land Forum, Youth Forum and Gender Caucus, creating new opportunities for dialogue and partnership across governments and stakeholders. A Parliamentarians Forum and Mayors Forum will also convene on the sidelines of COP17.

Several major scientific and policy publications will also be launched during the conference, including:

· 24 August: The Economics of Rangelands Restoration

· 25 August: The Drying Planet: Drought in Numbers 2026

· 26 August: Global Land Outlook for Small Island Developing States

· 26 August: Global Land Outlook Central Asia Thematic Report

· 27 August: Soil Health: The Business Case for Investing in Our Foundation

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM SAUDI GAZETTE

SAUDI ARABIA TO HAND OVER COP PRESIDENCY TO MONGOLIA AT COP17

August 13, 2026 | 03:47 PM

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia will hand over the COP presidency to Mongolia at COP17 on Monday, concluding a term marked by the launch and implementation of several international initiatives and partnerships following COP16 in Riyadh.

During the conference, held from August 17 to 28, Saudi Arabia will highlight progress made during its presidency, including the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership (RGDRP) and the Riyadh Action Agenda, which expanded from 35 to more than 100 initiatives.

It will also showcase the International Initiative for Early Warning for Sand and Dust Storms and the Business4Land initiative.

The Kingdom hosted COP16 in Riyadh in December 2024, the largest session in the convention’s history, with 197 parties — 196 countries and the European Union.

The conference adopted 39 decisions and mobilized more than $12 billion to support land restoration and drought resilience.

At COP17, Saudi Arabia will operate a national pavilion in the Blue Zone featuring more than 40 side events, as well as a dedicated Middle East Green Initiative pavilion.

The Kingdom will also chair the final COP Bureau meeting before handing over the presidency to Mongolia and hold meetings related to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership.

Saudi Arabia said it looks forward to continuing cooperation with all parties to advance the convention’s objectives, strengthen global land restoration efforts, and build resilience to drought.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM ARAB NEWS (SAUDI)

SAUDI ARABIA HANDS LAND DEGRADATION BATON TO MONGOLIA

by Andrew Hammond August 17, 2026 17:31

The UN Conference of the Parties sustainability-related agendas tend to be dominated by the big climate summits each November. However, other interconnected major COP events include those related to desertification and biodiversity processes, which are also agenda-setting internationally.

That core fact is being confirmed this month as Mongolia holds COP17 from Aug. 17 to 28 under the theme of “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope.” Attendees include not only government, business and civil society leaders but also scientists, indigenous peoples, pastoralists and farmers seeking to bring the issues of desertification, land degradation and drought higher up the global agenda amid soaring temperatures across much of the world, including Europe.

The message is that the scale of the challenge is increasingly clear — and so is the cost of continuing inaction.

The event in Ulaanbaatar is co-hosted with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The tagline of “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope” highlights the importance of land in supporting food security, water supply, livelihoods and stability as part of wider sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration.

The message is that the scale of the challenge is increasingly clear — and so is the cost of continuing inaction.

Andrew Hammond

This is, by definition, a long-term agenda and the big event builds from the Saudi-hosted COP16, the largest such session in the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s history, held with the EU and 196 other countries. In Mongolia, Saudi Arabia will highlight the key achievements of its presidency, including the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership and the Riyadh Action Agenda, which expanded to more than 100 initiatives. Overall, Saudi-led events mobilized more than $12 billion to support land restoration and drought resilience.

Important as these initiatives are, the challenge facing the world is huge and growing. It is estimated that up to 40 percent of the world’s landmass is subject to degradation. In many key vulnerable areas, this is exacerbating competition over resources, driving population displacement and heightening political and social instability. Ultimately, these are issues of both human and national security, not least given that, by mid-century, at least 50 percent more food will need to be produced to meet the challenge of growing populations, with millions of people already facing hunger today.

Part of the reason why Mongolia has been chosen to host the event is that it is one of the countries most impacted by desertification. Nearly 80 percent of the country’s land is affected, about double the global average. Moreover, the annual number of days with sand and dust storms has more than tripled since the 1960s.

The case for action to combat this is not only moral but also economic. The global cost of desertification, land degradation and drought is about $900 billion every year, with drought alone costing at least $300 billion annually.

At the same time, it is estimated that each dollar invested in land restoration can generate returns of up to $35. The figure is $10 for every dollar put into drought resilience in terms of improved ecosystem services and livelihoods.

Yet, problematic as this picture is for Mongolia, the country is on the cutting edge of innovation to tackle the problems with tech, ecosystem restoration and community-led resilience. For instance, Mongolia will announce a “Green AI Infrastructure Initiative,” highlighting the importance of digital innovation and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Developments in these and other areas, including satellite monitoring, geospatial mapping and predictive analytics, are already effectively enabling the agendas around land health, drought risks, improved water management and the targeting of restoration investments.

Wider initiatives that the nation will be championing this month include the UN’s International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, highlighting the importance of pastoralist livelihoods and sustainable rangeland management. Today, rangelands account for more than half of the Earth’s land surface, supporting about 2 billion people, but up to half of them are degraded or at risk. The importance of this agenda is highlighted by the fact that restoring degraded lands the size of Mongolia could increase food security for 200 million people.

There is a growing need to translate commitments into actionable solutions that deliver for vulnerable communities.

Andrew Hammond

Mongolia is also this month leading a major program to boost climate-resilient solutions. This will see groundwater put at the center of integrated initiatives, particularly in drylands. The importance of this is highlighted by the fact that, with droughts having increased by nearly a third since the turn of the millennium, it is forecast that freshwater demand might exceed supply by up to 40 percent by 2030.

Other COP17 initiatives include the Billion Trees National Campaign, which seeks to plant 1 billion trees by 2030 to restore degraded land; the Youth4Land Forum, which is engaging youth in sustainable development; and the Steppe Action Agenda, which seeks to scale land restoration and drought resilience globally.

Taken together, COP17 represents a major moment for advancing the agendas on land restoration to address desertification and global sustainable development. There is a growing need to translate international commitments into actionable solutions that deliver for the vulnerable communities that need them most.

· Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM IISD (EARTH NEGOTIATIONS BULLETIN)

COVERAGE OF 17TH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UNCCD (COP17)

Negotiators at UNCCD COP 17 will consider a wide array of decisions on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

See other coverage from 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP17):

Pastoralists are essential in efforts to combat rangeland degradation and implement the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). These land stewards were front and center as the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) opened in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

In the morning, pastoralists from 100 countries representing over 500,000 people – whose day-to-day activities prevent soil erosion, enhance carbon storage, and maintain biodiversity – paraded to meet with UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, where they handed over a Global Pastoralist Declaration highlighting their priorities.

The COP In the morning, pastoralists from 100 countries representing over 500,000 people – whose day-to-day activities prevent soil erosion, enhance carbon storage, and maintain biodiversity – paraded to meet with UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, where they handed over a Global Pastoralist Declaration highlighting their priorities.

The COP elected the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, Batmunkh Battsetseg, as COP 17 President. In their opening statements, regions stressed: the importance of enabling greater financial flows for strengthening efforts to address desertification, land degradation, and drought; the importance of science for informed decision-making; and the interlinkages between sustainable land management and building community resilience.

Tensions rose when it was time to adopt the agenda. The Russian Federation opposed an agenda item on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework on the grounds that their experts were blocked from participating in its meetings. The US objected to three agenda items: synergies with other conventions and international organizations; gender; and civil society. In order to move forward, COP 17 President Battsetseg proposed – without objection – to provisionally adopt the agenda and defer adoption of the four agenda items, which require further consultations.

In the afternoon, the Committee of the Whole (COW) and the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) met to begin discussions.

In the COW, the Secretariat introduced the programme and budget for the biennium 2027-2028, including three budget scenarios, which ranged from zero nominal growth to a nearly 30% increase to include three additional Secretariat positions. In ensuing discussions, Parties expressed a broad range of preferences. The agenda item was sent to the budget contact group. Next, delegates discussed drought, where views still differed on whether Parties should commit to negotiating a legally-binding protocol or a framework.

adopt the agenda and organization of work;

review the report of the CRIC on its 23rd session;

assess the performance of Convention institutions and subsidiary bodies; and

discuss the programme and budget for the biennium 2027-2028.

In the evening, the COW contact groups on budget and all other matters convened for their first meetings.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM 17TH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UNCCD (COP17)

NEGOTIATORS AT UNCCD COP 17 WILL CONSIDER A WIDE ARRAY OF DECISIONS ON ENHANCING EFFORTS TO ADDRESS DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT.

Conference of the Parties (COP)

17 August 2026 - 28 August 2026

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

Land degradation is not just an environmental problem. Land degradation increases risks to human health and the spread of new diseases. It drives forced migration and enflames conflicts over scarce resources. It is a leading contributor to climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and food insecurity. In other words, land degradation is a core challenge of sustainable development.

High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2026)

Committing to make the final years of the 2030 Agenda count, participants at the HLPF showed the Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals have delivered meaningful progress—though uneven and backsliding in some quarters.

Event

7 July 2026 - 15 July 2026

Eighth GEF Assembly and 71st Meeting of the GEF Council

The successful end of 18 months of negotiations for the ninth replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund “represents a renewed vote of confidence in multilateralism, in the GEF partnership, and in the importance of the global environment.” Many also urged prioritizing the private sector’s involvement and participants pointed to the vast finance gap all MEAs face.

Event

31 May 2026 - 5 June 2026

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM MANORAMA YEARBOOK (INDIA)

UNCCD COP17 OPENS IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA

• The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) began in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on August 17.

• The theme of the event is ‘Restoring Land. Restoring Hope’.

• This the first of the three major environmental COPs of 2026.

• The UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar will be followed by CBD COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia, and conclude with UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, Turkey.

Significance of COP17

• Land and drought resilience, alongside water and food security as drivers of peace and prosperity, anchors development in the pressing global priorities today.

• Over the past decade, countries have committed to restoring one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030, and more than 70 now have national drought plans.

• Land degradation is already affecting up to 40 per cent of the world’s land, with far-reaching impacts on food production, water availability, livelihoods and economic stability.

• Failure to accelerate land restoration and drought resilience would deepen poverty, displacement, fragility and ecosystem collapse, while undermining progress across climate and biodiversity goals.

• The outcomes of COP17 will have major implications for global food security, resilience and sustainable development, particularly for vulnerable dryland countries and communities.

Focus on Mongolia

• Due to its geographical location and extreme continental climate, Mongolia is one of the 10 countries most affected by global warming and climate change.

• With a vast territory of 1.56 million square kilometers, Mongolia is among the countries most affected by desertification and land degradation, with nearly 77 per cent of its land already degraded.

• Hosting UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar will place international focus on land restoration priorities, including approaches that safeguard livelihoods, food security and ecosystems in dryland regions.

• COP17 is taking place during the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026), declared by the United Nations General Assembly and championed by Mongolia.

• This presents a major opportunity to accelerate action on the sustainable management, restoration and conservation of rangelands, while spotlighting the needs of pastoralist communities who depend directly on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.

• Mountain rangelands provide natural forage, support biodiversity, regulate water flows and store carbon, while pastoral systems support food security, livelihoods and cultural heritage.

• Pastoral practices – including mobility and transhumance – can help restore degraded lands and strengthen climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation and disaster risk reduction.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT COP17?

• COP17 is expected to bring together delegates from UNCCD’s 197 Parties, alongside leaders from government, business and civil society, as well as scientists, youth, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists and smallholder farmers.

• They will convene to forge solutions to the interconnected challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, recognising that restoring land is also essential to reducing instability, preventing displacement and strengthening human and national security in vulnerable regions.

• During the two-week conference, participants will engage in a high-level segment including ministerial dialogues, alongside multistakeholder forums and thematic discussions on science – policy integration, innovation and solutions, tools and technologies, and financing.

• In addition to formal negotiations, COP17 is expected to catalyze collective action on rangelands, resilience and water, as well as food systems and soil health.

THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

• The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

• The Convention was adopted in Paris on June 17, 1994 and entered into force on December 26, 1996 after the 50th ratification was received.

• It is the only legally binding framework set up to address desertification and the effects of drought.

• There are 197 Parties to the Convention, including 196 country Parties and the European Union.

• The Convention’s 197 Parties work together to improve the living conditions for people in drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought.

• Parties to the Convention meet in Conferences of the Parties (COP) every two years, as well as in technical meetings throughout the year, to advance the aims and ambitions of the Convention and achieve progress in its implementation.

• It unites governments, scientists, policymakers, private sector and communities around a shared vision and global action to restore and manage the world’s land for the sustainability of humanity and the planet.

• The UNCCD is particularly committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification and land degradation.

• The UNCCD Secretariat facilitates cooperation between developed and developing countries, particularly around knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable land management.

• The permanent secretariat of the UNCCD was established during the first Conference of the Parties (COP 1) held in Rome, Italy in October 1997. The secretariat subsequently moved to Bonn, Germany, in 1999.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM DOWN TO EARTH (INDIA)

COMBAT DESERTIFICATION COP17: UNCCD SUMMIT OPENS IN ULAANBAATAR WITH A SINGLE DEMAND, ENOUGH DECLARATIONS, TURN LAND PLEDGES INTO MONEY AND ACTION

UN land and drought talks return to the unresolved question of a global drought framework as countries confront a degradation crisis affecting up to 2 billion hectares

Published on: 17 Aug 2026, 8:15 am

Summary

· COP17 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification opened in Ulaanbaatar with calls to turn land restoration pledges into finance and action.

· The talks return to the unresolved question of a global drought framework, after countries failed to agree on a legally binding drought deal at COP16 in Riyadh.

· Countries have pledged to restore about 1 billion hectares of degraded land, while the global degradation problem is estimated at 1.5 billion to 2 billion hectares.

· Mongolia, the host country, says 77% of its land is affected by desertification and land degradation.

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) opened in Mongolia on August 17, 2026 with one clear message from the host country, the convention’s secretariat and Saudi Arabia, the outgoing COP16 presidency: the world has enough declarations on land degradation. What it lacks is finance and the institutional machinery to act on them.

Hosted by Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar from August 17 to 28, 2026 under the theme Restoring Land, Restoring Hope, COP17 comes as droughts, wildfires and land degradation increasingly threaten food and water security, livelihoods and economic stability. The conference is being held in a year marked by a strong El Niño, with many regions facing worsening heat and dry conditions.

DROUGHT DEAL RETURNS

The most politically difficult issue before the conference is the global drought protocol left unresolved at COP16 in Riyadh, where countries failed to agree on a legally binding deal to tackle drought. Some parties, including the African Group, pushed for a binding protocol, while others favoured a non-binding drought framework.

Negotiations were pushed to COP17, making Ulaanbaatar the next test of whether governments can bridge the divisions that stalled the deal in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a press conference after the COP17 opening plenary on August 17, Yasmine Fouad, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, described COP17 as the “COP of implementation” and urged parties to build consensus on the drought framework.

“…the role of COP17 presidency is to build consensus and facilitate discussion till a drought decision would be gavelled,” Fouad said, adding that the UNCCD secretariat hoped parties would reach an outcome that reflected both the urgency and scale of the drought crisis.

Fouad said the aim now was not only to secure a decision but to ensure it could be implemented, pointing to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, launched at COP16, as one mechanism through which countries could move from commitments to action.

The mechanism had received over $12 billion in pledges by the end of COP16.

The partnership is intended to help countries move from responding to drought after it strikes to building resilience before it hits, including through drought preparedness, early-warning systems and access to finance. But the challenge at COP17 will be to ensure that the pledges translate into projects and support reaching communities most vulnerable to drought.

That push for consensus found an echo among the regional blocs. Speaking on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Group in the opening plenary, India said the convention was meeting “at a moment when the world for which this convention was designed is changing faster than the systems established to protect it and restore it,” and called on COP17 to agree on a drought decision that could “secure an ambitious, balanced, practical and durable outcome that responds to the needs of all regions.”

A WIDENING DEGRADATION GAP

The scale of the gap is stark. Countries have so far committed to restoring roughly 1 billion hectares of degraded land, against a global degradation problem now estimated at between 1.5 and 2 billion hectares. The range that itself reflects a data gap, since roughly 40 per cent of countries do not report their land degradation figures.

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Environment and adviser to the outgoing COP16 presidency, Osama Ibrahim Faqeeha, said drought currently affects about 1.8 billion people, mostly in low- and lower-middle-income developing countries.In these countries, he said, drought impacts can quickly lead to food and water insecurity and disruption of livelihoods.

If the current rate of degradation continues, the area of degraded land could double by 2050, he warned.

“The task is huge. We cannot continue business as usual,” Faqeeha said, calling for a shift towards sustainable land management and accelerated restoration.

FINANCE KEY TO IMPLEMENTATION

Mongolian Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral used the opening plenary to press on parties to make implementation the central test of the conference. “…COP17 should not be a conference where we repeat previous decisions and declarations but rather accelerate implementation,” he said, arguing that the international community has never lacked goals and commitments, but now urgently needs resources, financing, technology and institutional environment needed to deliver them.

The UNCCD is therefore seeking to broaden the pool of actors involved in implementation, including private-sector investors, local communities, Indigenous peoples and civil society, while encouraging new financing mechanisms for land restoration and drought resilience.

The emphasis on finance was also reflected in the opening plenary, where the European Union said that redirecting existing finance can be as important as increasing it. The bloc called for work on future financing of the convention and the phasing out or repurposing of environmentally harmful subsidies contributing to drought, desertification and land degradation.

MONGOLIA PRESSES FOR ACTION OVER DECLARATIONS

For Mongolia, the host country, the implementation challenge is particularly stark. Prime Minister Uchral said 77 per cent of Mongolia’s land is affected by desertification and land degradation, with encroaching sands increasingly affecting the country’s vast territory.

Meanwhile, the opening plenary also adopted the conference’s agenda, though not in full. Delegates approved the bulk of it, covering the convention’s strategic framework, the high-level segment, the budget for the next biennium and private-sector participation, while setting aside a handful of items — including the policy discussions that cover gender, migration, drought and rangelands, and the item on civil society participation — for further consultation among the parties concerned.

Those items are expected to come back before the plenary for adoption once consultations are complete

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM ALLAFRICA.COM

SEVEN KEY ISSUES TO SHAPE CONVERSATIONS AS COP17 KICKS OFF IN MONGOLIA

Story by Abdulkareem Mojeed, Premium Times, Abuja

Delegates from 196 countries and the European Union have gathered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for UNCCD COP17, with drought resilience, land restoration, rangeland protection and the multibillion-dollar financing gap expected to dominate negotiations.

Today, delegates from 196 countries and the European Union have convened in Mongolia for the opening of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), with governments and other stakeholders expected to confront some of the world's most pressing land, drought and food security challenges.

The two-week conference, billed for 17 to 28 August in Ulaanbaatar, comes at a time when land degradation, water scarcity and drought are imposing growing economic and social costs globally.

About 60 delegates from Nigeria will be participating in this year's conference and negotiations. Nigeria, alongside other African countries, seeks to advance a legally binding instrument on drought management. Nigerian authorities and the African bloc believe the proposed instrument would essentially establish a protocol for managing drought. Other areas include finance. Nigerian delegates anticipate pushing for more financial support to meet the country's national needs and fund the National Adaptation Plan.

Land degradation and drought are estimated to cost the global economy nearly $900 billion annually and affect up to 40 per cent of the world's land and 3.2 billion people.

Droughts have increased by almost one-third since 2000 and now cause at least $300 billion in annual losses, according to the UNCCD.

Against this backdrop, negotiations at COP17 will focus on drought, rangelands, agricultural lands and soils, resource mobilisation, private-sector engagement and the future strategic direction of the Convention.

The conference is also the first of the three Rio Convention COPs taking place in 2026, ahead of the biodiversity and climate conferences, creating an opportunity for countries to strengthen cooperation on land degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, food security and water resilience.

In her opening remarks monitored by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad explained that land degradation and drought are no longer distant environmental concerns but are already affecting food production, water sources, the resilience of economies, and the ability of communities to build secure futures.

"Healthy land is the foundation of healthy food systems, resilient economies and stable societies," she said.

She added that: "COP17 must therefore be a COP of implementation. The world does not lack solutions; the challenge is taking them to scale. Ulaanbaatar must mobilise the political leadership, investment, and partnerships needed to translate commitments into measurable results on the ground. Restoring land is not simply an environmental obligation--it is an investment in people, stability and resilience," she said.

Following remarks at the opening session of COP17 in Mongolia, here are seven major issues expected to shape conversations over the next two weeks.

1. Turning drought management from crisis response to resilience

According to the organisers, drought resilience is expected to be one of the most consequential issues at the conference.

Building on discussions at COP16 in Riyadh, the UNCCD said governments will continue negotiations on a global policy framework for drought while examining practical measures to improve preparedness, early warning systems, vulnerability assessments and international cooperation.

More than 70 countries have developed national drought plans, compared with only three in 2013, UNCCD said.

The increase reflects growing recognition that drought needs to be anticipated and managed before it develops into a humanitarian and economic crisis.

The economic case for investment is also significant. The UNCCD noted that every dollar invested in drought resilience can generate returns of up to $10, while some nature-based solutions can deliver benefits of up to 27 times their cost.

COP17 is expected to feature new tools and partnerships linked to the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, the Drought Resilience Investment Facility and the International Drought Resilience Observatory.

The central question will be whether countries can move beyond adopting drought plans to securing the finance and institutions needed to implement them.

2. Closing the $278 billion annual land-finance gap

Finance will be another major fault line at the conference.

An estimated $355 billion is required annually to combat land degradation and drought, but current investment is only around $77 billion, leaving a financing gap of approximately $278 billion.

The private sector currently accounts for only about six per cent of global financing for land restoration and drought resilience, despite businesses' dependence on healthy land, water and functioning ecosystems.

COP17 will therefore explore ways to attract more private capital, reduce investment risks and create incentives for sustainable land management.

The conference will also examine how governments, development banks, businesses and investors can work together to leverage existing commitments.

One initiative expected to receive attention is Business4Land, which seeks to increase private-sector participation in land restoration and drought resilience.

At the Business for Land Forum scheduled for 24 August, governments, businesses and investors will discuss ways to accelerate investment in regenerative landscapes.

Organisations participating in the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes have already committed more than $9 billion across more than 210 million hectares, according to the UNCCD.

3. Putting rangelands and pastoralists at the centre

Rangelands are expected to receive unprecedented attention at COP17, which is being held during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

Rangelands cover about 54 per cent of the Earth's land surface and support the livelihoods of approximately two billion people, including about 500 million pastoralists.

They produce around one-sixth of the world's food and provide about 70 per cent of livestock feed.

Yet up to half of the world's rangelands are already degraded or at risk, with 78 per cent located in drylands where drought, climate change and unsustainable land use are increasing pressure on ecosystems and communities.

Governments are expected to consider a new policy framework on rangelands and pastoralists, alongside the proposed Rangelands Flagship Initiative, which seeks to increase long-term investment in sustainable rangeland management and strengthen pastoral livelihoods.

For countries such as Nigeria, where rangeland degradation, changing weather patterns and competition over natural resources are increasingly linked to farmers-herder tensions and food insecurity, the discussions could have important implications.

4. Land restoration and the future of food security

Agricultural land and soils will also feature prominently in the negotiations.

With as much as 40 per cent of the world's land already degraded, restoring productive land is increasingly viewed not only as an environmental priority but also as a food security and economic imperative.

The UNCCD argues that healthy land is fundamental to food systems, economies and community resilience.

This, the UNCCD said, will place pressure on governments to demonstrate how land restoration can be integrated into agricultural and development policies rather than treated as a stand-alone environmental programme.

The broader challenge is how countries can increase food production while preventing further degradation of soils and ecosystems.

The outcome of these discussions could influence policies on sustainable agriculture, soil health, regenerative practices and investment in degraded agricultural landscapes.

5. Linking land, climate and biodiversity action

Another major conversation will be how to break down the silos separating the three Rio Conventions.

As the first of the three Rio Convention COPs in 2026, UNCCD COP17 provides an opportunity to strengthen coordination among efforts to tackle desertification, biodiversity loss and climate change.

Mongolian Prime Minister N. Uchral urged countries to treat land, climate and biodiversity as interconnected challenges rather than separate policy issues.

The push is significant because land degradation can worsen biodiversity loss and climate vulnerability, while climate change can intensify drought and accelerate land degradation.

A stronger, more integrated approach could therefore help governments make better use of climate, biodiversity, and development finance while avoiding overlapping or contradictory interventions.

The test for COP17 will be whether this political message can translate into practical cooperation and investment across the three agendas.

6. Bringing science, technology and local knowledge into implementation

COP17 is also expected to examine how scientific knowledge, technology and local experience can be translated into practical solutions.

Mongolia's leaders have repeatedly stressed the importance of placing herders, rangeland users and local communities at the centre of land-management policies.

This emphasis is particularly relevant in dryland regions where pastoralists and local communities have accumulated generations of knowledge about managing variable rainfall, grazing systems and fragile ecosystems.

The UNCCD Silk Road Caravan, which concluded ahead of COP17, brought together governments, scientists, pastoralists, local communities and young people across Eurasia to exchange knowledge and showcase land-restoration and drought-resilience approaches.

The arrival of the caravan in Mongolia has provided a symbolic link between community-level action and the global negotiations beginning in Ulaanbaatar.

The challenge now is ensuring that local knowledge and scientific innovation influence policy, financing and implementation rather than remaining largely within conference discussions.

7. Can COP17 deliver implementation rather than another set of commitments?

Ultimately, the biggest question hanging over COP17 is whether the conference can move the global land agenda from commitments to measurable results.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad said the world does not lack solutions, but faces the challenge of taking those solutions to scale.

She said the success of COP17 should be measured not only by the decisions adopted but by the changes those decisions unlock for communities, economies and landscapes.

That ambition is particularly significant for Mongolia, where land degradation is already an immediate national challenge.

Nearly 77 per cent of Mongolia's land is estimated to be degraded, while pastoralism supports the livelihoods of about one in three Mongolians.

In 2023 and 2024, severe summer drought followed by devastating dzud winters resulted in the loss of more than seven million livestock, exposing the vulnerability of dryland communities to increasingly extreme conditions.

Mongolia's Foreign Minister and COP17 President, Battsetseg Batmunkh, said the country's experience demonstrated why land health could not be separated from livelihoods and the future of communities.

For Mongolia, she said, hosting COP17 is an opportunity to bring the experiences of dryland countries and pastoral communities to the centre of global discussions.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT – FROM LE MONDE (FR)

COP17 TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION: GEOGRAPHER JEAN-DANIEL CESARO ON WHY PASTORALISM MATTERS

The UN conference on desertification opens on Monday, August 17, in Mongolia, as 40% of the world's land surface, including a quarter of arable land, is now degraded. In an interview with Le Monde, the researcher argues that France should expand its international exchanges to deepen its expertise.

Interview by Stéphane Foucart

Published yesterday (8/16) at 7:01 am (Paris), updated yesterday at 10:21 am

Sometimes referred to as the "land convention," the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is one of three major international environmental treaties signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Less well-known than the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or the Convention on Biological Diversity, its goal is to fight land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones. Its 17^th Conference of the Parties (COP17) opens Monday, August 17, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for two weeks. Jean-Daniel Cesaro, a member of the French Scientific Committee on Desertification and a researcher at the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD), explains the stakes of this meeting, which this year will focus largely on pastoralism as a way of using land and a lever for preserving it. According to United Nations figures, about 40% of the world's land surface – including one quarter of arable land – is currently degraded.

The fight against desertification is closely linked to climate change and biodiversity loss. What is the point of seeking to protect land from drying out when global efforts to combat

PAYWALL – the wealthy can access the rest of the interview here.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM DW

IS CARING ABOUT THE CLIMATE UNMANLY?

Story by Tamsin Walker

The answer is complex — and says a lot about how masculinity works in the modern world.

Mike Smith had been a US fighter pilot for more than a decade when he took what he describes as a 'hard turn' out of the navy.

He decided to trade a life of deployment, fighter jets and cruise missile operations for one of planting trees and sustainability.

Though he didn't realize it at the time, the seeds for that change of pace and path were sown when he was just nine and watching a mega-fire burn through forest near his home in central Idaho.

The Lowman fire wasn't enormous by today's standards, but to a boy raised in the outdoors it felt apocalyptic. The blaze burned so fiercely it formed what looked like a nuclear mushroom cloud.

"It felt like the whole state was on fire at the time. It was just very, very memorable to me," Smith said.

The fire didn't only scar his memory, but the land it tore through. More than 20 years later, when Mike returned to Idaho with his wife to show her where he grew up, what he saw stopped him cold.

"You know, when you go back to the place you grew up, you see all the things that have changed. And so what became jarring was seeing the thing that hadn't changed. It was just black, still black dirt, 22 years later."

He started a company focused on post-fire reforestation for carbon offset production. He got involved in planting a couple of million trees and founded a climate tech company that helps businesses cut emissions.

Along the way, he became aware of more women in the climate space than men.

DO MEN AND WOMEN RELATE TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS DIFFERENTLY?

What Smith was seeing was not unique to his experience but is in fact a widely recorded phenomenon known as the green gender gap. In short, the idea that women are more concerned about the climate than men.

And as Amanda Clayton, a University of California political scientist found during her research on the topic, "the gender gap grows as a function of country wealth."

As countries get richer, it is more likely that women will be the ones expressing greater concern about climate change. But not because they are suddenly more concerned.

"It's actually that men tend to decrease their concern about climate change as countries become wealthier," Clayton said. "The growing gender gap is actually men's growing skepticism."

"And when climate change becomes a political issue on the right, we see political and industry elites starting to promote climate skeptical beliefs," Clayton said.

This might involve narratives that target men more than women. Messaging around being forced to give up gas-powered vehicles; or the threat to jobs in the fossil fuel sector which is more male-dominated. In short, burning oil, gas and coal can become part of an identity sometimes referred to as petro-masculinity.

And as other recent research revealed, there is a direct link between climate change concerns and perceived threats to masculinity.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF TALKING CLIMATE TO MEN

Psychologist Vidar Vetterfalk is working to get underneath this thinking. In his role with MÄN, a Swedish organization that engages men and boys to challenge stereotypical masculinities, he asks groups of males to express what they like about the natural world and their worries for its future.

"That creates a connection," he said, rather than assigning guilt and blame for the climate crisis.

Connection, he says is exactly what is missing in masculinity norms, and although the experience is hard for many participants, it is also appreciated.

"A lot of men share already after the first round that they've never spoken with other men in this way before or listened together with other men in this way before."

MAKING CLIMATE ACTION A MISSION

While the kind of men who show up to such workshops are likely to be those who are already kind of interested in climate, reaching those who have never engaged can be more difficult.

Mike Smith believes down-to-earth, blame-free conversations can go a long way to engaging men on why caring about the planet matters. And he has found his own background useful here.

"One thing, ex-fighter pilot, nobody ever gets to take my man card away," Smith said. "That gives me a little bit of room to maneuver when I'm talking about things that may be a little bit more traditionally coded as feminine."

He also believes men are more likely to get interested in climate action if they see how it can improve their own lives — by installing solar or driving electric vehicles to save on fuel costs, for example. Seeing 'manly' men going green can also help to change thinking and behavior.

This is something car companies have also begun tapping into. Some are now marketing EVs as major man machines that can charge drills or become generators if a storm cuts off power.

"They're just trying to make electricity seem masculine rather than gas and oil seeming masculine," Clayton said. "And I'm here for it, if that's what you need in order to convince groups that have a cultural attachment to fossil fuels."

But ultimately Smith says it's all about creating the same kind of motivation that made him join the navy as a young man.

"Most people, what they really need is a sense of purpose and drive and mission," he said. "I think that's maybe the key to where we can go with masculinity and climate."

Edited by: Sarah Steffen This article was adapted from a DW Living Planet podcast. To listen to the full episode, click here.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM CLIMATECHANGENEWS.COM

TRUMP TO PULL US OUT OF UN CLIMATE CONVENTION AND CLIMATE SCIENCE BODY

The decision will make the US the only country to leave the UNFCCC, with the UN climate chief calling it a “colossal own goal” that will harm the US economy

BY Sebastian Rodriguez Jan 8, 2026 | Last Update: Jan 9, 2026

Under the Trump administration, the US - the world's second-largest emitter - will become the first country to withdraw from the UN climate convention, a key bedrock for international climate diplomacy, in a move the UN climate chief said would leave Americans poorer and less secure.

President Donald Trump's White House said the US would quit 31 UN bodies, among them the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It will also leave 35 other international organisations - many of them environmental - including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most authoritative global voice on climate science, and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world's largest climate fund.

While the Trump administration already gave notice nearly a year ago that the US would quit the Paris Agreement, under which countries agreed to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, it did not at that time attempt to leave the UNFCCC. The climate convention, adopted in 1992, is the cornerstone of global efforts to curb climate change and tackle its impacts.

The US has already ceased funding to the UNFCCC, and would be the only nation to formally exit the convention. After officially notifying the UN, the withdrawal will take effect after a year.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called the step "a colossal own goal which will leave the US less secure and less prosperous", but added that the US could re-enter the convention in the future.

"While all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the US economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms and droughts get rapidly worse," Stiell said in a statement.

NEWS

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POLITICS (GLOBAL)

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The Trump administration has also decided to exit key organisations for nature conservation, including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which publishes a "red list" of endangered species, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the scientific advisory body to the UN biodiversity convention.

In addition, the US will leave the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and REN21, all of which promote renewable energy.

"We will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding membership of other international organisations was also under review.

The US Department of the Treasury confirmed it has notified the GCF that the country is withdrawing from the fund and stepping down from its board seat "effective immediately".

IRENA and REN21, a global network of governments, businesses and academics, said they regretted the US withdrawal but remained open to re-engaging with Washington.

"Renewables are essential in today’s uncertain environment to ensure energy security and strengthen geopolitical position," IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said.

REJOINING POSSIBLE

The US Senate ratified the UNFCCC in 1992, which experts said raised questions about the legality of Trump's move to exit through an executive order.

But legal scholars indicated that the Senate would not need to ratify the UN climate convention again if the country wanted to rejoin.

Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director for international climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wrote that, based on the Senate's original "advice and consent", the US could once again become a party to the UNFCCC 90 days after such a decision were formalised.

Indian law enforcement targets climate activists accused of opposing fossil fuels

Sue Biniaz, the US State Department's former principal deputy special envoy for climate until January 2025, said she hoped the federal retreat would be "a temporary one".

"There are multiple future pathways to rejoining the key climate agreements," she said.

FORFEITING INFLUENCE

Policy experts said global climate action would forge onwards despite the US move, but some cautioned that it could complicate international negotiations.

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra called the decision "regrettable and unfortunate", adding that the European Commission will continue to support international climate research, work on multilateral climate cooperation and pursue "our agenda of climate action, competitiveness and independence".

COP30 CEO Ana Toni said the world's low carbon transition is "irreversible" and that the COP presidency will continue engaging with American subnational actors, the private sector, and civil society. She said she hopes the US government will rejoin the UNFCCC "in a near future".

Gina McCarthy, the first White House National Climate Advisor under Joe Biden who now chairs “America Is All In", a coalition of US cities, states and businesses and institutions working on climate action, called it "a shortsighted, embarrassing, and foolish decision".

As a result, she said the US would forfeit influence over "trillions of dollars in investments, policies, and decisions that would have advanced our economy and protected us from costly disasters wreaking havoc on our country".

The NRDC's Schmidt said, however, that the US absence would "complicate the climate negotiations, as a major economy pulling in the wrong direction always makes forging global progress more difficult".

Former US climate envoy John Kerry said Trump's decision was "a gift to China and a get-out-of-jail-free card to countries and polluters who want to avoid responsibility". He added that "the price is always paid by kids, in lost health, squandered jobs, rising costs, uninsurable infrastructure, and worse consequences."

Comment: COP presidencies should focus less on climate policy, more on global politics

Delta Merner, associate accountability campaign director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Trump was "deliberately cutting our nation’s formal participation off from the world’s most trusted source of climate science".

While individual US scientists can still contribute, the country will "no longer be able to help guide the scientific assessments that governments around the world rely on”, she added in a statement.

This article was updated after publication with additional comments from the UN climate chief Simon Stiell, the European climate commissioner, COP30 CEO Ana Toni, IRENA and REN21.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM AI Overview

WHAT ROLE DID THE UNITED STATES PLAY in COP 17?

The United States is one of the 197 member parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) holding its COP17 summit in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from August 17 to 28, 2026. As a party to the convention, the U.S. is eligible to participate alongside international delegates, though specific high-level principal or ministerial attendance rosters are managed through official UNCCD channels. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO – FROM TIME

JULY’S HEAT MADE HISTORY. TRUMP’S CUTS COULD LEAVE US LESS PREPARED FOR WHAT COMES NEXT

By Rebecca Schneid Aug 11, 2026 3:47 PM ET

July was the hottest month on record in the contiguous United States, with an average temperature of 76.9°F—the highest average ever recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), going back to 1895. The previous record was shared by July 1936, during the Dust Bowl, and July 2012. Every state was at least 1 degree above its 20th-century average.

This type of observation can help communities prepare for and respond to extreme heat events. They can then take informed steps to prevent serious health issues that the World Health Organization (WHO) links to high temperatures, like heat stroke and cardiovascular disease, or even death.

But NOAA relies on federal funding in order to keep historic records, observe weather patterns, and produce informed forecasts.

The Trump Administration reduced NOAA’s workforce in 2025, and subsequently proposed steep cuts to the agency’s funding, hampering its ability to monitor weather conditions, analyze patterns, and provide forecasts.

The National Weather Service (NWS), which operates under NOAA, lost roughly 600 employees—about 15% of its workforce—through layoffs, buyouts and retirements. It must now respond to increasingly severe weather events—like hurricane season and wildfire season—with reduced resources. As a result, it announced last year that it was scaling back the tools used to track weather patterns, such as weather balloons.

The administration later proposed cutting NOAA’s overall budget by $1.6 billion, or roughly 26%, compared with fiscal year 2025.

The United States will likely continue struggling to reconcile diminishing resources with increasing extreme temperatures, as the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned Tuesday that periods of extreme heat will become more frequent, intense, ‌and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet.

How we know when heat is becoming dangerous

The NWS tracks weather in multiple ways—including the installation of surface stations at over 900 airports that provide 24/7 real-time surface weather observations, as well as weather balloons, marine buoys, and satellites.

Those observations feed forecast models that help meteorologists understand developing weather patterns and anticipate dangerous conditions.

“Extended periods of high day and nighttime temperature conditions create cumulative stress on the human body, increasing the risk of illness and death from heat exposure,” according to the WHO. In the United States, the NWS considers heat the leading weather-related killer. Globally, studies estimate that heat was associated with roughly 489,000 deaths annually between 2000 and 2019.

The health effects of heat waves were felt acutely this summer. Maryland’s Department of Health said that 2026 was its deadliest heat season on record, with a total of 50 heat-related fatalities since May. The state also recorded over 1,300 heat-related illnesses in that period. At the national level, the Washington Post reported that there were at least 70 deaths related to heat domes in July. And in Europe, officials said that there were more than 10,000 excess deaths during the continent’s record-breaking heat wave in June.

The NWS communicates the danger that high temperatures pose using a Heat Index that describes the “feels like” temperature to the human body based on a combination of heat and humidity. For consistency, it uses what’s called “apparent temperature,” referring to the temperature that the body “feels” in shady locations. Exposure to direct sunlight can increase values by up to 15°F.

With information from the NWS, local governments are better able to prepare infrastructure and warn vulnerable communities. At the same time, the agencies are better equipped to create and distribute useful resources, such as guidance on how to stay cool during heat waves.

But less accurate data, and less data collected overall, can prevent experts from accurately anticipating future events. Agencies might be less prepared to inform vulnerable communities or cooperate with local and state governments to ensure outreach and preparedness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is more likely to impact people with chronic medical conditions, children, and adults over 65.

What happens when weather agencies have fewer resources?

Cuts at NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have left the U.S. more vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather.

In May, for instance, lawmakers expressed concerns over the NWS’s failure to launch 75% of the weather balloons typically sent aloft in Kansas to help measure atmospheric conditions. These balloons carry a device called a radiosonde that is used to collect upper-atmosphere temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind information to support forecasting. NWS blamed staffing shortages, but Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids pointed out that those disruptions were occurring during tornado season.

“Kansans deserve transparency about what’s happening, why it’s happening and what’s being done to fix it,” Davids said in a statement. “Kansans deserve confidence that the systems meant to keep them safe are fully operational during tornado season and meteorologists deserve the reliable data they need to do their jobs.”

In order to preserve its work with fewer resources, NOAA has continued to evolve its use of technology. It has long used artificial intelligence and machine learning for “weather forecasting, climate modeling, and environmental monitoring.” And it announced a partnership with Google Cloud in July, explaining how the move is expected to “result in a modeling system that is more flexible and easy to update.”

That same month, China debuted Fenghe, an open-source large language model (LLM) for meteorological services. The government announced that the LLM “is trained on 50 million tokens of meteorological service data and integrated with authoritative weather datasets to support weather forecasting, risk assessment, and meteorological services.”

As NOAA faces an uncertain funding future, such tools could become increasingly important to its efforts to maintain forecasting capacity for an increasingly hot planet.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE – FROM AI OVERVIEW

The UNCCD COP17 conference opened in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on August 17, 2026, featuring early procedural friction as the United States objected to specific agenda items regarding gender, civil society, and international organizational synergies. [1, 2]

COP17 Context and U.S. Positions

· The Event: Running from August 17 to 28, 2026, this UN Convention to Combat Desertification summit focuses on land degradation, drought resilience, and rangelands. [1]

· U.S. Objections: During the opening procedural agenda adoption, the U.S. raised objections to items concerning gender integration, civil society roles, and cross-convention synergies. [1]

· Resolution: To prevent a standstill, COP17 President and Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh deferred the contentious items for further diplomatic consultations while provisionally adopting the main agenda. [1, 2]

DAILY UPDATES…

https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop17-17Aug2026

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR

HIGHLIGHTS AND IMAGES FOR 17 AUGUST 2026

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Coverage of

17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17)

Negotiators at UNCCD COP 17 are considering a wide array of decisions on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

See other coverage from 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17):

In the morning, pastoralists from 100 countries representing over 500,000 people – whose day-to-day activities prevent soil erosion, enhance carbon storage, and maintain biodiversity – paraded to meet with UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad, where they handed over a Global Pastoralist Declaration highlighting their priorities.

In the afternoon, the Committee of the Whole (COW) and the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) met to begin discussions.

· adopt the agenda and organization of work;

· review the report of the CRIC on its 23rd session;

· assess the performance of Convention institutions and subsidiary bodies; and

· discuss the programme and budget for the biennium 2027-2028.

In the evening, the COW contact groups on budget and all other matters convened for their first meetings.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE

https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop17-18Aug2026

As discussions on drought and the science and technology agenda heated up on Tuesday, an afternoon thunderstorm did little to mitigate the intensity of the day. The second day of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) featured a full slate of formal and informal meetings, side events, and consultations.

The Committee on Science and Technology (CST) held its first plenary session in the morning, continuing through the afternoon.

The Russian Federation opposed including the work programme of the Science-Policy Interface (SPI) on the agenda, reiterating that “certain Parties” had “blocked” their experts from participating in the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Future Strategic Framework, and opposed the participation of the Ukrainian expert on the SPI.

Parties adopted the CST agenda except for the SPI work programme, pending further consultations. Discussions commenced on the agenda items on interfacing science, policy, and sharing knowledge, and the future functioning of the SPI.

Meanwhile, next door in the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), delegates discussed capacity-building in the morning and mobilizing financial resources in the afternoon.

Negotiations on drought continued in two contact group meetings, as delegations tried to move forward on a possible decision. The CST and CRIC contact groups held their first meetings in the evening. The budget contact group met throughout the day.

Informally, delegates, the COP Bureau, and members of the Gender, Youth, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Communities caucuses considered their options and the way forward for adopting the rest of the COP 17 agenda, after the Russian Federation and the US objected on Monday to agenda items on the post-2030 Strategic Framework, gender, civil society, and synergies.

IN THE RAIN

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX – FROM

https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop17-19Aug2026

In the drylands, where evaporation far exceeds precipitation, rain is a rare and powerful event that dictates survival. It revives dormant ecosystems, refills groundwater aquifers, triggers plant growth, and sustains pastoral and farming communities.

Many participants at the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) celebrate each drop of rain in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas where they live. However, the wet weather is not as welcome at a COP where participants must jump over massive puddles and dodge downpours as they move from meeting to meeting.

Delegates CRIC

On Wednesday morning, the sound of rain on the roofs of the meeting rooms often drowned out the speakers in both the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) and the Committee on Science and Technology (CST).

The CRIC finished discussions on finance, with many developing countries calling for simplified access to adequate and predictable finance, which is essential to translate national commitments into concrete actions on the ground.

In the CST, Parties were introduced to new guidance on avoiding, reducing, and reversing land and soil degradation of agricultural lands, and its digital companion. Afterwards, they finished initial discussions on the draft work programmes of the Science-Policy Interface and the 18th session of the CST.

Delegates welcomed the development of the Land Tenure Toolbox and largely supported integrating land tenure into the work of the UNCCD. Similarly, delegates supported greater private sector participation. However, some stressed that private-sector engagement should come with strong environmental and social safeguards and transparency.

In a joint CRIC/CST session, delegates heard from representatives of the regional Support Hubs that provided technical support to countries during the 2026 UNCCD reporting process. In comments from the floor, many underscored the significance of capacity-building to ensure quality reporting.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN

https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop17-20Aug2026

Coverage of

17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17)

Negotiators at UNCCD COP 17 are considering a wide array of decisions on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

See other coverage from 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17):

In the world’s rangelands and pasturelands, rain is greeted with welcome relief. After the rain, pastoralist communities experience a dramatic shift from day-to-day survival amid scarcity to renewal, as parched rangelands turn green, water sources refill, and herds can graze in fresh pastures. But climate change is transforming the life-saving rains, which have become patchy and more intense and, therefore, less effective due to runoff.

As the sun returned to the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Thursday, one of the topics on the agenda was the work programme on rangelands and pastoralists. Parties discussed how to prioritize policies and investments for the sustainable management of rangelands. Delegates also recognized their essential role in addressing key challenges related to food insecurity, desertification, land degradation and drought, biodiversity loss, and climate change.

Rangelands also featured extensively in the morning open dialogue session with civil society, where panelists shared perspectives on what is needed to ensure that pastoralists get the support they need to continue their sustainable land management practices, as well as bring their perspectives into the work of the Convention.

Challenges expressed ranged from barriers to accessing funds to pressures from mining. The solutions proposed included bridging funding and market mechanisms with pastoralists’ diverse local economies, and integrating land degradation neutrality targets with pastoralist-designed and community-led initiatives. During the session, Anders Oskal, Association of World Reindeer Herders, also presented the Global Pastoralist and Indigenous Pastoralists’ Call for Action.

In the afternoon, the Committee of the Whole (COW) began discussions on the implementation of the Convention’s Strategic Framework, sand and dust storms, and rangelands and pastoralists. Delegates largely welcomed the development of a Global Implementation Initiative for Sand and Dust Storms and a Sand and Dust Storms Toolbox. Participants also welcomed the Rangelands Flagship Initiative and its three components of knowledge, investment, and institutions.

Contact groups met throughout the day to discuss, among others, the budget, migration, private sector engagement, drought, capacity-building, knowledge sharing, and the future work programme of the Science-Policy Interface (SPI).

https://enb.iisd.org/convention-combat-desertification-unccd-cop17-21Aug2026

ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT

Coverage of

17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17)

Negotiators at UNCCD COP 17 are considering a wide array of decisions on enhancing efforts to address desertification, land degradation and drought.

See other coverage from 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 17):

Human mobility refers to all forms of population movement, including internal displacement, international migration, and nomadic or seasonal travel. Pastoralists have been relocating for thousands of years, following water and weather cycles. Voluntary relocation and livestock mobility are typical methods of sustainable rangeland management, contributing to carbon sequestration and combating desertification.

However, desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD), which means the loss of healthy land, soils, water, and critical ecosystem services, can force people to leave their homelands in search of a means to survive. In this sense, the restoration of degraded land and building drought resilience can help stabilize rural livelihoods and reduce the economic pressure that causes forced displacement.

On Friday, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) addressed all aspects of human mobility. Following Thursday’s discussions on pastoralists and their mobility in the Committee of the Whole (COW), delegates discussed a draft decision on DLDD as a driver that causes migration and displacement in the COW contact group on other matters. Whether there will be progress during this COP remains to be seen, after one Party reserved its position on the entire draft decision, pending further instructions from capital.

In the morning, the COW swiftly went through its remaining agenda items on the review of progress in the implementation of the UNCCD communication plan and the programme of work for COP 18. Here, some Parties used the opportunity to lament the continued ”blocking” of certain items from the agenda at COP 17.

Throughout the day, contact groups met to continue text-based negotiations on a range of agenda items, including migration, private sector engagement, communication, and capacity-building, as well as procedures and technical support for the future functioning of the Science-Policy Interface. Contact group negotiations are expected to continue into the evening and throughout the day on Saturday.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE

Geography By Geoff video see here

WHY MONGOLIA IS EARTH'S MOST EXTREME COUNTRY

From brutal winters and vast open steppes to the world's lowest population density and a centuries-old nomadic culture, Mongolia is one of the planet's most extreme and fascinating countries. Discover what makes it unlike anywhere else on Earth. #Mongolia #Geography #WorldFacts

ATTACHMENT FORTY – FROM THE DIPLOMAT

BEYOND THE THIRD NEIGHBOR: MONGOLIA-US TIES IN AN ERA OF GREAT POWER COMPETITION

U.S. Ambassador Richard L. Buangan talks to The Diplomat about the future of the partnership.

By Sumiya Chuluunbaatar February 28, 2026

On January 27, the United States and Mongolia marked the 39th anniversary of diplomatic relations, which were first established in 1987 amid the waning years of the Cold War. For nearly four decades, this bilateral bond has served as the cornerstone of Mongolia’s landmark “Third Neighbor” doctrine – a deliberate, sovereignty-centered strategy to diversify its foreign relations beyond its two immediate neighbors, Russia and China.

Today, against the backdrop of intensifying great power competition, Washington’s ongoing reorientation of its Indo-Pacific strategy, and the second Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy (enshrined in the December 2025 National Security Strategy, and centered on focused, results-oriented diplomacy), the Mongolia-U.S. strategic partnership stands at a defining inflection point.

This inflection point was sharply defined by a landmark diplomatic move just days before the anniversary. On January 22, Mongolia’s Prime Minister Gombojavyn Zandanshatar signed the Charter of the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, formalizing Mongolia’s status as a founding member of the Trump-led international body. The move marks the most significant update to Mongolia’s “Third Neighbor” playbook in years. It comes as the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) – a core pillar of Mongolia’s global peacekeeping engagement – is set to wind down in April 2026. The Board of Peace could see a role for Mongolian peacekeepers in Gaza.

But not all is rosy in Mongolia-U.S. relations. On February 2, the United States suspended immigrant visas for Mongolian citizens, including it in a list “high-risk countries” whose nationals are supposedly prone to “unlawfully utilize welfare in the United States or become a public charge.” The move strained bilateral ties.

Seven years after Mongolia and the United States upgraded their bilateral relations to a formal Strategic Partnership in 2019, pivotal questions persist regarding the depth and tangible impact of this collaboration. Has it moved beyond diplomatic pronouncements, symbolic aid, and cultural exchanges to emerge as a resilient, mutually beneficial framework that meaningfully addresses Mongolia’s core national challenges – among them energy insecurity, economic diversification away from extractive industries, and key governance imperatives?

Against the backdrop of evolving great power dynamics, China and Russia are deepening their economic engagement with Mongolia, epitomized by two high-profile diplomatic missions in February 2026. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Ulaanbaatar to reaffirm Beijing’s longstanding policy priorities for Mongolia, while Mongolian Parliament Speaker Uchral Nyam-Osor undertook a concurrent working visit to Moscow focused on advancing energy cooperation and expanding bilateral economic ties.

To unpack these developments and the implications for the future of the Mongolia-U.S. bilateral relationship, I conducted an exclusive interview with Richard L. Buangan, the U.S. ambassador to Mongolia since November 2022.

A career Senior Foreign Service officer with deep, on-the-ground East Asian expertise, Buangan’s nearly three-year tenure spanned the final chapter of the Biden presidency, marked by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s historic August 2024 visit to Mongolia (the first by a U.S. secretary of state in a decade), and the opening months of Trump’s second term, which saw Ulaanbaatar join the Board of Peace as a founding member.

Buangan has centered grassroots, community-focused diplomacy throughout his time in Mongolia: he has studied traditional Mongolian script, participated in iconic cultural festivals including Naadam and Tsagaan Sar wearing the traditional Mongolian deel, and traveled extensively across the country’s rural aimags to engage directly with local communities. He has described Mongolians as “warm, hospitable, and direct” – qualities, he says, that align with the best of American straightforwardness. Beyond this genuine personal rapport, his insights on Mongolia-U.S. reveal a partnership with tangible, meaningful wins in defense, development, and education, yet one that still faces steep structural hurdles to deliver on its full economic and strategic potential for both nations.

ANNIVERSARY MILESTONES

Buangan opened our discussion by framing 2026 as an “extraordinary year” for both nations, tying the 39th diplomatic anniversary to two historic national commemorations: the United States’ 250th independence anniversary, branded “Freedom 250,” and the 820th anniversary of the founding of the Mongol Empire. “These are two monumental milestones, and we have a lot planned,” he said. “I look forward to collaborating with our Mongolian partners to honor these two significant anniversaries and highlight the enduring partnership between our two nations.”

While symbolic anniversaries set the stage for deeper collaboration, Buangan centered the tangible investments that have defined the bilateral relationship in recent years. The crown jewel of this cooperation is the $462 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Water Compact, scheduled for completion in March 2026. The project, which includes a $112 million co-investment from the Government of Mongolia, will increase Ulaanbaatar’s clean water supply by up to 80 percent, directly addressing a chronic crisis driven by explosive rural-to-urban migration in the Mongolian capital.

“That’s a physical symbol of America’s long-term commitment to the U.S.-Mongolia partnership,” Buangan emphasized, noting that the compact embodies the Trump administration’s focus on fostering recipient country self-reliance through durable, sustainable development.

This landmark project is complemented by forward-looking initiatives to expand Mongolia’s global economic connectivity. In February 2026, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) signed an agreement with Mongolia’s Civil Aviation Authority to fund technical assistance supporting Mongolia’s pursuit of a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Category 1 (CAT 1) safety rating. In its press release, the USTDA highlighted this as a game-changing initiative: “Achieving CAT 1 status will not only enable direct, secure air links between our two countries, it will also facilitate the export of Mongolia’s rare earth oxides and critical minerals, opening new global markets for Mongolian goods while strengthening supply chain resilience for both our nations.”

THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AT SEVEN

Seven years into the Mongolia-U.S. Strategic Partnership, Buangan offered a clear-eyed assessment of its achievements, rooted in the United States’ identity as Mongolia’s most consistent “Third Neighbor.” “Despite the geographical distance between our countries, the United States is proud to be Mongolia’s ‘’Third Neighbor,’ and it’s a commitment we take seriously,” he said. Buangan described three core pillars of measurable progress that have strengthened the partnership amid shifting global dynamics.

First, defense and security cooperation has emerged as a bedrock of the relationship, aligned with both Mongolia’s constitutionally enshrined neutral foreign policy and U.S. Indo-Pacific security priorities. Buangan highlighted the annual Khaan Quest multilateral peacekeeping exercises, co-hosted with U.S. Army Pacific, which brought together 24 nations in 2025 to strengthen multinational interoperability and humanitarian response capabilities.

“We’ve maintained close defense cooperation, helping to modernize and professionalize the Mongolian Armed Forces, and the results speak for themselves,” Buangan said.

Mongolia is now one of the top per capita contributors to U.N. peacekeeping operations globally, with more than 23,000 troops deployed to missions in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Iraq and other global hotspots – a track record Buangan called a testament to Mongolia’s role as a responsible global stakeholder and trusted U.S. security partner.

Second, educational and people-to-people ties have created an enduring foundation for the Mongolia-U.S. partnership, one that transcends political cycles and geopolitical shifts. On this topic, Buangan’s enthusiasm shone brightest, framing these bonds as the unshakable core of the bilateral relationship. “This is one of my favorite topics because I genuinely believe that people-to-people ties are the foundation of everything else we do,” he said. “You can have all the government agreements in the world, but if people don’t know each other, don’t understand each other, don’t have relationships with each other, those agreements are just paper.”

Citing IIE Open Doors data, he noted that roughly 1,500 Mongolian students study in the United States each year, compared with around 100 Americans in Mongolia, while approximately 10,000 travelers move in each direction annually. The U.S. Peace Corps program embodies this grassroots connection: nearly 1,500 volunteers have served across Mongolia since 1991, with 50 currently deployed working alongside local communities.

Over 39 years, more than 8,000 Mongolians have participated in U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs, creating a cross-generational network of bilateral ties. Last year saw the launch of the Center of Excellence for English Language Teaching at the National University of Mongolia, building on an initiative announced by Blinken in 2024.

Still, structural imbalances persist. The new visa constraints under the Trump administration could complicate two-way mobility, even as U.S. development assistance increasingly emphasizes sustainability and recipient self-reliance, which may place natural limits on the scale of broader people-to-people programming.

Third, the two nations have deepened cooperation on economic diversification and critical minerals, a priority aligned with both the 2025 U.S. NSS and Mongolia’s core domestic development goals. Buangan noted that Mongolia’s vast reserves of critical minerals – including copper, lithium, and rare earth elements, all featured on the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2025 expanded list of 60 critical minerals – present enormous potential for mutually beneficial investment.

He pointed to two recent developments as evidence of deepening strategic alignment: Mongolia’s participation in the February 2026 U.S.-hosted Critical Minerals Ministerial, where Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh joined 53 other nations to advance collaborative supply chain action, and Mongolia’s decision to join the Board of Peace.

Buangan was unequivocal in welcoming Mongolia’s participation in the latter, which he called a “historic initiative”: “Congratulations to Prime Minister Zandanshatar, and we express our gratitude to Mongolia for becoming a founding member of the Board of Peace.”

Mongolia’s official government resolution framed its membership in the Board of Peace as fully consistent with its “peace-centered, open, independent, and multipillar foreign policy,” emphasizing that the body is not a military alliance, but a voluntary cooperation platform centered on respect for national sovereignty. Mongolia also stressed that its three-year initial membership term carries no mandatory financial obligations; the $1 billion threshold referenced in the charter applies only to membership renewal, not initial participation.

Buangan echoed this framing, noting that the initiative offers Mongolia a new avenue to amplify its voice on the global stage as a mid-sized, neutral nation, while deepening its “Third Neighbor” partnership with the United States.

“AMERICA FIRST,” SOVEREIGNTY, AND REFORM COLLABORATION

A central focus of our conversation was the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy, and what its core “America First” framework means for the future of Mongolia-U.S. relations – especially given Mongolia’s landmark decision to join the Board of Peace as a founding member.

Buangan rejected narratives that the policy signals disengagement or transactionalism at the expense of long-standing partners. “Let me be very clear: ‘America First’ does not mean ‘America Alone’ or ‘America Only,’” he said. “What it means is that we’re going to be more focused, more strategic, and more results-oriented in our foreign policy.”

Invoking Trump’s framing of a foreign policy that is “pragmatic without being ‘pragmatist,’ realistic without being ‘realist,’ principled without being ‘idealistic,’” he emphasized that the United States will prioritize partnerships that deliver “real, tangible benefits for the American people and for our partners, including Mongolia.”

For Mongolia, he explained, this means a U.S. partnership that respects its sovereign multi-vector foreign policy, rather than demanding it choose sides in great power competition. Buangan made clear that the U.S. respects Mongolia’s long-standing commitment to neutrality, and that bilateral cooperation is rooted in mutual respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity – core principles enshrined in the 2019 Strategic Partnership declaration.

Buangan reaffirmed the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Mongolia’s domestic reform agenda. He cited the December 2025 launch of Phase II of the Mongolian Institutional Integrity and Transparency (MINT) Project, which delivers targeted technical assistance to strengthen Mongolia’s anti-corruption and law enforcement capacity. However, he was forthright about the persistent structural bottlenecks constraining bilateral trade and investment: Mongolia ranks 121st on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, with pervasive regulatory opacity consistently cited as a core deterrent to inbound foreign direct investment. Official U.S. Census Bureau data shows bilateral trade between the United States and Mongolia remained modest at just $234 million in 2025, lagging far behind China’s long-dominant position in Mongolia’s overall trade landscape.

When asked about the possibility of a U.S. presidential visit to Mongolia – 21 years on from the only official trip to the country by a sitting U.S. president, made by George W. Bush in 2005 – Buangan declined to confirm any specific travel plans, but emphasized the administration’s steadfast commitment to Indo-Pacific and bilateral engagement.

“President Trump is deeply engaged in the Indo-Pacific region, as demonstrated by his active, high-profile participation at the 2025 APEC summit,” he noted. “Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent hosting of Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh at the Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington is another clear marker of our sustained high-level bilateral engagement. Regardless of any specific travel plans, our commitment to Mongolia remains unwavering.”

CLOSING REFLECTIONS

As our conversation drew to a close, Buangan’s grounded yet unreserved optimism about the trajectory of Mongolia-U.S. relations was palpable. Thirty-nine years of formal diplomatic ties, seven years of elevated Strategic Partnership, and decades of deep, grassroots collaboration have forged a bond that is equal parts resilient, values-driven, and rooted in bedrock mutual respect.

For Mongolia, the United States remains an indispensable Third Neighbor, standing with it to safeguard national sovereignty, advance democratic governance, and drive economic diversification amid intensifying great power competition. For the United States, Mongolia is a trusted, like-minded democratic partner in the Indo-Pacific, a responsible global stakeholder, and a critical contributor to building more secure, resilient critical mineral supply chains.

Throughout our discussion, Buangan returned time and again to people-to-people ties as the enduring, beating heart of the bilateral partnership. It is precisely these deeply rooted bonds, forged between exchange students, Peace Corps volunteers, peacekeeping personnel, and private sector leaders, that will carry the Mongolia-U.S. partnership beyond hollow diplomatic rhetoric, through its landmark 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2027, and forward for generations to come.

In an era defined by geopolitical volatility and intensifying great power rivalry, the U.S.-Mongolia partnership stands as a quiet yet profoundly powerful testament to what sovereign nations can build when they collaborate on the bedrock of shared democratic values, mutually beneficial economic cooperation, and unflinching respect for one another’s territorial integrity and strategic autonomy.

ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE – FROM FROM ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

‘NASTY’ ROSIE O’DONNELL SLAMS DONALD TRUMP WITH SCATHING SONG URGING HIM TO RESIGN: ‘YOU’LL NEVER BE OBAMA’

O’Donnell guest-hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this week, and said goodbye to the gig with a song in which she told Trump his “wig’s a mess” and “polls are falling.”

By Joey Nolfi August 21, 2026 9:31 a.m. ET

· Rosie O’Donnell closed out her four-night guest-hosting gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live with a musical number dedicated to Donald Trump.

· O’Donnell invoked Trump calling her “nasty” in the past at the top of the episode, and later called him “orange Voldemort.”

· “Since we all know you’ll never be Obama, why not resign and make this country great again?” O’Donnell sang.

Rosie O’Donnell brought an Irish song (and a few verbal slams) dedicated to her longtime foe Donald Trump on her final night guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live.

O’Donnell kicked off Thursday’s show — the final installment of her four-night return to the talk show format — by introducing herself as “nasty Rosie O’Donnell,” wasting no time referencing a title Trump has given her (and many other women) in the past.

She went on to make another joke about Trump reportedly watching her temporarily take over for Kimmel on the air, telling the audience that the president has “spent more nights with me this week than Melania,” before calling him “orange Voldemort” in her passionate defense of the “right to free speech in this country.”

The 64-year-old closed out her final monologue with a dedication to Trump, as she sang a “traditional Irish song dedicated to a very special boy” to the tune of “Danny Boy.”

“Oh Donny boy, it’s Rosie, Rosie calling. From Hollywood, the Jimmy Kimmel show. Drop that Big Mac that we all know you’re holding, because, my dear, I worry for you so,” O’Donnell began, as the audience laughed.

She continued, “Poor Donny boy, your polls, your polls are falling. Your reflecting pool is green as Mountain Dew. Your wig’s a mess, your ballroom is appalling, and with Iran you bit off more than you can chew.”

She also got a few digs in at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as she sang, “Measles are back, inflation is a’swelling,” before setting her sights back on Trump: “You post all night, you’re sleeping while you work. And what’s with all this useless crap you’re selling? Hey, sweetie pie, you’re driving us all berserk.”

O’Donnell closed the song by urging Trump to leave office, and interpolated his political movement’s “make America great again” slogan for her own tune.

“But there’s a way to end this drama. It’s time to use that stable genius brain,” she sang. “Since we all know you’ll never be Obama, why not resign and make this country great again? Yes, we all know you’ll never be Obama. Come on, resign and make this country great again!”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment on O’Donnell’s song.

Trump and O’Donnell have long sparred in public, dating as far back as the comedian and actress’ time as moderator on The View from 2006-2007 and again from 2014-2015, with the president even speaking out against O’Donnell during his initial run for office in 2016.

O’Donnell’s stint on Jimmy Kimmel Live came amid rumors that she’s eyeing a permanent TV comeback after moving to Ireland to avoid Trump’s second term in office in America. While the former Rosie O’Donnell Show host publicly denied speculation that she’s mounting a secret takeover of Kimmel’s show, she detailed in a recent episode of the Tangle podcast that her team is currently charting potential paths for another full-time television gig for her.

“It would look a lot like my old show, to tell you the truth. I think America wants nostalgia. I think what they don’t want is celebrity culture. I think celebrity culture is dead in America,” she said in July on the podcast.

Watch O’Donnell’s song for Trump on the Beastly website below.

ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO – FROM

NEW YORK TIMES

August 19, 2026

Good afternoon! The dust is settling after a surprising primary night that took us from Florida to Alaska — and showed some of President Trump’s preferred candidates falling short. Here’s what we learned.

A weird night for Trump

	By Jess Bidgood

Florida has become a Republican stronghold, and fallen completely off the presidential battleground map. But that doesn’t mean it has lost its main-character energy by becoming — gasp — predictable.

The big headline from last night is that Democrats shocked the establishment by nominating a democratic socialist for Senate, though it wasn’t just Democrats who defied expectations yesterday. Republican voters shrugged off some of President Trump’s preferred candidates in Florida and beyond.

There is little the president loves more than playing kingmaker. With primary season drawing to a close and the midterms approaching, those defeats are the latest to leave Trump’s record of picking winners looking a little wobbly.

This summer, Trump-endorsed candidates faltered in governor’s races in Iowa and Georgia. His initial pick for governor lost in South Carolina, too. Then, last week, the election denier Mike Lindell fell short in his Trump-backed bid to be the Republican nominee for governor in Minnesota.

Lots of Trump’s preferred candidates notched wins last night, too, including the top Republicans running for governor and Senate in Florida. But here’s where the cracks showed.

An embattled ally lost his House seat.

Once Trump bestows an endorsement, he hates to take it away. That might have backfired last night.

Representative Cory Mills of Florida was investigated by the police in Washington last year, in connection with a report of an assault on a woman. He wasn’t charged. Another woman got a protective order against him, also last year.

That didn’t stop Trump from endorsing Mills in February. Last night, though, Mills lost to Ryan Elijah, a former local TV anchor — the latest example of how Republican voters are backing away from candidates who have courted controversy. (Another Trump-endorsed candidate, Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee, lost a primary this month after drawing criticism for anti-Muslim remarks.)

Writing on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said that he had privately urged Mills to drop out of the race, but that Mills would not listen.

Mills wasn’t the only Trump pick for Congress who lost last night. In the crowded primary for the 19th District — where a bevy of Florida transplants were competing to represent their new state — Trump had endorsed Catalina Lauf, a candidate aligned with the Make America Healthy Again movement who unsuccessfully ran twice for Congress in Illinois before she moved to Florida. But it was Jim Schwartzel, a local media mogul, who prevailed there.

Did Byron Donalds underperform?

Representative Byron Donalds has gone all in for Trump, and the president returned the favor, enthusiastically backing his bid for governor as the term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis steps aside.

Donalds won his party’s nomination last night, and he is widely seen as the front-runner in the contest against the Republican turned Democrat David Jolly in November. A win would make Donalds Florida’s first Black governor. But he failed to capture more than 50 percent of the primary vote, after trailing Lt. Gov. Jay Collins in some largely white, rural counties in the northern part of the state. That raises questions about how enthusiastic Republicans in those areas will be for his campaign in the fall.

It’s not the first time this summer that some white Republicans have shown reluctance to support Trump-endorsed candidates of color. In Central Michigan, Amir Hassan, a Navy veteran who is Black, lost a bid for the House to a little-known white candidate who had suspended his campaign.

Trump suffered a loss in Wyoming.

Let’s head to Wyoming, where, in the governor’s race, a rancher and veterinarian who promised to lower the temperature of the state’s internecine Republican brawls beat a Trump-backed candidate who vowed to stock state government with “bulldogs.”

The victory of Eric Barlow, a rancher, over Megan Degenfelder, Trump’s choice, suggests that even the president’s imprimatur wasn’t enough in a rural state where voters make up their minds by chatting with candidates at rodeos and barbecues, my colleague Jack Healy wrote. (A memorable video Barlow cut, in which he put on a long glove to remove yak dung from a mailbox, might have helped a little, too.)

Darline Graham had a rough debate.

The next test of Trump’s endorsement will come in South Carolina, where Senator Darline Graham — who was appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster to temporarily fill the vacancy left open by the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham — is running for a full term.

Impressed by her poise in the wake of her brother’s death, Trump endorsed Graham. But things got a little awkward during a debate last night.

A disability rights advocate, she stumbled over a foreign policy question, showcasing her inexperience as she tries to assure voters who know little about her that she’s ready for six years in the Senate.

When she was asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea were of national security interest to the United States, she said she didn’t know.

“I’m just going to be honest here,” she said. “I’m not that informed on national security.”

The Times reporter Emily Davies was there, and heard gasps and boos in the audience.

Trump is heading to Myrtle Beach to campaign for Graham on Friday.

Angie Nixon Saul Martinez for The New York Times

NUMBER OF THE DAY

Over $15 million

That’s how much more Alexander Vindman, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Florida, raised than Angie Nixon, a state lawmaker and a democratic socialist — only for Nixon to handily beat him in a shocking primary upset. She’ll face Senator Ashley Moody, a Republican, in November.

Got a tip?
The Times offers several ways to send important information confidentially.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Dan Sullivan (not the senator) in front of his house in Alaska. Christopher Miller for The New York Times

“I’ve been Dan Sullivan longer than you’ve been Dan Sullivan.”

That’s Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from tiny Petersburg, Alaska, who is running for Senate as a Republican.

He’s got the same name as the state’s incumbent Republican senator, which has raised suspicions that he is a Democratic plant. My colleague Kellen Browning traveled to Alaska for an extensive interview with the lesser known Sullivan, who denies that he is trying to siphon votes away from the sitting senator.

The top Democratic candidate in Alaska, Mary Peltola, showed strength in an incomplete primary vote count, leading Senator Dan S. Sullivan — a sign that the race could be close in November. In Alaska, the top four vote-getters will advance to the general election, and Sullivan (the retired teacher, that is) is currently in third place.

Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

ONE LAST THING

Is it a real poll, or a ‘social experiment’?

The accuracy of polls is facing new scrutiny after recent misfires in Democratic primaries.

Which is why it’s especially remarkable that a group just revealed that it had fabricated two surveys, saying they were part of a “short-term social experiment.”

My colleagues Ruth Igielnik and Caroline Soler have more.

MORE POLITICAL NEWS and ANALYSIS

Saul Martinez for The New York Times

A Stunning Win for the Left in Florida: 6 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Primaries

State Representative Angie Nixon, a progressive firebrand, marshaled grass-roots enthusiasm to defeat a moderate who dramatically out-raised her. Can it carry her to victory in November?

By Patricia Mazzei

Saul Martinez for The New York Times

The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing

State Representative Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. Her victory will test the strength of a democratic socialist in a red state.

By Patricia Mazzei

Kelsey McClellan for The New York Times

Google Just Made It Easier for Campaigns to Send You Fund-Raising Emails

Republicans previously sued Google claiming its spam filter was biased, but the case was dismissed. The company will now allow verified campaigns to more easily bypass the spam filter.

By Shane Goldmacher

KC McGinnis for The New York Times

Hegseth Campaigns for Vulnerable House Republican in Iowa

The appearance for Representative Zach Nunn was another departure from previous norms for the defense secretary, whose predecessors kept a greater distance from politics.

By Bayliss Wagner

ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE – FROM the DAILY BEAST

ANOTHER WEIRD NIGHT for TRUMP... ‘NASTY’ ROSIE O’DONNELL SLAMS DONALD TRUMP WITH SCATHING SONG URGING HIM TO RESIGN: ‘YOU’LL NEVER BE OBAMA’

Rosie O’Donnell Hits Trump Where It Hurts in Final Kimmel Monologue

Rosie O’Donnell signed off her week as Jimmy Kimmel’s guest host with a brutal performance.

By Meera Navlakha Updated Aug. 21 2026 11:07AM EDT Published Aug. 21 2026 10:10AM EDT

Rosie O’Donnell closed out her week as Jimmy Kimmel’s guest host with a scathing song “dedicated to a very special boy.”

Singing to the tune of “Danny Boy,” O’Donnell eviscerated her longtime nemesis, Donald Trump.

As one of Kimmel’s rotating summer hosts, hand-picked by the ABC anchor as a “special treat” for the president, O’Donnell surprisingly spent little time on him. She didn’t utter Trump’s name once, instead using creative nicknames for the president, and decided only to open her monologues with brief quips about him.

But the song became a perfect sendoff and conclusion to her stint on the late-night show.

Rosie O'Donnell delivered a special performance dedicated to Trump.YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live

“Oh, Donnie boy, it’s Rosie, Rosie calling from Hollywood, the Jimmy Kimmel show. Drop that Big Mac that we all know you’re holding, because, my dear, I worry for you so,” she sang, with an image of the president gobbling his beloved McDonald’s looming in the background.

She continued, “Poor Donnie boy, your polls, your polls are falling / Your Reflecting Pool is green as Mountain Dew / Your wig’s a mess. Your ballroom is appalling / And with Iran, you bit off more than you can chew.”

“Measles are back / Inflation is a swelling. You post all night / You’re sleeping while you work. And what’s with all this useless c--- you’re selling? / Hey, sweetie pie, you’re driving us all berserk.”

The comedian and former talk-show host concluded her song with a plea for the president to put an end to the country’s misery.

“But there’s a way to end this drama / It’s time to use that stable genius brain / Since we all know you’ll never be Obama, why not resign and make this country great again?” she belted. “Yes, we all know you’ll never be Obama / Come on, resign and make this country great again!”

The former host of The View thanked Kimmel’s audience and the “hungry, hungry hypocrite in the White House” for watching her episodes throughout the week.

She also gave a shout-out to Kimmel, saying, “I’d like to thank Jimmy Kimmel for inviting me to do this and for reminding everyone that we have the right to free speech in this country, whether Orange Voldemort likes it or not.”

O’Donnell was careful with how much space she gave to Trump, suggesting that this move alone would drive the 80-year-old president crazy.

That didn’t stop MAGA from melting down over her temporary hosting gig. Fox News host Sean Hannity said O’Donnell should “stay in Ireland,” after her jokes about the president hit a nerve. Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren jumped in on the criticism, saying, “She supposedly left because Trump was elected, and last time I checked he’s still here. So why’s she here?”

O’Donnell notably left the U.S. once Trump was re-elected, moving to Ireland in 2025 and prompting the president to threaten to revoke her American citizenship.

White House spokesperson David Ingle similarly slammed O’Donnell’s joke about Trump’s 35-year-old executive assistant Natalie Harp, telling People in response, “Rosie O’Donnell is a nasty woman and a total slob whose brain has been completely destroyed by Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

O’Donnell has declared that she lives “rent free” in Trump’s head, with a feud that dates back to 2006.

PEANUT GALLERY

· dmartens93

2 days ago

Rosie was great and she looks fabulous!

Reply

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· johnmichaellison

2 days ago

Never been one of her fans but this is hilarious! Well Done Ms. O'Donnell

Reply

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· swamp girl redux

2 days ago

AN OPEN LETTER TO ROSIE:

A friend of mine upstairs from me loved your work for years and years; from your own show, to The View, and everywhere (including Ireland) since. She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago, and in recent days was receiving morphine at home. Miraculously, I got to t...

See more

Reply

Share

2 replies

· Resist1957

2 days ago

She hit it out of the park all week!

Reply

Share

1 reply

· saber203

2 days ago

You know Trump absolutely flipped out watching that.

ATTACHMENT FORTY FOUR – FROM QAZINFORM (KAZAKHSTAN)

KAZINFORM: MONGOLIA UNVEILS 2026–2030 NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY

09:14, 19 August 2026

At the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), Mongolia officially presented its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2030, aligning with global commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Sandag-Ochir Tsend, Environment and Climate Change Minister and Chair of the National Committee for COP17 introduced it.

Mongolia joined the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, committing to conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of natural resources, fair sharing of genetic resources.

The new strategy emphasizes turning global pledges into concrete results.

The Kunming-Montreal Framework (2022) set worldwide biodiversity targets through 2030.

Mongolia’s plan, enacted by Government Resolution on June 10, 2026, is fully aligned with these targets.

2026–2030 strategic goals are to strengthen policy synergy across Rio Conventions, enhance ecosystem resilience against desertification and climate change, expand protected areas and improve management and promote community-based conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

Reports noted, Mongolia, UNCCD Secretariat joined efforts to promote country ahead of COP17.

ATTACHMENT FORTY FIVE – FROM AL JAZEERA

SOUTH AFRICA TO AUSTRALIA: WHY COAL PROFITS ARE SURGING DURING IRAN WAR

Coal companies are reporting a huge rise in profits, but analysts say a global clean energy transition is still on track.

By Shola Lawal

Published On 19 Aug 202619 Aug 2026

Crude oil and natural gas supplies have been disrupted worldwide by the United States-Israel war on Iran, but one energy sector appears to be cashing in – coal.

This week, South Africa’s thermal coal producer Thungela Resources said it had doubled its half-year profits as the war has forced more countries to buy the fuel.

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Although abundant and relatively cheap to produce, coal is considered one of the dirtiest fossil fuels.

Mining it causes water pollution, and burning it releases enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming.

In recent months, several countries, especially in Asia, have reversed or delayed promises to scale back on coal production.

Global coal consumption was already rising in 2025 with the Eurasia region and the US using the fuel to power artificial intelligence data centres, according to the World Bank.

Here’s what we know:

WHY IS MORE COAL BEING USED?

The US-Israel war on Iran has triggered a global energy crisis. Soon after strikes on Tehran began on February 28, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies were shipped during peacetime.

NEGOTIATIONS TO REOPEN THE STRAIT ARE ONGOING.

Its closure has reduced oil and gas supplies and caused oil prices to soar, prompting many countries to fall back on the most readily available alternative to keep the power on – coal.

While coal prices have also risen, the fuel is still much cheaper than oil – and is more readily available.

No region has been more impacted than Asia, which largely depends on the Gulf for its energy needs. About 82 percent of oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz went to Asia in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration. China, India, Japan and South Korea were the top destinations.

Besides being unable to ship exports through the strait, Gulf countries caught up in the conflict have also been badly impacted by Iranian strikes. Qatar, for example, was forced to declare force majeure on its delivery contracts in March when Iranian drones hit its Ras Laffan oil facility – the world’s largest LNG complex – forcing it offline. Iran’s attacks had knocked out 17 percent of Qatar’s LNG exports by March, state officials said.

Similarly, the United Arab Emirates’s Das Island LNG terminal, Fujairah oil terminal, Ruwais Refinery Complex and other energy sites have been attacked during the conflict. Facilities in Saudi Arabia and Oman have also been hit.

Where has coal use increased?

According to an analysis by the energy data company Ember, coal output will rise globally by 1.8 percent by the end of 2026 compared with 2025 in a “worst-case” scenario.

This represents a notable uptick considering that countries are meant to be transitioning away from coal, experts said.

Since the war began, several Asian countries have announced plans to increase coal-fired electricity generation.

Japan has lifted restrictions on older, high-emission coal plants to cope with the energy shocks while South Korea has delayed the shutdown of coal-powered plants it promised to wind down by 2040.

In Bangladesh, the government at first imposed power cuts, closed universities and rationed fuel sales for vehicles before announcing it had ramped up coal-powered electricity generation.

Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam have also increased coal-powered electricity generation to preserve dwindling gas reserves.

In Pakistan, data from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority showed that by July, electricity generated from imported coal had risen by 90 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

China and India already consume 70 percent of the world’s coal and are also major producers. In India, where electricity demand is increasing partly due to more intense heatwaves, the government plans to launch several new coal-mining projects that will see global supplies increase by 2.5 billion tonnes a year, according to the Global Energy Monitor.

Germany also said it won’t jeopardise electricity generation because of earlier climate promises it made while Italy has pushed back its coal phase-out plans from late 2025 to 2038.

Who is making a profit from coal?

Indonesia is the top coal exporter by a wide margin, followed by Australia and Russia.

In March, Jakarta reversed previous plans to curb coal production and reduce oversupply in a bid to benefit from the rising prices. Prices were set at $131.85 per tonne in July, compared with $102.20 in the previous year.

South Africa’s Thungela, meanwhile, reported doubled profits from January to June, compared with the same period of 2025, driven largely by higher production from its Ensham mines in Queensland as well as higher demand and higher prices at both Ensham and its South Africa operations.

Production at Ensham rose by 38 percent in the first half of the year – during the peak of the conflict – to 2.2 tonnes, compared with 1.6 tonnes in the previous period.

The company reported 4.80 South African rand ($0.30) in headline earnings per share – or HEPS, a primary metric of profitability used in South Africa. That’s up from 1.92 rand ($0.12) in June last year.

In a statement, Thungela said prices will likely remain high as European and Asian markets prepare for winter.

What does this mean for the drive for clean energy?

In 2021, more than 40 countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, promised to scale back coal use at the COP26 global climate summit. India and China did not sign up, however. Last year, South Korea joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which helps coal-dependent economies transition away from the fuel.

However, the Middle East crisis has upset those plans largely because many countries do not have sufficient renewable energy-generating capacity to fall back on, said Nick Hedley, an energy transition analyst at South Africa-based Zero Carbon Analytics.

“For the likes of Bangladesh, it’s easy to lift coal use when global gas supplies are disrupted because the country invested heavily in coal infrastructure in recent decades, and much of that capacity has been sitting idle,” he said.

“Coal becomes cheaper than imported gas when gas prices surge. Importantly, coal still cannot compete with renewables on cost,” Hedley added.

It’s not all doom, however. Analysts noted that upticks in some places are being offset by long-term declines in coal use in places like Europe.

China’s domestic coal production also fell this year as the government tightened oversight following a deadly explosion in May at the Liushenyu coal mine, where 82 people died. Beijing has also made large investments in renewables.

In addition, the breakdown of global fossil energy supply chains could make clean alternatives more competitive and force more countries to invest in them, Hedley pointed out.

“The lesson here is that Asian countries need to speed up their shift to clean energy and electrification to safeguard themselves against future global crises,” he concluded.

ATTACHMENT FORTY SIX – FROM THE ECONOMIST

IT’S TOO DARN HOT. BLAME GLOBAL DIMMING

Earth is absorbing a lot more sunshine

Jul 16th 2026

Cole Porter had it right. It is too darn hot. On July 14th the surface temperature of Earth’s tropical and mid-latitude oceans was higher than on any other July 14th in modern records. The same was true for every other day in July, and for almost all of the days in June, too. Europe has gone through three heatwaves since May, and though the continent is better prepared for such things than it used to be, tens of thousands will have died as a result.

America’s Fourth of July celebrations took place under a sweltering “heat dome”. Supertyphoon Bavi, which saw well over a million people evacuated from the Chinese coast, owed much of its power to the rate at which it was able to suck up energy from the overheated sea. Fires are spreading far and wide. Worse is to come. The chances of this year being the hottest on record are growing; the El Niño getting under way in the Pacific all but guarantees next year will be.

Read the rest of our cover package

· The rate at which Earth is absorbing energy is alarming climate scientists

· Earth is dimming

Climate change is feeding on itself. The warming effects of greenhouse gases are driving processes that heat up the planet yet further. The one which is exciting—and alarming—scientists most is an unexpected reduction in an obscure but fundamental aspect of Earth: its albedo.

The albedo is the fraction of incoming sunlight that a surface or a planet reflects back whence it came. High albedos, whether they are created by white roofs or ice-covered seas, keep things cool; by contrast, when albedos are low, the incoming energy stays here on Earth, raising the planet’s surface temperatures. Robust satellite measurements of Earth’s albedo have now been taken for over two decades. They show it falling with surprising speed. The oceans, which are responsible for most of the sunshine’s absorption, have been accumulating much more heat as a result.

This is partly because of a scarcity of cooling clouds over the seas, a widely predicted effect of greenhouse warming. It is also owing to something else entirely. In 2006—in fact, 20 years ago this month—the late Paul Crutzen, a world-renowned atmospheric chemist, wrote an article pointing out the “policy dilemma” embedded in efforts to control emissions of sulphur dioxide. Sulphur dioxide, which comes from the burning of some fossil fuels, creates little particles in the atmosphere after it is emitted. They wreak havoc with human health. They also reflect sunlight back into space, thereby reducing the amount of energy that reaches Earth’s surface. Health agencies, Crutzen said, thought controlling the particles could save 500,000 lives a year; at the same time, by diminishing the sulphur’s cooling effect, the controls might increase global warming by perhaps 1°C (1.8°F).

Both albedo-reducing trends look set to continue, adding yet more to the heat. The industrial cities of the developing world are hardly likely to sacrifice the health of their smog-choked inhabitants in order to slow warming for the world at large, so sulphur emissions will continue to fall. The climate feedbacks which reduce cloud cover will not stop while carbon-dioxide levels continue to rise. And even when the transition to renewable energy eats into the use of fossil fuels, as it is starting to do, what matters most is the cumulative level of greenhouse gases.

Around a decade ago the need to stabilise that cumulative level led lots of countries to embrace “net zero” goals. The idea’s proponents see putting no more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than you are taking out as good planetary housekeeping. They are right. But it is an unavoidably slow process. What’s more, its critics are also correct when they say that only for the largest economies does a single country’s progress towards net-zero goals have any discernible effect on the world’s overall trajectory. The idea was conceived when America was a believer in international agreements and the level of idealism needed to imagine countries spurring each other on to better things was merely high—not, as it is now, delusional.

WHY CAN’T YOU BEHAVE?

There are still places where climate change is understood to be important and where action can be co-ordinated. Being committed to net zero should buy a country a certain standing when it is negotiating other, more near-term options for limiting climate change, such as curbing methane emissions and the production of fluorinated gases used in cooling systems, both of which bring benefits faster than cutting carbon dioxide.

No form of emissions reduction, though, can quickly bend the current trajectory. Endurance is what remains. Making air conditioning more efficient, cheap and widespread saves lives and fits well with other policy goals, like making clean electricity cheap to produce and consume. Ten years ago a commitment to phase out the fluorinated gases in cooling systems was reached in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. There is scope for extra international efforts to improve the machinery that uses them. This could double the cooling benefit of phasing out the gases.

The most radical response is to make Earth a bit more reflective again. Crutzen’s provocative suggestion for how to resolve his policy dilemma over sulphur emissions was to replace harmful aerosols with benign ones. The brightening of cooling clouds has been tried over the Great Barrier Reef, but the technology needed to do it at scale remains elusive. An Israeli-American company, Stardust Solutions, has raised money to develop “safe” aerosols that it thinks a country or set of countries could use to cool the planet from the stratosphere.

Some oppose such geoengineering fiercely; hardly anyone endorses it as a welcome path forward. But if nations can act in concert to warm the planet—as those of the International Maritime Organisation did when they enforced new restrictions on ships’ sulphur emissions in 2020—they ought to be able to discuss the conditions under which they might cool it. Keeping silent about geoengineering does not stop someone from trying it. The more warming quickens, the sooner it may reach a point where, to quote Cole Porter again, anything goes. ■

ATTACHMENT FORTY SEVEN – FROM GUK

FROM BONE-DRY TO SOAKED TO THE BONE, WELCOME TO THE AGE OF CLIMATE WHIPLASH

This punishingly hot and dry summer will probably be followed by another wet winter. But it’s nothing compared with what Britain will endure in years to come

By Aditya Chakrabortty Thu 20 Aug 2026 01.00 EDT

This summer could be the hottest, driest and deadliest in English history. Successive heatwaves have so far claimed almost 3,000 lives. Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales is in drought, while key reservoirs are parched. Across this brown and stickily unpleasant land, from Grimsby down to St Ives, hosepipe bans are in force, while music festivals are staged not on green fields but in giant dust bowls.

Just how bad is it? I asked a leading climate scientist.

“This is as good as it’s going to get,” said Hayley Fowler, a professor at Newcastle University. “It will only get hotter.”

A little while back, the Met Office filmed a mock weather forecast for 2050, with an authoritative yet smiley man wielding a clicker in front of a map. So far, so soothingly familiar – only the UK had gone from its usual green and jaunty yellow to a deep, bloody red. Cambridge was stamped with 40C, while Somerset and Dorset were up at 45C. This is the near-future that awaits you and me, our children and grandchildren. Just two decades away, the weather forecaster urged us to block out the sun and stay indoors. “Drink plenty of fluids,” he added.

Except there will not be as much fluid to drink. Britain is world-renowned for its soft steady drizzle, but over the next couple of decades, our summers will turn arid while winters are more likely to bring a regular deluge of rain, breaking our riverbanks and flooding our homes. Indeed, El Niño means this winter is likely to be especially bad – up there with Storm Desmond, believed Prof Fowler, the cyclone that in December 2015 shut down railway lines and plunged more than 60,000 homes in the north of England into darkness with no power.

Not that you’d know it from our politicians. This week, Nigel Farage’s useful idiot, Richard Tice, urged us to stop moaning and down some English sparkling. Our new prime minister, Andy Burnham, is strikingly eloquent on many subjects, but keeps stumm on the climate crisis, apart from his promises to be “pragmatic” on fossil fuels. Elsewhere, the columnists dust off their standby paragraphs fulminating about the Englishman’s right to wash his own SUV, and the public information ads chide us to turn off taps, as if more mindful toothbrushing is a climate-adaptation strategy. All is business as usual – even while the business model is broken.

“We are used to taking water for granted, thinking of it as infinitely available,” Dr Jonathan Paul, an earth scientist at Royal Holloway University of London, told me. “Very soon, we will be treating it as a precious resource.” He can foresee battles for who gets water between farmers and datacentres.

At the start of this year, I wrote about the temporary drought faced by households in Kent and Sussex, thousands of whom faced no running water for days on end. In Tunbridge Wells, people told me how quickly social norms broke down. Washing from buckets, they spent their days feeling grubby and smelly. Supermarkets were stripped bare of water.

Readers wrote to me about how those everyday scenes struck them as frightening, but they are what lies ahead for many more of us, if we leave a looming water crisis to be solved by our busted water system. Britain’s water supply is entrusted to a string of local private monopolies, overseen by underfunded, demoralised and largely toothless watchdogs. Since Margaret Thatcher sold off our water, this essential infrastructure has fallen into the hands of a transnational network of spivs and cowboys who have stripped it of almost every penny. For the sake of elite enrichment and lower household bills, the water system has relied on the public investment made by postwar social-democratic governments.

Within living memory, says Paul, Britain was a world leader at the design and building of reservoirs. Its water engineering and research was studied from Iran to Israel to the US. That expertise has vanished and the last big reservoir in England was built in 1992, planned and designed before privatisation.

These financiers and their husk companies cannot cope with the scenarios laid out by scientists. This summer the water companies have urged us to take shorter showers while lobbying ministers to allow surge pricing – which means charging you and me more for our water when we most need it. Never let a good crisis go to waste, after all. Late in the day, the government has demanded the industry plan for climate breakdown, but its plans are little more than patching up leaks and cutting down on waste. As is argued in a recent book on the industry, Murky Water: Challenging an Unsustainable System, by the Foundational Economy collective, this is a “fantasy plan”, in which Thames Water and the rest suddenly fix more burst pipes than they have ever managed before.

This crisis has been in part imposed on us from above – by successive bungling governments and rapacious companies. It will not be fixed from above, by either a Labour government paralysed with fear of the electorate or financiers out to make one last buck. Even if the water industry is taken back into public hands, we will need to find a way of investing vastly more into the system. As is argued in Murky Water, the fairest way of doing that is by changing our billing system so that we pay according to our means.

But for now consider today’s Britain. A country famous for its rain struggling with a dwindling water supply. A country in the North Sea now importing its energy. A democracy that just 10 years ago voted to take back control is now on the verge of losing control over its water and energy. What a state of affairs.

· Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

ATTACHMENT FORTY EIGHT – FROM

Farmers’ Almanac 2026 / 2027 Winter Weather Forecast

Winter 2026–2027 is shaping up to be a season of sharp contrasts, with an active southern storm track, quick bursts of snow and bitter cold across the North, and a tricky mix of rain, sleet, ice, and heavy wet snow in the Northeast. Keep the shovel, rain boots, and ice scraper close—this winter may bring plenty of surprises.

CNN (Attachment Eleven, above) reported that, as Europe grapples with successive heatwaves, it also faces the prospects of a winter energy crunch. “Gas storage levels across the EU were 59% full on Tuesday, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe — well below the average for this time of year and on par with levels seen during summer 2021, when Russia had begun restricting exports to the continent.

“I’m really concerned,” Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told CNN regarding the EU’s ability to replenish diminished stocks.

by Caleb Weatherbee Updated: August 13, 2026

2026 WINTER WEATHER OUTLOOK: SNOW, SLEET, AND SURPRISES

The winter of 2026–2027 may deliver sharp contrasts across the country. Some regions could face repeated storms, raw rain, and heavy, wet snow, while others experience milder stretches interrupted by quick cold snaps.

In other words, prepare for a winter of snow, sleet, and surprises. For the complete long-range prediction—and a full year of calendars, gardening advice, folklore, recipes, astronomy, practical tips, and seasonal wisdom—pick up the 210th edition of the Farmers’ Almanac, available in print later this month.

Our 2026–2027 winter outlook was prepared by Caleb Weatherbee using the same core, proprietary weather formula the Farmers’ Almanac has relied upon since its founding in 1818. First developed by founding editor David Young and passed down from one Almanac forecaster to the next, the time-tested method considers recurring natural cycles, solar activity, lunar influences, and historical weather patterns. Today, those traditional calculations are enhanced—not replaced—by modern forecasting tools, including satellite observations, computer modeling, current meteorological data, historical analogs, and analysis of large-scale ocean and atmospheric patterns. Together, these old and new methods help Caleb develop a broad, long-range regional outlook intended to help readers plan ahead—while remembering that nature always has the final word.

A Wet and Stormy Southern Tier

El Niño is expected to remain an important influence through the heart of the season, favoring wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the southern United States.

An active storm track may extend from Southern California and the Desert Southwest through Texas, the Gulf Coast, and the Southeast. These areas should watch for frequent storm systems, muddy fields, and occasional surges of cold air.

When that colder air meets abundant moisture, some storms could produce sleet, freezing rain, or heavy, wet snow. The southern Rockies may fare especially well for mountain snowfall.

QUICK COLD SNAPS ACROSS THE NORTH

Across much of the West, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes, temperatures should average near normal overall. However, that does not mean winter will be mild.

Fast-moving clippers, sudden cold snaps, and brief snowy periods are likely, although milder breaks may frequently interrupt the wintry weather. Farther north, the Plains, Midwest, and Great Lakes could experience sudden snow squalls, blustery winds, and bursts of bitter cold.

The middle of the country may also see frequent swings between thawing and freezing, creating rapidly changing road and field conditions.

A TRICKY WINTER FOR THE NORTHEAST

The Northeast may face one of the season’s most complicated winter patterns.

Coastal communities could receive more rain or mixed precipitation, while inland areas may be hit by several rounds of heavy, wet snow—particularly during January and February.

Small shifts in storm tracks and temperatures could make the difference between rain, sleet, freezing rain, and accumulating snow. Residents should be prepared for forecasts to change quickly as storms approach.

A CHANGEABLE SEASON IN THE NORTHWEST

The Pacific Northwest may experience a more changeable and somewhat less dependable snow season.

Meanwhile, the northern Plains and Upper Midwest could turn drier at times, especially when the southern storm track becomes dominant. Even so, brief but intense periods of cold, wind, and snow will remain possible.

WHERE WILL THE MOST PRECIPITATION FALL?

A very active southern storm track is expected to bring heavier-than-normal precipitation from California and the Southwest eastward through Texas, the Gulf Coast, and the Southeast.

A second storm path may guide weather systems along the Eastern Seaboard, bringing additional opportunities for rain, wintry mixes, and snow from the mid-Atlantic into New England.

Because temperatures may frequently hover near freezing, precipitation type will be especially difficult to predict. A slight change in temperature or storm direction could turn a cold rain into an icy mix—or transform a slushy snowfall into a significant winter storm.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Winter 2026–2027 may be defined by contrasts: an active and wet southern storm track, quick bursts of snow and cold across the North, and a particularly unpredictable mix of precipitation in the Northeast.

Keep the snow shovel, rain boots, and ice scraper close at hand. This winter, you may need all three.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How long has the Almanac forecast winter weather?

Since 1818, the same year of the Almanac’s founding. That makes it the longest-running long-range weather forecast in North America.

WHAT IS THE FORMULA?

A combination of sunspot cycles, lunar position, tidal pull, and historical pattern weighting. The exact details are not publicly published.

HOW ACCURATE IS THE FORECAST?

The Almanac reports 80-85% accuracy on regional outlooks. Independent reviews put actual accuracy somewhat lower, but still meaningfully above chance.

WHERE CAN I SEE THE CURRENT WINTER FORECAST?

On the Almanac’s long-range weather forecast page. The print edition is published each August.

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