Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content
Back to Meetings

Side Event at UNCCD COP17 From Commitments to Action: Strengthening Transboundary Cooperation for Sand and Dust Storms in North-East Asia

25 August 2026
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
COP17 SDS Side Event

This UNCCD COP17 side event will mark the official launch of the Mongolia–TCS–ESCAP Joint Initiative on Addressing Sand and Dust Storms in North-East Asia. The new initiative will translate regional commitments into coordinated action, with Mongolia and the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat as key partners.

Responding to the growing transboundary impacts of sand and dust storms, the initiative will promote practical cooperation in four areas:

  • Impact-based forecasting and multi-hazard early warning
  • Transboundary risk assessment and sector-specific analysis
  • Community and municipal preparedness
  • Regional coordination and knowledge-sharing

Aligned with ESCAP’s Regional Plan of Action on Sand and Dust Storms, the initiative will strengthen institutional partnerships and advance joint projects linking ecological restoration in source areas with preparedness, mitigation, technology transfer and joint monitoring across North-East Asia.

25 Aug 2026
Opening Session
  • Remarks by Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Mongolia (tbc) 
  • Remarks by Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP 
  • Remarks by Mr. Lee, Hee-Sup, Secretary General, Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat 
Launching of the Joint SDS Initiative

Launching of the Collaborative Initiative of Mongolia, TCS and ESCAP in Addressing Sand and Dust Storms 

Introduction of the Initiative: Ms. Letizia Rossano, Director, Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management 

Panel Discussion on Regional Cooperation on SDS in North-East Asia

Moderator

  • Mr. Battulga Erkhembayar, Director General of the National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring (NAMEM), and Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the World Meteorological Organization (tbc) 

Keynote (7-8 minutes) 

  • Mr. Gomboluudev Purevjav, Scientific Secretary of the Information and Research Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment (IRIMHE), National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring (NAMEM), Mongolia

Panelists (6-7 minutes each) 

  • Mr. GAO Guanglei, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Beijing Forestry University & Deputy Director of the General Office of the China-Mongolia Cooperative Center for Combating Desertification (Beijing Center)  
  • Mr. KUROSAKI Yasunori, Professor, International Platform for Dryland Research and Education / Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University 
  • Ms. YUN Eunju, Director, Environmental Safety Division, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea 
  • Mr. Daniel Tong, Associate Professor, Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols at George Mason University and Chair of the Global Steering Committee of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS WAS)
  • Mr. Animesh Kumar, Head, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Office in Bonn

Q&A 

Closing