The final 19 Key Messages reflect civil society positions, priorities, and recommendations gathered through a series of participatory and inclusive consultation processes coordinated by the UNCCD CSO Panel.
The process began with the development of the Civil Society Key Messages and Statements for CRIC23 (Panama, 1-5 December 2025), which involved more than 250 civil society representatives from different regions in the collection and validation of inputs. It was further informed by the Global Consultation on Civil Society Perspectives on Drought-Resilient Territories (February-March 2026), conducted in preparation for the Desertif’actions Summit and comprising a global survey and regional consultations with contributions from more than 200 civil society representatives worldwide. Additional priorities were drawn from the outcomes of the Desertif’actions Summit 2026 (Tunisia, 25-28 March 2026), which brought together over 350 representatives of civil society, research institutions, public and private institutions, and local authorities.
The CSO Panel synthesised these inputs into a set of draft key messages. Finally, a global Key Messages Prioritisation Survey (June-July 2026), involving 180 civil society representatives worldwide, was conducted to identify the highest-priority messages for collective civil society advocacy at COP17. The results of this process informed the final set of 19 Key Messages.
