The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Nations signed an agreement paving the way for the holding of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 16) in Riyadh from 2 to 13 December 2024.
The Riyadh COP16 conference is the largest meeting ever of the 197 parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the first of its kind to be held in the Middle East, and the largest multilateral conference ever hosted by the Kingdom, at a time when 2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, one of the three main environmental treaties known as the Rio Conventions, along with climate change and biodiversity.