NEW YORK: Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh has called for stronger international cooperation to confront climate change, environmental degradation and other challenges that increasingly cross national borders.

Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Khurelsukh emphasised collective action as countries face growing pressure to protect natural resources while pursuing sustainable development.

His remarks reflected Mongolia’s increasing focus on environmental issues in its international engagement, particularly land degradation, desertification and the protection of ecosystems.

For Mongolia, these challenges are closely connected to everyday life. The country’s vast grasslands support pastoral communities and livestock-based livelihoods, making the condition of land an economic and social concern as well as an environmental one.

Mongolia puts land degradation on global agenda

Khurelsukh highlighted Mongolia’s efforts to strengthen environmental protection, including the country’s “Billion Trees” initiative, which aims to expand tree planting and contribute to efforts against desertification and land degradation.

The issue has also become part of Mongolia’s international diplomacy.

In August, Ulaanbaatar hosted the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, bringing governments and other stakeholders together to discuss land restoration, drought resilience, water, rangelands and food systems.

The conference placed particular attention on the connection between healthy land and wider questions of food security, livelihoods and resilience.

Mongolia’s experience gives those discussions particular relevance. In a country where pastoralism remains an important part of rural life, deteriorating land conditions can affect livestock, household incomes and the ability of communities to cope with drought and other environmental pressures.

Environment and heritage linked

Khurelsukh also drew attention to Mongolia’s nomadic heritage and cultural traditions, highlighting efforts to preserve historical and cultural sites and secure international recognition for them, including through UNESCO.

The connection between culture and environment is especially visible in societies where traditional livelihoods depend heavily on landscapes and natural resources.

Protecting land, in this context, is not simply about conserving ecosystems. It can also mean protecting livelihoods, cultural practices and ways of life that have developed around those landscapes over generations.

Khurelsukh told world leaders that sustained international cooperation would be necessary as countries confront increasingly interconnected environmental and development challenges.

His message at the General Assembly reflected a wider reality facing climate diplomacy: while climate impacts are experienced locally, many of the forces shaping them from global emissions to finance and environmental degradation  cannot be addressed by countries acting alone.