DAVOS, SWITZERLAND -- The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat and the UNCCD COP16 Presidency, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, announced the official launch of the Business4Land (B4L) Champions’ Council at a high-level event hosted at InTent during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos.

The B4L Champions’ Council brings together global CEOs and senior executives from across the agriculture, consulting, environmental services, fashion, food, pulp/paper. renewable energy, and technology sectors. It aims to drive private sector leadership in restoring 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030—aligning business ambition with the global SDG goals for climate, biodiversity, and land degradation neutrality.

“Half of GDP depends on land because our fresh water is on land, our farms are on land, our forests are on land, our cities are on land, our villages are on land, our roads are on land. Yet every year, 100 million hectares of land are degraded because of business as usual. We need to shift to business unusual,” said H.E. Dr. Osama Ibrahim Faqeeha, Deputy Minister of Environment of Saudi Arabia and Advisor to the COP16 Presidency. “We cannot do it without the business community. We need to have a major shift in our attitude to land and redesign our spending. The good news is that by investing in land, there is no losing, there is only winning.”

The Council will support B4L actions aligned with the Riyadh Action Agenda to catalyze actions from the private sector, launched at COP16 in Riyadh in December 2024, where over US$12 billion was pledged for land restoration and drought resilience, including contributions from the Arab Coordination Group, the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund, and the Government of Saudi Arabia. The B4L Champions’ Council will build on this momentum through coordinated business action.

“There is a cost for inaction, and there is a huge revenue that will come with action: For each dollar spent on land, it would generate around 30 dollars in revenue,” said Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of UNCCD. “The B4L initiative is the only official and formal private sector platform out of the UN conventions, from climate change to biodiversity that actually now exists. This is not a voluntary contribution; it is a part of Corporate Social Responsibility.”

Driving Business Action for Land Regeneration

The B4L Champions’ Council objectives include mobilizing private capital and corporate action to scale up regenerative and land-positive business models; championing business and investment cases for land restoration, drought resilience, food security, and community well-being; fostering business-to-business collaboration across value chains; and supporting policy alignment through structured public-private dialogue with governments and multilateral institutions.

The Council will also play a key role in supporting the implementation of the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership (RGDRP), which was launched to address growing drought risks through coordinated global action.

During the launch in Davos, founding corporate leaders underscored land restoration as an urgent business imperative.

Nexira’s Managing Director emphasized the need for measurable impact and sustainable sourcing across agricultural value chains, while Suzano’s Executive Vice-President for Sustainability highlighted how regenerative forestry strengthens biodiversity and long-term financial resilience. Furthermore, the founder of Gut & Bösel shared practical insights on building soil health and reversing land degradation through farm-level innovation.

The launch marks a key milestone in positioning land at the heart of both climate and development agendas, while highlighting the pivotal role of the private sector in accelerating a regenerative, land-positive future.