Nigeria, Aug. 28 -- The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) ended Friday with governments, development banks, funds and companies announcing a $1.3 billion portfolio to support land restoration and drought resilience efforts across 23 countries.

The deal reached was announced on Friday by the COP17 presidency during the closing press conference in Mongolia.

Delegates also adopted this during the closing plenary, chaired by the respective committees of the conference .

"Governments, development banks, funds and companies announced a US$1.3 billion portfolio of finance for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries on five continents, at d...