U.N. talks fail to reach agreement regarding increased risk of global drought exacerbated by a warming climate

Despite two weeks of U.N.-sponsored talks in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh, the participating 197 nations failed to agree early Saturday on a plan to deal with global droughts, made longer and more severe by a warming climate.

The biennial talks, known as COP 16 and organized by a UN body that deals with combating desertification and droughts, attempted to create strong global mandates to legally bind and require nations to fund early warning systems and build resilient infrastructure in poorer countries, particularly Africa, which is worst affected by the changes.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification released a report earlier this week warning that if global warming trends continue, nearly five billion people — including in most of Europe, parts of the western U.S., Brazil, eastern Asia and central Africa — will be affected by the drying of Earth's lands by the end of the century, up from a quarter of the world's population today. The report also said farming was particularly at risk, which can lead to food insecurity for communities worldwide.