The COP17 biodiversity summit in Yerevan, Armenia, ended on October 31 after two weeks of negotiations, with a stark assessment: countries are far from meeting the 23 targets agreed at COP15 in 2022 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The summit’s final global review warned that the 2030 goals will not be achieved unless collective implementation accelerates quickly.
One of the best-known targets is to protect 30% of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030. So far, protection covers about 20% of land and 10% of the seas. The figures vary across marine areas: around 22–23% of national waters are protected, compared with just 1.5% of the high seas.
Delegates adopted the Yerevan Pathway, an action plan intended to advance the COP15 commitments as quickly as possible. Its priorities include cutting subsidies and incentives for activities that harm biodiversity, such as fishing and agriculture; increasing financial, scientific and technical assistance for poorer countries with rich biodiversity; aligning national budgets and economic decisions with the Kunming-Montreal framework; and regularly monitoring progress against commitments.
Financing remained a major point of contention. The Convention on Biological Diversity calls on parties to fund national biodiversity efforts according to their means, while developed countries are expected to help poorer nations. The European Union had sought to expand the list of donor countries, but the proposal did not succeed. New funding announcements at the summit totalled about $2 billion.
A separate fund established at COP16 in Cali in 2024 collects contributions from companies that use genetic data from biodiversity, particularly in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The suggested contribution is 1% of profits or 0.1% of revenue, but payments are voluntary. After a year and a half, the fund had collected only $10,000, all from small businesses.
The funding debate also highlighted the gap between conservation spending and investment in activities that damage nature. The UN estimates that $30 is invested in harmful activities for every dollar invested in conservation. CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker said that nature cannot be protected while its destruction continues to receive funding.
The summit ended without setting more ambitious targets, though it avoided a breakdown in negotiations. Steven Guilbeault, one of the architects of the Kunming-Montreal agreement, described the talks as an important step that still falls short of what is needed to meet the 2030 commitments. Greenpeace International’s An Lambrechts said the pace and scale of action remain inadequate for the biodiversity crisis. Greenpeace Africa’s Bonaventure Bono also criticized the summit for not recognizing the self-determination of Indigenous peoples and local communities or using stronger language on their rights.
The next biodiversity summit, COP18, is scheduled to take place in Quito, Ecuador, in 2028.
Sources: Focus.it.