Nearly 200 countries have agreed on a new plan to accelerate progress toward the world’s 2030 biodiversity targets, after recognizing that current conservation efforts are falling short.
The agreement was reached at the COP17 biodiversity summit in Yerevan, Armenia, following two weeks of talks reviewing progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Adopted in 2022, the framework seeks to protect around one-third of the world’s land and seas by 2030.
The resulting plan, known as the Yerevan Pathway, is intended to increase efforts before the next biodiversity summit in Ecuador in two years. Its measures include addressing subsidies and incentives that damage nature, expanding financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries, and improving systems for monitoring and reporting progress.
Participants also acknowledged that funding remains one of the largest barriers to meeting global biodiversity commitments. Steven Guilbeault, a former Canadian minister of environment and climate change, said substantially more public and private finance would be needed, alongside reforms to harmful subsidies and better access to funding for countries and communities facing the nature crisis.
Guilbeault also described as especially disappointing the lack of money in a fund agreed at the previous summit. The fund was designed for voluntary contributions from companies that profit from genetic materials, but it has remained largely empty.
Sources: Ars Technica.