Many MindedYerevan biodiversity talks admit 2030 nature goals are off track
The UN biodiversity conference, COP17, closed in Yerevan, Armenia, on 31 October 2026. Its main product was the first global review of progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed in 2022, which sets 23 targets for 2030. The review text states that the goal of reversing nature loss and meeting those targets will not be achieved unless action speeds up rapidly, and it urges countries to raise ambition.
Money was the hardest part. Developed countries missed the commitment to raise at least $20bn a year for nature by 2025. Delegates pointed to falling aid and a 27% decline in environmental funding for 2026-30. Target 19 still aims for at least $200bn a year from all sources by 2030. A push led by the JUSCANZ group sought to widen the donor base, possibly to emerging economies such as China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and India. Countries agreed that nations wishing to join the donor list can signal interest through confidential bilateral consultations before COP18 and at every alternate COP after that. The list of developed countries was last amended in 2006. Countries also agreed criteria for a permanent financial mechanism for nature after 2030, but left its institutional design to COP18. The fund for paying for use of genetic resource data, set up at COP16, is described as nearly empty.
Why it matters: food, water and climate stability rest on working ecosystems, so an honest accounting of the shortfall is the first step toward closing it. A formal review gives governments and campaigners a baseline to hold countries to. Agreeing every major text, unlike COP16, which lost quorum, shows the process still functions.
Watch COP18 in Quito, Ecuador, in 2028, where the structure of the post-2030 funding mechanism is due. Caveat: our source text was cut off partway through the finance section, so outcomes on other topics are not covered here.
Source: Carbon Brief