Published on: 2026-10-22
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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October 19, 2026 Climate and Environment
The loss of biodiversity negatively affects the lives of billions of people whose well-being depends on how quickly and coherently states begin to act to protect the planet. This was stated on Monday by the moderator of the negotiations at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Yerevan.
The main purpose of the discussions in the Armenian capital, where the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-17) is being held, is to assess progress in fulfilling the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to discuss its further implementation.
“In 2022, 196 countries made concrete commitments,” said Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “We are responsible to each other and to future generations. What is happening here in Yerevan is of great importance: billions of people whose lives are being devastated due to the consequences of biodiversity loss depend on the progress we must achieve in the next two weeks.”
Relying on Indigenous knowledge
Astrid Schomaker called for tapping into the “unused energy and ideas” of indigenous peoples, local communities, women, and youth when making decisions in the negotiations. “We need more active involvement from cities, businesses, and financial institutions… Science is clear: no country, no economy, no society is protected from the consequences of biodiversity loss,” she said.
The Convention’s objectives include addressing the main drivers of biodiversity loss: changes in land and ocean resource use, climate change, pollution, and the spread of invasive species.
The main goal of the Cummings-Montreal Framework Program – “30 by 30”: by 2030 (the target date for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals), 30 percent of land and the World Ocean should become protected areas.
To achieve this goal, Shomaker emphasized that national action plans must comply with international standards, funding must correspond to real needs, and production and consumption must be “limited by the resources of our planet.”
Why are these negotiations important?
The key task of the negotiations in Yerevan is to “turn commitments into measurable progress on the ground,” said Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Paruyr Hovhannisyan.
“We want COP-17 to send a clear political signal: the fight against biodiversity loss requires coordinated actions by governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society,” he said in an interview with the UN News Service. “This means ramping up efforts, mobilizing necessary resources, improving monitoring and accountability.”
Key issues to be discussed in Yerevan
Summary: countries will conduct the first global review of the collective progress made under the program. They will present national reports, updated strategies, and action plans on biodiversity. This will show what has been achieved since 2022 and where acceleration is needed.
Search for funding: the framework program provides for the allocation of at least 200 billion dollars annually until 2030, including a minimum of 30 billion for international biodiversity financing.
Launch of the “Cali Fund”: this global financial mechanism, established at COP-16 in Cali (Colombia), is intended to accumulate funds from companies using digital genetic data and direct them towards protecting biodiversity and supporting indigenous peoples. The negotiations in Yerevan aim to advance the practical mechanisms of the fund’s operation.
Tracking progress: better monitoring, data collection, and capacity building for cooperation are needed so that countries can understand whether commitments are delivering real results.
Changing economic models: the most “lagging” sectors require action beyond environmental agencies—in finance, business, sustainable consumption, and removal of harmful incentives.
“To put an end to the war on nature”
The conference opened against the backdrop of a reminder from UN Secretary-General António Guterres that more than one million species are threatened with extinction.
Pointing out the need to put an end to the “war on nature,” the UN Secretary-General called on governments, businesses, and communities to accelerate efforts to protect biodiversity for future generations.
“Every day humanity saws off another branch from the tree of life. Climate chaos, invasive species, overgrazing and overfishing, excess fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals – all this and much more fuel the triple planetary crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate chaos,” he said.
The UN chief warned that the world is relentlessly approaching a point where it will become uninhabitable. António Guterres also noted the international measures for nature conservation agreed upon under the Kunming-Montreal framework. According to him, this program has inspired actions worldwide: since 2022, an additional 1.3 million square kilometers of land and 6 million square kilometers of ocean have been placed under official protection.
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