Countries are better at setting targets than at meeting them. This was evident as never before when the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) ended in Yerevan, Armenia, on October 31, after over two weeks of negotiations, a day behind schedule and without any significant breakthrough.
CBD is one of three international conventions that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, alongside those on climate change and desertification. Its Parties meet every two years. The main focus of this year’s COP was the first “global review” of progress towards meeting the 23 targets set for 2030, under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
The “State of Biodiversity Action” report released by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on October 15, ahead of the formal opening of COP17, had already laid bare the scale of the problem. Almost 90 per cent of Parties have established national biodiversity targets, nearly 60 per cent have developed national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and more than 70 per cent have submitted national reports. Yet fewer than half of the national targets assessed by Parties are on track, and the world is on course to meet only one of the KMGBF’s 23 targets by 2030.
That is Target 8, which calls for minimising climate impact on biodiversity and for building resilience. Progress towards ambitious 30x30 target has also been poor. “The report shows that many of the critical elements of progress, including finance, capacity, cooperation and data, are still missing in action,” said Guterres. “Nature won’t thrive on good intentions. Guided by the evidence in this report, we can halt and reverse biodiversity loss and secure the natural foundations upon which all human life and prosperity depend.”
This report informed the global review process, and the resulting document “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goals “will not be achieved”. The document includes a roadmap called the “Yerevan Pathway”, sets out priorities for action until 2030. These include tackling subsidies and incentives harmful to nature, increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries, aligning national budgets and economic decisions with KMGBF, and strengthening implementation, monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms.
“[The Yerevan Pathway] It sets out priorities for collective action, from implementing national plans and mobilising financial resources to strengthening science, monitoring and the participation of all sectors of society,” said COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan, who is the environment minis-ter of Armenia.
Turning these priorities into action, however, will be far from easy. The biggest obstacle is …
This article was first published in the November 16-30, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth.