The world is not on track to meet biodiversity targets without faster progress, stronger political will and greater accountability, says Georg Schwede of Campaign for Nature.
Schwede says COP17 can still become a turning point if governments move from commitments to implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
He says biodiversity must be treated as an economic and political priority, with action on harmful subsidies, finance and nature-positive investment.
The meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) ended on August 12, 2026. In an email interview with Down To Earth’s Vibha Varshney, Georg Schwede, European Director at Campaign for Nature, spoke about what happened at the meetings and what the future holds for biodiversity.
Vibha Varshney (VV): Based on current progress, will the world meet any of the biodiversity targets?
Georg Schwede (GS): No, not on the current trajectory. Without a significant acceleration in progress, there is no way that any of the targets will be achieved. Parties need to show much higher political will, increased ambition and accountability, and address some of the barriers holding up the progress we need.
Unfortunately, the outcomes of the recent SBSTTA 28 and SBI 7 meetings did not reflect the level of urgency and collective political will required to make COP17 the turning point in efforts to accelerate progress. But COP17 still has the opportunity to become that turning point.
The spotlight now needs to be on COP17, particularly on the Leaders’ Summit and the high-level segment, where governments must demonstrate the political leadership needed to address the shortcomings so far and accelerate implementation over the four years remaining to 2030.
The science is clear: without full delivery, we will not be able to stop and ultimately reverse the dramatic loss of biodiversity, which has severe consequences for our economies, security and well-being. The commitments have been made. The challenge now is turning them into action.
A comprehensive assessment of Target 3, better known as 30x30, which Campaign for Nature is launching before COP17, will show that even where progress is currently too slow, there are clear pathways to accelerate implementation. With the right political leadership, finance and priorities, this flagship target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework can still be achieved by 2030.
VV: Why has progress been slow since COP16?
GS: Progress on implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has been slow since it was agreed at COP15. At the heart of the problem is a continued failure to recognise and position biodiversity as the fundamental basis for life on Earth and as critical infrastructure for our economies, societies and future well-being.
As long as nature continues to be treated as an environmental issue rather than an economic and political priority, we will continue to see low political attention, insufficient public investment and a failure to hold accountable the business and economic sectors driving biodiversity loss.
More specifically, some cross-cutting issues, or enabling factors, are emerging from the Global Review where progress has been extremely slow, affecting all other targets of the framework. These include, first and foremost, mainstreaming biodiversity under Target 14. Countries need to fully integrate biodiversity and its values into all levels of decision-making, public and private policies, regulation and development.
The second is reforming harmful subsidies under Target 18. For every US$1 invested in biodiversity, around US$30 is currently spent on activities that harm or destroy it. This imbalance has to change.
The third is providing the financial means for implementation under Target 19. Neither domestically nor internationally are we seeing the efforts needed to mobilise the resources required for implementation. Global North countries have already failed to meet the commitment to provide at least US$20 billion annually in international biodiversity finance to developing countries by 2025, with the target rising to at least US$30 billion by 2030. Declining overseas development aid since 2023 risks making this challenge even greater.
These are significant barriers, but they are also areas where governments know what needs to change. COP17 must now translate that understanding into concrete action.
VV: What should the world do to meet the targets?
GS: At a higher level, there needs to be a paradigm shift in how we treat and see biodiversity conservation: from something currently seen as a cost and a barrier to development to a high-return investment in maintaining the very basis of our economies and well-being.
Take Target 3. Investing in safeguarding at least 30 per cent of our land and sea would generate a return on investment of at least 1:5. Protecting nature is therefore not simply an environmental obligation. It is an investment in economic resilience, food and water security, livelihoods and human well-being.
More specifically, addressing the enabling factors mentioned above will be key. Governments need concrete plans for how they will tackle these barriers, accelerate implementation and report progress between now and 2030.
There is an urgent need to engage finance ministers in addressing these enabling factors by operationalising the international dialogue of environment and finance ministers called for by COP16. Establishing this dialogue officially at this year’s autumn meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, together with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, would be an important step towards integrating economic and fiscal policy with nature conservation and delivering the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
That means reforming environmentally harmful subsidies, redirecting capital towards nature-positive outcomes, restructuring fiscal frameworks and mobilising significantly greater resources domestically and internationally.
Besides addressing these enabling factors, each target needs a more detailed and nuanced assessment. Campaign for Nature is launching such assessments at COP17. These assessments will identify the specific barriers holding progress back, but crucially, they will also set out practical priority pathways for accelerating delivery by 2030.
Four years is not a lot of time, but it is still enough to change course if governments act with urgency. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is too important to fail, and the focus at COP17 must be on what it will take to deliver it.