UN biodiversity conference adopts roadmap as world falls behind 2030 nature targets

By Kanyshai Butun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference ended Saturday in Armenia with a warning that the world is falling behind on global nature protection goals, as countries adopted a new roadmap aimed at accelerating action before the 2030 deadline.

According to a statement, the conference, which included the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), adopted the Yerevan Pathway, which sets priorities for addressing gaps identified in the first global review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The review found that the world is off track to meet its 23 targets by 2030.

The roadmap calls for addressing subsidies harmful to nature, increasing financial and technical support for developing countries, aligning national budgets with biodiversity goals and improving monitoring and reporting.

“Over these two weeks we have demonstrated that differences can be bridged, commitments can become decisions and cooperation can deliver,” said COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan.

The conference also adopted decisions on protected areas, forest biodiversity, sustainable wildlife management, invasive alien species, risk assessment of living modified organisms, marine and coastal biodiversity, synthetic biology and biodiversity mainstreaming.

Convention on Biological Diversity Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker urged governments to turn their commitments into concrete action, saying resources must reach countries and communities in need and biodiversity must become part of economic decision-making.

The conference also saw announcements of nearly $2 billion in new biodiversity funding. Another key outcome was an agreement on the operating rules of a new permanent body on Article 8(j), known as the Sevan Guidelines, aimed at strengthening the role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in global biodiversity policy.

COP18 will be held in Ecuador in 2028.