MEDIA STATEMENT: “Eleventh-hour Agreement in Armenia Signposts Yerevan Pathway Toward Reversing Nature’s Collapse”
As negotiations concluded at UN Biodiversity Conference CBD-COP17 in Armenia, The Nature Conservancy comments on the outcomes
Media Contacts
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Barbara Kuznik
Email: barbara.kuznik@tnc.org -
Tom Jennings
Email: tom.jennings@tnc.org
As marathon overnight negotiations concluded at UN Biodiversity Conference CBD-COP17 in Armenia, The Nature Conservancy’s Linda Krueger—Global Director for Biodiversity and Infrastructure Policy—summarized key outcomes as follows:
“After two weeks of often-fraught negotiations, COP17 ended with agreement on approximately 50 official decisions aimed at addressing the biodiversity crisis and accelerating implementation of 2022’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Uncertain until the early hours of Saturday, this outcome keeps countries moving forward on several important issues, despite concerns it would fall short of delivering at the scale the nature crisis demands.
“The ‘Yerevan Pathway’ is a new set of key decisions on the Global Review of Progress and finance, along with initiatives led by the Armenian COP presidency. This points toward the systemic changes needed to achieve the 2030 goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including tackling the drivers of biodiversity loss and shifting financial incentives away from activities that harm nature. The question now is whether governments will move fast enough to actually deliver them at a time of so many other competing demands.
“Yerevan was also the first COP since the creation of a formal body to enable participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in CBD decision-making. A package of new decisions made at COP17 built on this recognition by established procedures for cementing the participation of these communities, whose knowledge and rights are integral to the success of conservation efforts across many critical landscapes.
“This COP also exposed worrying pressure on some of the foundations of effective environmental action. The role of science at the heart of the CBD—including the rigorous international assessments conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)—must continue to guide its decisions and should not be something we repeatedly have to defend.
“The scale of the financial challenge remains particularly stark. Some progress was made on implementing the financing roadmap agreed to at CBD-COP16 in Cali, but Yerevan highlighted that the level of resources available remains far short of what’s needed. Governments cannot allow continuing arguments over the architecture of biodiversity finance to distract from the urgent task of mobilizing and redirecting money toward nature.
“The hard-won decisions taken in Yerevan demonstrated both the value and the limitations of multilateral negotiations. At a time of accelerating nature loss, we cannot mistake compromise for sufficient progress or wait for UN negotiations alone to deliver change.
“There must be no pause after COP17. Governments, business and finance all need to move faster. And as attention turns to COP31, one reality must remain front and centre: there is no credible path to tackling climate change without tackling nature loss too.”
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 86 countries and territories (41 by direct conservation impact and 45 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. For more news, visit our newsroom or follow The Nature Conservancy on LinkedIn.