Representatives of governments, indigenous peoples, native communities and different stakeholders are anticipated to convene in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, for the seventeenth session of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) from 19 to 30 October, as nations search to speed up efforts to halt and reverse international biodiversity loss.
The convention comes 4 years after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which set a 2030 deadline for the actualisation of its targets.
Organisers see the 2026 convention as a essential midway level between the framework’s adoption in 2022 and the 2030 deadline for reaching its interconnected targets.
The Conference of the Parties (COP), the conference’s highest decision-making physique, assembles member international locations to evaluation progress in implementing the conference and their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).
Parties additionally negotiate international priorities, agree on measures to preserve biodiversity and promote sustainable use of pure assets, whereas establishing the mechanisms for mobilising monetary and technical help.
These efforts additionally search to make sure truthful and equitable sharing of the advantages arising from using genetic assets. Nigeria is among the many international locations dedicated to the conference.
Biodiversity underneath strain
In Nigeria and throughout Africa, biodiversity conservation faces rising strain from environmental degradation, socioeconomic challenges and institutional weaknesses.
Major threats embody habitat loss and fragmentation, pushed by agricultural growth, slash-and-burn farming, urbanisation and the conversion of forests into business plantations, together with oil palm plantations.
The overexploitation of pure assets, together with endangered wildlife, business logging and overfishing, additionally threatens ecosystems. Pollution, local weather change and invasive species additional disrupt pure habitats and meals webs, whereas inhabitants progress will increase strain on land and different pure assets.
These challenges underscore the necessity for stronger conservation insurance policies, improved enforcement and sustainable approaches to managing pure assets.
Global progress stays inadequate
A brand new United Nations report, State of Biodiversity Action, highlights progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework however warns that international locations are advancing at a tempo required to fulfill their commitments.
According to the UN, almost 90 per cent of events have set nationwide biodiversity targets, greater than 70 per cent have submitted nationwide stories, and motion is underway throughout all 23 targets of the framework.
Yet, implementation stays insufficient, with fewer than half of the nationwide targets assessed by events thought of to be on monitor.
The findings are anticipated to bolster requires international locations to maneuver past commitments and pace up the implementation of insurance policies and programmes wanted to guard biodiversity.
The 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference will embody COP17, alongside the twelfth assembly of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the sixth assembly of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing.
Talks will deal with reviewing collective progress, strengthening implementation help, advancing scientific and coverage steering, addressing the monetary and financial components influencing biodiversity outcomes, enhancing biosafety and selling the truthful and equitable sharing of advantages from genetic assets.
Key issues on the agenda
At COP17, international locations will undertake the primary international evaluation of collective progress underneath the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The evaluation is predicted to evaluate how far international locations have progressed in the direction of their commitments and establish gaps requiring pressing motion.
Other priorities embody mobilising finance, strengthening capacity-building and worldwide cooperation, and increasing the participation of indigenous peoples and native communities in biodiversity conservation.
Financing stays a essential challenge as a result of implementing biodiversity commitments requires sustainable assets, significantly for international locations dealing with competing improvement priorities and restricted institutional capability.
The convention may also study the coverage and financial situations that affect biodiversity outcomes, together with how governments and different stakeholders can align improvement actions with conservation targets.
The Cartagena Protocol’s twelfth assembly will deal with strengthening implementation, together with via up to date steering on danger evaluation and administration and improved capability for knowledgeable biosafety selections.
Meanwhile, the Nagoya Protocol’s sixth assembly will tackle implementation, monitoring, capacity-building, cooperation and institutional effectiveness, with specific consideration to entry to genetic assets and the equitable sharing of advantages arising from their use.
Broad participation anticipated
Beyond formal negotiations, the convention is predicted to convey collectively greater than 10,000 delegates from governments, scientific establishments, monetary organisations, companies, cities, indigenous peoples and native communities, and youth teams.
High-level conferences and different initiatives will present alternatives for stakeholders to alternate concepts, construct partnerships and develop options to advance biodiversity motion.
According to organisers, broader participation is crucial to mobilising the whole-of-society effort required to attain international biodiversity commitments.
Hambardzum Matevosyan, the president of COP17 and Armenia’s Minister of Environment, mentioned the assembly should renew international locations’ dedication to implementing the worldwide biodiversity framework.
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“Four years ago, we agreed on an ambitious global agreement for nature. In Yerevan, halfway between the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and 2030, we must renew our collective commitment and focus on its delivery,” he mentioned.
He expressed confidence that inclusive and constructive cooperation will allow international locations to seek out frequent floor and ship outcomes that profit nature and folks.
Astrid Schomaker, the manager secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, mentioned the convention ought to serve as a platform for accelerating motion to guard nature.
“Protecting biodiversity is not separate from protecting our economies. Our food, water, health and livelihoods all depend on healthy ecosystems,” she mentioned.
Ms Schomaker famous that international locations had agreed in 2022 on a framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss however warned that progress stays too sluggish.
“Yerevan must mark a turning point in our journey to 2030, putting us on a faster path to meeting the biodiversity targets and achieving our vision of living in harmony with nature,” she mentioned.
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