COP17 opens in Yerevan as UN warns biodiversity targets are off track

Opening in Yerevan

The 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP17, opened on Monday, 19 October, in Yerevan, Armenia. The conference runs until 30 October, and the delegates are reviewing how far the 196 countries that agreed the 2022 targets have progressed. The agenda covers negotiating funding between the Global North and South, assessing the measures already in place and discussing the role of Indigenous communities. The organisers expect up to 15,000 participants.

Behind on the 2030 targets

In 2022, in Montreal, nearly all of those countries signed up to 23 targets for 2030, including protecting 30% of land and sea. Yerevan hosts the first global review of that framework, and the UN says the world is not on course to halt biodiversity loss or restore damaged ecosystems. More than 90% of countries have set national targets and a large majority have built plans and reporting systems on top of them, yet actual action is lagging. Astrid Schomaker, the Convention's executive secretary, told the opening session that the decisions taken over the next two weeks would affect billions of people, and she stressed the financial obstacles. The first global assessment of the 2022 commitments, now under way, will show how far countries have progressed and what extra steps are needed to reach the 23 targets by 2030.

Jelle Behagel, an associate professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, does not expect the 2030 targets to be met. He thinks the 30% protection goal may still be achievable, particularly on land, with the help of the EU. He called the goals on wildlife trade, species extinction and pollution harder to reach because they are tied to economic growth. Cutting harmful subsidies, mostly in agriculture, is also moving slowly.

Funding and the Armenian presidency

Funding is the sharpest gap. Countries pledged to mobilise $200 billion a year by 2030 for biodiversity, and that goal is also off schedule. Le Temps reports that a global funding deficit and national budget difficulties complicate turning commitments into action. Armenia's environment minister, Hambardzum Matevosyan, was elected conference president for a two-year term. He pledged to run the negotiations impartially and to ensure that every delegation can state its position. He told the session that the task over the next two weeks is to overcome differences, reach consensus and deliver results. On Friday, 16 October, Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian told a summit of heads of state and government that collectively countries are not yet on the right track, and most of the senior leaders at that summit came from neighbouring countries.

Pollinator study

A study published as the summit opened points to declines among Europe's wild pollinators. Most of Europe's wild bee species and about half of its hoverfly species have declined over the last century, according to the research, which covers 88% of bee and hoverfly species on the continent. Records since 1921 show more bee species declining than increasing in every region except the Alps. Of the species logged over the last century, 91% were also recorded at least once between 2001 and 2020, leaving as many as 9% possibly wiped out in Europe, although the researchers do not expect widespread extinctions to have occurred yet. Nearly 90% of wild flowering plants depend in part on animal pollination. The lead author, Carlos Martínez-Núñez of the Spanish National Research Council, said the loss could stay hidden behind apparently stable numbers.

The fact that some species are increasing today does not mean they will remain winners as climate change and habitat loss intensify.

Switzerland and national criticism

Switzerland is sending Katrin Schneeberger, director of the Federal Office for the Environment, to the conference, a federal spokesperson confirmed. Raffael Ayé, director of BirdLife Switzerland, criticised national policy. He said that after agreeing at the international level in 2022 to do far more for biodiversity, Switzerland is cutting financial resources at home and still has not put in place legal foundations it has had for decades.