In brief
At COP17 in Yerevan, negotiators agreed on a Yerevan Pathway that focuses on speeding up the implementation of the existing Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The pathway calls for stronger financial support, wider national targets, and better monitoring, but financing gaps and policy changes could still stall progress. Nearly $2 billion in new biodiversity money was announced, yet critics say the Pathway’s success depends on sustained commitment.
The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity finished in Yerevan on Saturday with an agreement on the Yerevan Pathway, a plan to speed up global biodiversity action, Xinhua reported. The Pathway was created after a global review of progress showed the 23 targets of the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework would not be met by the 2030 deadline unless efforts were ramped up.
The Pathway does not set new targets; it focuses on how countries can strengthen their existing commitments. It prioritizes accelerating implementation, broadening national targets, improving financial and other forms of support, engaging governments and societies more widely, and enhancing monitoring and knowledge, the negotiation notes indicated.
Alongside the Pathway, the conference announced almost 2 billion U.S. dollars in new biodiversity funding. The amounts include 560 million dollars from the ninth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility and its Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, 500 million dollars through the Species Recovery Alliance, and more than 330 million dollars from the Value Nature Fund, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity said.
Other decisions covered protected areas and forest biodiversity, sustainable wildlife management, invasive alien species, marine and coastal biodiversity, synthetic biology, and several other areas, it was said. Whether the Pathway can close the widening gap between commitments and action will hinge on national policy changes, sustained international cooperation, and whether the announced financial resources are delivered, experts noted.
