Nations Agree to Revive Efforts to Meet 2030 Nature Goals

Nearly 200 nations reached hard-fought agreements on Friday at a UN biodiversity summit, seeking to revive faltering efforts to halt the destruction of nature by 2030.

Delegates cheered as key documents were approved after negotiations ran beyond the scheduled deadline. However, the celebrations were tempered by acrimonious debates and limited progress on some of the most contentious issues.

“And that’s it. Perfect,” COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan said in Armenia as he brought down the gavel on the documents. The final versions were not immediately available.

The agreements marked a renewed push to meet a landmark 2030 commitment to protect the plants, animals and ecosystems that sustain life on Earth, following countries’ failure to make sufficient progress towards their targets.

According to the United Nations, several key goals remain off track, including protecting 30 per cent of land and oceans, tackling pollution and increasing funding for conservation.

During two weeks of difficult negotiations in Yerevan, countries were urged to change course to keep the global biodiversity pact on track.

A draft of one closely watched document called on nations to “accelerate” their efforts and warned that increased action was needed to tackle the main drivers of biodiversity loss.

It was not immediately clear which recommendations were retained in the final adopted text. The agreed global review had still not been published hours after its adoption.

“While not particularly exciting or detailed, it’s good news that countries could reach agreement,” said Catherine Weller of Fauna and Flora.

Kirsty Leong of WWF International said the outcome had strengths and weaknesses but was positive overall.

Progress on Harmful Subsidies Remains Limited

After the initial celebrations, negotiations on other agenda items continued into the early hours of Saturday, with tensions rising.

“It’s glacial progress,” one negotiator from a developed country said from inside the plenary hall.

Some participants welcomed modest progress on addressing subsidies and other incentives that encourage activities harmful to nature, including fossil fuel use, intensive agriculture and overfishing.

Governments have pledged to reduce such spending, but progress has been limited. An estimated $2.4 trillion continues to flow annually to subsidies considered harmful to nature.

“Even though the agreed decision text expresses it in weak terms, COP17 saw important political momentum to address harmful financial incentives — including subsidies — and that’s urgently needed,” said An Lambrechts of Greenpeace International.

Juliette Landry of the IDDRI think tank said negotiations involved competing positions in every direction, making agreement difficult.

Conservation Funding Remains a Major Dispute

A separate dispute centred on finding new sources of funding for conservation, an increasingly contentious issue as public budgets face pressure from energy challenges and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The world needs an estimated $700 billion more annually than it currently spends to restore degraded ecosystems, protect endangered species and conserve forests, wetlands and other vital habitats.

The European Union pushed for wealthy emerging economies, including China, to contribute to global conservation efforts, a proposal that remained contentious at COP17.

A separate draft circulated on Friday suggested a possible compromise by inviting countries outside the traditional group of developed-country donors to join voluntarily.

The proposal did not require any country to contribute to biodiversity financing but invited interested governments to signal their willingness to participate.

Cali Fund Struggles to Attract Contributions

Efforts to strengthen the underperforming Cali Fund, a UN mechanism designed to share profits from companies using genetic data from plants and other organisms, also faced difficulties.

The fund aimed to raise $1 billion annually for conservation in developing countries when it launched in early 2025. However, it had attracted only around $10,000 so far.

Countries also disagreed over the role of science in biodiversity policy. A small number of nations were accused of using tactics similar to those seen in climate negotiations to weaken the influence of a UN-backed biodiversity body.

“This UN conference made it clear that the obstructionist politics of the climate talks have entered the biodiversity negotiations,” said Alfred DeGemmis of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Around 70 ministers joined the talks during the week in an effort to accelerate progress. However, negotiations remained slow, prompting Indigenous leaders and civil society activists to urge governments to act with greater urgency.

At the previous biodiversity summit in Colombia in 2024, negotiations ran beyond the deadline as countries disagreed over conservation financing and ended without an agreement. Talks resumed in Rome in 2025, where a deal was reached.

COP17 decided early Saturday that Ecuador would host the next biodiversity summit in 2028 after defeating Panama in a secret ballot.