UN Biodiversity Summit Cop17 Ends Amid Calls for Reform as Targets Missed

The biodiversity Cop17 in Yerevan, Armenia, concluded on Saturday morning after two weeks of negotiations focused on protecting nature and restoring ecosystems. Despite countries vowing to redouble their efforts to meet this decade’s targets, critics argue the consensus-based system allows progress to be stalled, with governments likely to continue their 34-year record of never having met a target in the convention's history.

The agreed targets include commitments to protect 30% of the planet for nature, restore nearly a third of Earth’s degraded ecosystems, and reform $500bn (£410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies. These goals, agreed just four years ago by nearly every government, aim to transform humanity’s relationship with nature. However, governments are significantly off track on almost all targets, with the UK set to meet only three of 23.

During the conference, environment ministers and activists appealed for significant changes to the summit's function. Panama’s environment minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, a veteran conservationist, stated the Cop process had been "designed to fail," arguing that decisions should be taken by a majority instead of consensus, which allows "one idiot" to prevent agreement. Navarro told AFP that "a lot of what’s going on out here at the Cop is just a bunch of baloney and beautiful speeches and BS."

Key decisions were postponed, including on a fund to mobilize resources from firms profiting from digital forms of biodiversity. This fund, hoped to generate £1bn a year for nature conservation with a significant share for Indigenous communities, has so far raised just over $10,000 and was postponed to the next summit in Ecuador in two years. Negotiations also saw Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Russia water down language on environmental ambition in the final agreement, while wealthier governments were divided on financial contributions, with European nations seeking to reclassify China and several Gulf states as donor states.

Ruth Davis, the UK’s nature envoy, acknowledged the meetings could be "extremely frustrating" but highlighted global implementation efforts. Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN environment programme, commented on the "cluttered" environmental agenda, noting the plethora of conventions that, while individually important, contribute to programmatic overlap and slow progress. She suggested a rethinking of the current system to ensure it delivers outcomes and maintains public confidence.

What to watch: Future UN biodiversity summits and proposed reforms to the consensus-based decision-making process.

Editor's note: The draft effectively summarizes the outcomes of Cop17, including the specific targets and the criticisms regarding the consensus-based process.