Nations approve every major text at COP17 nature talks in Armenia
Governments in Yerevan completed the first formal stocktake of the global nature deal and found a compromise on finance, avoiding the overrun that dogged COP16 in Colombia.
Governments at the COP17 biodiversity conference in Yerevan, Armenia, have approved every major negotiating text. They have also completed the first formal stocktake of progress on the world’s nature deal.
The stocktake is candid. It expresses serious concern that the aim of halting and reversing nature loss, and hitting a set of 23 targets, will be missed by 2030 unless efforts speed up considerably. It calls on countries to be bolder in closing the gaps.
Money dominated the two weeks. Developed countries fell short of a pledge to provide at least $20bn a year for nature by 2025, and delegates pointed to shrinking aid budgets. Some wealthier nations pushed for large emerging economies to join the list of those expected to pay, which proved the most contentious issue of all.
The outcome was a compromise that Switzerland called “super, mega-delicate”. Countries that want to be treated as donors can express interest through confidential, one-to-one consultations ahead of COP18 and at every second meeting after that. Nobody can be added without explicit consent, and developing countries may give voluntarily without landing on the list.
Negotiators also settled the criteria for a permanent financial mechanism for nature after 2030, to sit under the governance of the COP, as developing countries have long requested. Whether it becomes a brand-new fund or builds on existing arrangements has been left for COP18 to decide.
The contrast with COP16 in Colombia is striking. That meeting overran so badly that the presidency lost its quorum, and talks resumed in Rome months later. In Yerevan, a final session lasting almost 12 hours finished the job, no mean feat with a finance draft that had swelled to 112 bracketed points of disagreement.
Countries also voted for Quito, Ecuador, to host COP18 in 2028.
Why it matters
The Kunming-Montreal framework, agreed in 2022 and often described as the Paris Agreement for nature, reached its halfway point in Yerevan. Getting every text approved, and stopping the finance dispute from derailing the whole meeting, lets governments turn their attention to delivery. Protecting nature in developing countries depends heavily on dependable funding, so a clearer route towards a lasting financial mechanism is rather good news, even though the review makes plain how much work remains.
