COP17 adopts Yerevan Pathway to fast-track biodiversity priorities

New Delhi: After nearly a fortnight of intense negotiations and ministerial consultations, the 17th UN conference on biodiversity Friday went into overtime. However, instead of closed door huddles to resolve lingering differences, COP 17 president, Armenia's environment minister Hambardzum Matevosyan opted for the open forum of the plenary or general assembly to get the agreements over the finish line.

"Over these two weeks, we have demonstrated that differences can be bridged, commitments can become decisions and cooperation can deliver," said Matevosyan. While countries agreed to intensify efforts to halt biodiversity loss and protect nature, contentious factors including the thorny issue of who pays for initiating steps to protect nature were addressed through compromises.

"We have achieved more than we could have expected," said Matevosyan, referring to the difficult nature of the issues and the prevalent geopolitical tensions and fragmentation.


COP17 on biodiversity, said Alicia Perez-Porro of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), is yet another example of how the geopolitical situation and polarisation are hindering multilateral progress on environmental issues.

Ahead of COP17, an assessment report by the UN on the progress made on the 2030 targets of Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity Framework showed countries are falling short on most of the 23 targets, including the goal of protecting at least 30% of the land and sea area, besides reducing and eliminating subsidies harmful to the nature of up to $500 billion annually by 2030.

Countries adopted the Yerevan Pathway, which sets out a shared response to those findings, identifying priorities for action through 2030, and areas where progress will need to be accelerated. These include tackling nature-harmful subsidies and incentives, increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries, aligning national budgets and economic decisions with the KMGBF, and strengthening implementation, monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms.

Elimination of subsidies harmful to nature is one of the worst performing targets. At Yerevan, some progress was made to get it back on track. However, these efforts weren't undertaken through the formal negotiation process but instead through initiatives launched by countries on the sidelines.

The most interesting initiative happened outside of the COP decisions at the initiative of the Armenian Presidency such as the Yerevan Call on Incentives Positive to Biodiversity, the Friends of Target 18, and the Yerevan Biodiversity Finance Challenge, said Oscar Scoria at environmental think-tank Common Initiative.

"They are all going in the right direction but are too timid in scale and, maybe more importantly, are happening on the sidelines," said Scoria. "The decisions that matter must be taken inside the room, not around it."

The next four years must see acceleration and alignment between efforts made in countries and promises made at Montreal in 2022 with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

"We know what needs to change," said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. "We cannot protect nature while continuing to finance its destruction. Resources must reach the countries and communities that need them. And biodiversity must become part of everyday economic decisions." she said.