The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) concluded in Yerevan, Armenia, on Saturday after negotiators secured agreement on the conference's main decisions, including the Yerevan Pathway aimed at accelerating global biodiversity action.

This encouraging outcome came at a critical time for global biodiversity protection. Halfway between the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its 2030 deadline, countries face a widening gap between their commitments to protect nature and the action to fulfill them. Whether the Yerevan Pathway can help close that gap will depend on financing, national policies and sustained international cooperation.

A pathway to accelerate action

The conference's main task was to conduct the first global review of collective progress in implementing the GBF, which sets out 23 targets for 2030.

The assessment presented governments with a clear warning: Without a rapid acceleration of implementation, the framework's 2030 targets and mission would not be achieved, putting its longer-term goals for 2050 at risk.

The Yerevan Pathway is part of the response to that assessment. Rather than setting new targets, it focuses on how countries can step up efforts to meet those already agreed upon.

Embedded in the global review decision, the pathway identifies several priorities for the period through 2030: accelerating implementation, broadening the coverage of national targets, strengthening financial and other support, engaging governments and societies more widely, and improving monitoring and knowledge.

Alongside the negotiations, nearly $2 billion in new biodiversity funding was announced, according to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This included $560 million under the ninth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility and its Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, $500 million through the Species Recovery Alliance and more than $330 million through the Value Nature Fund.

Finance divide tests delivery

Finance remains one of the main obstacles to implementation, both in terms of how much funding is available and how the responsibility for providing it is shared.

The global report found that developed countries had failed to meet their commitment to provide at least $20 billion annually in biodiversity finance to developing countries by 2025. This shortfall was a major point of contention in negotiations over funding for the next stage of implementation.

Some developed countries called for broadening the contributor base, bringing into focus a longstanding dispute over the relationship between countries' financial capacity and their obligations under the CBD.

The new funding announcements offered some encouragement, but the broader challenge of securing predictable support on the scale needed remains. For developing countries, efforts to strengthen conservation, restore ecosystems and monitor progress continue to depend heavily on access to finance and technical assistance.

China's role in advancing implementation

Turning commitments into concrete results was also a key theme in discussions of China's contribution, including its support for the global review, sharing experience in domestic conservation and financing for biodiversity projects in developing countries.

The global review decision specifically thanked China for hosting the Kunming dialogue to support preparations for the review. It also acknowledged financial support provided through the China Trust Fund via the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

During the conference, COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan said China had made important contributions to advancing the talks, from preparatory work to the formal negotiations.

Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the secretariat of the CBD, said the progress reflected in China's seventh national report was encouraging and highlighted its ecological conservation red lines as an example of how biodiversity protection could be incorporated into national planning and development.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the UNEP, recognized China's continued leadership through the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund following its COP15 presidency. She emphasized the importance of helping developing countries access the financing needed to implement the agreement.

The Yerevan conference preserved a common direction at a difficult moment for biodiversity protection. The next four years will determine whether governments can turn their commitments into measurable progress before the 2030 deadline.

As Schomaker put it: "Ultimately, the test is not what governments agreed in Yerevan, but what they change when they return home."