Nations agree ‘Yerevan Pathway’ for nature as biodiversity talks end with $2 billion pledged

Countries meeting in Armenia have agreed a roadmap to speed up action for nature, after a global review found the world off track to meet its biodiversity targets at the halfway mark to 2030.

The agreement, called the Yerevan Pathway, was formalised as the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17) closed in Yerevan on Saturday. It sets priorities for the four years left to deliver the 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

What it asks for

The pathway calls on countries to tackle subsidies that harm nature and to increase financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries. It also calls for national budgets and economic decisions to be aligned with the framework, and for stronger monitoring and reporting. "We cannot protect nature while continuing to finance its destruction," said Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Decisions and money

Parties adopted nearly 50 decisions on protected areas and forests, wildlife management, invasive alien species, marine and coastal biodiversity, and synthetic biology. They also agreed the Sevan Guidelines, the rules for a new permanent body that strengthens the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in global biodiversity policy.

Nearly $2 billion in new funding was announced, including $560 million under the Global Environment Facility's latest replenishment, $500 million through the Species Recovery Alliance and $330 million for the Value Nature Fund. The Asian Development Bank launched a biodiversity bond and an investment incubator.

COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan said: "Over these two weeks we have demonstrated that differences can be bridged, commitments can become decisions and cooperation can deliver."