In brief
At the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, more than a hundred nations completed marathon negotiations that yielded the Yerevan Pathway. The pathway, slated to guide action from 2026 to 2030, calls for stronger national strategies, better monitoring, increased financing, technology transfer, capacity building, and the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples, local communities, women and youth. The agreement also sets the next conference, COP18, in Quito, Ecuador, in 2028.
In Yerevan, Armenia, on Friday night and into Saturday morning, more than 100 nations completed marathon negotiations that resulted in the adoption of the Yerevan Pathway, a set of measures designed to accelerate biodiversity action through the next four years.
The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) took place in the capital of Armenia after the opening and closing plenaries were extended because of the intensity of the discussions. The conference, which began on October 19, reached its conclusion on Saturday morning, delivering tangible steps toward reversing the loss of nature as set out in the 2022 Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, contains 23 targets that aim to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. With four years remaining, COP17 members faced growing pressure to translate their international commitments into concrete, measurable actions, a theme that resonated throughout the conference’s theme, "Taking Action for Nature."
According to Xinhua, the conference’s opening and closing plenaries were marked by intense negotiations that spanned roughly 12 hours from Friday evening to Saturday morning. Delegates observed a blend of agreement and division, noting persistent disagreements over biodiversity finance, harmful subsidies, and the weight of scientific evidence.
During the closing plenary, COP17 President Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenia’s environment minister, introduced the Yerevan Pathway with a resonant bang of the gavel. He remarked that the outcome exceeded expectations, both in the breadth of agenda items tackled and in the approval of items that had been long anticipated.
"I think we've achieved more than we could have expected in terms of the diversity of the agenda items, in terms of the importance of those items for many countries and parties, and in terms of the items that were anticipated for a long time that have managed to be approved and adopted," Matevosyan said.
Following the president’s remarks, the Vienna-inspired pathway was formally adopted. Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker, representing the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, described the pathway as a critical tool for the global review process that would accelerate biodiversity action between 2026 and 2030.
"It is wonderful that we have faced up to the gaps identified in the global report. We have adopted the Yerevan Pathway, and now we need to follow this pathway towards 2030," Schomaker said.
Key Elements of the Yerevan Pathway
The Yerevan Pathway builds on the global review process, assigning priority to several pillars aimed at speeding up progress toward the 2030 targets. These pillars include the development of stronger national biodiversity strategies, the enhancement of monitoring systems, the expansion of financing, and the facilitation of technology transfer and capacity building.
In addition, the pathway underscores the importance of whole-of-government coordination and the purposeful inclusion of historically marginalized groups. It specifically calls for the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples, local communities, women, and youth in biodiversity decision‑making and implementation.
While the pathway marks a breakthrough, experts noted that the debate over funding mechanisms continued, with some countries insisting on more robust financial commitments, and others questioning the adequacy of current resource mobilization proposals.
Beyond the policy framework, the conference’s conclusion set in motion the planning for COP18, which will convene in Quito, Ecuador, in 2028. The decision to host the next conference in Latin America reflects a growing recognition that the implementation of biodiversity commitments requires inclusive, region‑based discussions.
As the world enters the final stretch toward the 2030 deadline, the Yerevan Pathway offers a record of collective resolve, a roadmap for government action, and a promise of greater accountability. National governments will be expected to operationalize the pathway’s four pillars, translate them into measurable targets, and ensure transparent reporting to the international community.
For citizens and civil society advocates, the pathway puts in place a structured mechanism to hold governments and private actors accountable for biodiversity outcomes. The inclusion of Indigenous peoples and local communities, for example, signals a shift toward recognition of traditional knowledge and stewardship, potentially influencing how national strategies are formulated and monitored.
In the weeks ahead, participants will need to transform the Yerevan Pathway’s logical framework into concrete national legislation and budgets, a process that will involve Parliament‑level scrutiny, public consultations, and possibly new court cases related to environmental protection. Transparency in these processes, both in financial commitments and in monitoring results, will become a key measure of the pathway’s success.
Ultimately, the 17th meeting of the Conference of Parties that took place in Yerevan represents a watershed moment for biodiversity governance. It offers a concrete, multi‑faceted plan to accelerate progress toward the 2030 goal, while embedding inclusive participation and accountability mechanisms that demand continuous political will and resource mobilization.
