Biodiversity at a standstill: UN warns humanity is not on track

A few weeks before the COP17 for Biodiversity, scheduled for Yerevan, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) warns that humanity is not moving forward fast enough to meet its commitments to protect nature. The assessment was made after three weeks of preparatory meetings held in Nairobi, informs AFP.

• Insufficient progress towards 2030 goals

"Parties recognize that humanity is not on track to achieve biodiversity goals," the Convention on Biological Diversity said in a statement. "The task that awaits us in Yerevan in nine weeks will require all the resilience and determination that parties can show," said Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the CBD, at the end of preparatory meetings in Nairobi. The COP17 on Biodiversity, taking place from 19 to 30 October, will bring together almost all the world's countries in Armenia to assess progress against the commitments made four years ago at COP15 in Montreal. At that time, countries agreed to protect 30% of the planet's land surface by 2030 and to increase funding for biodiversity in developing countries to $30 billion per year. "It is true that progress has been made on most of the targets. But implementation is not yet happening at the pace and scale needed,” Astrid Schomaker, quoted in the CBD press release, stressed.

• Funding and subsidy reform, the main issues

The Convention, which organizes COP meetings for member countries every two years, presented in a report an assessment of the commitments made by states in order to achieve the goals set for 2030. According to the CBD, while the global report indicates "promising efforts” in terms of conservation goals, progress is slower in areas essential for the implementation of the agreements. These include mobilizing financial resources, redirecting subsidies considered harmful to biodiversity and ensuring inclusive governance.

• Disputes over the "Cali Fund”

The Convention acknowledges the existence of "divergences” between countries in terms of accelerating the measures needed to achieve the goals by 2030. One of the topics on which negotiations remain difficult is the "Cali Fund”, a mechanism created at COP16, held in Colombia. It aims to share some of the benefits generated by companies in developed countries from the use of genetic resources, including plants and animals from developing countries. According to the CBD, negotiations on the financing mechanism have been marked by intense discussions, as countries try to determine how resources for biodiversity protection can be mobilized and distributed. The Convention on Biological Diversity includes 196 countries, including the European Union, but not the United States.