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UNEP chief urges countries to accelerate biodiversity action after COP17 – EnviroNews
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The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, has called on countries to accelerate the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), warning that progress towards achieving global biodiversity targets remains off track.
Andersen made the call at the closing of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia, where countries adopted a series of decisions aimed at strengthening global efforts to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
She said the conference provided an opportunity for governments to translate the global biodiversity agreement into concrete actions, stressing that the world had already established a framework for safeguarding nature but needed to accelerate its implementation.
According to her, the negotiations in Yerevan demonstrated the continued importance of environmental multilateralism, as countries overcame differences, reached compromises and agreed on decisions intended to benefit people and the planet.
A major outcome of the conference was the adoption of the Global Review of collective progress in implementing the KMGBF, through which Parties acknowledged that progress towards several biodiversity targets remained insufficient and committed to intensifying action at national and international levels.
Andersen also highlighted agreements on digital sequence information (DSI), traditional knowledge, innovations and practices under Article 8(j) of the Convention, as well as resource mobilisation, describing them as important reaffirmations of governments’ commitment to advancing key biodiversity objectives.
She further emphasised the close relationship between nature conservation and economic prosperity, noting that the health of ecosystems was fundamentally connected to the stability and resilience of national economies.
The UNEP chief called for faster progress in redirecting financial flows away from activities that damage nature towards investments that support biodiversity protection and restoration.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework recognises the importance of aligning financial systems and economic activities with biodiversity objectives, including the need to eliminate, phase out or reform incentives harmful to biodiversity.
Andersen also drew attention to new restoration initiatives and findings showing that 252 million hectares of land across 149 countries are currently undergoing restoration, generating more than one million green jobs.
She described the scale of restoration activities as unprecedented, noting that the findings demonstrated the potential of nature restoration to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits.
However, she cautioned that the real measure of COP17’s success would depend on the actions governments take after the conference, rather than the agreements reached during negotiations.
According to her, the implementation phase would require sustained commitment and practical measures to deliver stronger economic resilience, protect ecosystems and safeguard the natural resources on which human societies depend.
Andersen commended the Armenian Presidency of COP17 for its leadership of the negotiations and organisation of the conference, acknowledging its role in bringing countries together and facilitating agreement on the outcomes.
She also thanked Armenia for hosting delegates from across the world in Yerevan and ensuring what she described as a successful conference.
The COP17 outcomes come amid growing international concern over the slow pace of implementation of the KMGBF, adopted in 2022, which sets 23 targets for 2030 and four long-term goals for 2050.
The framework seeks to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through measures including the conservation of land and marine areas, restoration of degraded ecosystems, sustainable management of natural resources and increased financing for biodiversity protection.
With the adoption of the Global Review and other decisions in Yerevan, governments are expected to translate their commitments into stronger national policies, increased investment and measurable progress towards the 2030 biodiversity targets.
